Hainless transition

Guess who said this: “If both Welsh living standards and the economic competitiveness which underpins our prosperity is to grow as we all want, the private sector needs to grow very significantly, and at a relatively much faster rate.” No, it wasn’t Nick Bourne, but Peter Hain (reported in the Western Mail today).

If this analysis is true then it will represent a challenge to the Labour-Plaid coalition government which has, so far, not deviated markedly from previous Labour Assembly Government policy besides talk about referendums and conventions, which will die down if Paul Murphy has his way.

Besides more obvious 'unionist' objections one reason Murphy is keen to dampen referendum fever is to refocus Welsh Labour on its self-styled calling as effective public service managers. Welsh Labour’s 2011 appeal will be built on the idea that it is the most responsible service manager, making savings and delivering services efficiently. Plaid, on the other hand, has allowed Labour to get on with this, styling itself as a responsible alternative which will be ready for government on its own at a later date.

This strategy has brought criticism from Plaid’s stronger elements, who are concerned about key Plaid policy areas being ‘watered down’, e.g. not funding Y Byd. The problem brought by Plaid’s approach is that a party building itself as a party of government cannot be seen to in the thrall of any particular minority group, no matter how large that minority is.

Whether any of this will make a difference is still to be seen. Today’s ICM poll results show that around 60% don’t know who runs the Welsh Assembly Government. Curiously, 49% of the survey respondents said they would vote ‘yes’ in a referendum on full powers. These results might show the perils of sample-based surveys rather than reflecting the real views of the Welsh electorate. We can only hope.