Blast from the Past: Wigley on Morgan

Slow-retiring First Minister Rhodri Morgan made two big mistakes during his near decade in office, according to former Plaid Cymru president Dafydd Wigley.

In an article written for Ninnau, the North American Welsh newspaper that is largely complimentary about Mr Morgan, Mr Wigley singles out the scrapping of the Welsh Development Agency (WDA) and the first NHS reorganisation as serious errors.

Mr Wigley stated:

To my mind, one of the decisions taken by Rhodri Morgan back in 2004 undermined
the process of securing economic renewal. He decided, with support from all four
parties in the National Assembly, to axe the WDA. This body, at arm’s length from government, had been leading the work to secure economic development.

Since 1975, wrote Mr Wigley, the WDA had gained for itself a very significant international reputation and a brand image that was helpful for Wales.

Many of us feel that it was a disastrous decision to abolish the WDA and to integrate its work into the civil service of the National Assembly. There are no two ways about it: this decision was down to Rhodri Morgan himself. He had been highly critical of the WDA’s lack of answerability over a couple of decades. That decision, to my mind, was fundamentally flawed and Wales will continue to pay the price until some similar structure is recreated.

Writing about what he sees as the other major mistake during Mr Morgan’s period in office, Mr Wigley stated:

The other disastrous decision was to create 22 Local Health Boards in Wales, a bureaucratic nightmare in a country of only three million people.

It is good that the Labour-Plaid coalition government has recently seen the folly of that decision and has replaced those 22 boards with a slimmed-down seven region structure which came into force in October this year.

Writing about the challenges facing the new First Minister, Mr Wigley states:

The new First Minister will have his or her time cut out in living up to the popularity of Rhodri Morgan. There will be huge economic challenges arising from the recession. The Assembly, as with all UK public sector bodies, will face a financial squeeze.

There will be tensions if, as expected, the next UK Government at Westminster is Conservative, with a very different agenda to that of the Labour-Plaid coalition in Wales.

All this will inevitably lead to calls for an early referendum to give the Assembly full parliamentary powers.

We are entering a new era of uncharted waters.

Will it be panel beating of a different kind?

An independent panel investigating pay and expenses among members of the Welsh assembly is about to report back.

The findings will come after almost a year of investigation and following recent controversies over expenses.

Panel members have held more than 20 meetings - including two in public - and compared procedures at other parliamentary bodies.

The panel say the aim is to reward AMs fairly for their work, but with the emphasis on transparency.

"We have adopted a number of principles to guide us in our work. One of these is that our recommendations must be based on evidence," said Sir Roger Jones, who chairs the panel.

"We want to get this right - to ensure not only that any new system of pay and allowances is fair, transparent, and recognises and rewards AMs' skills, but also that it provides value for money."
The panel was established in August last year to "look at all aspects of financial support available to AMs."

The independent review panel includes chair Sir Roger Jones, pro-chancellor at Swansea University, Jackie Nickson, a senior human resources manager, Nigel Rudd, the former chief executive of the East Midlands Regional Assembly, and Dafydd Wigley, the former Plaid Cymru president.

Wales Yearbook 2008 Political Awards Results (Pippa Wagstaff too shocked to return)

According to the Western Mail the winners of the Wales Yearbook 2008 Political Awards (sponsored by ITV Wales), are:

LORD Elis-Thomas, Presiding Officer of the National Assembly, was last night named Welsh Politician of the Year at a ceremony in Cardiff City Hall.

The former Plaid Cymru president got the award “for his role in the Assembly’s transformation into a true legislature, passing Welsh laws under its new powers”.

The citation went on to say: “As the Assembly’s first, and so far only, Presiding Officer, he has had no precedent to guide him – something he has seen as an opportunity rather than a problem.

“Dafydd Elis-Thomas has never been afraid to revise his opinions to reflect changing circumstances.

“A radical republican when first elected to Westminster at the age of 27, he has been keen to involve the Queen and Prince of Wales in the Assembly’s ceremonies as he works to weave devolution into the constitutional fabric of the nation.”

Other winners were:

MP of the Year: Paul Murphy.
AM of the Year: Edwina Hart.
MP to Watch: Jenny Willott.
AM to Watch: Andrew RT Davies.
Local Politician of the Year: Councillor John Davies, Leader of Pembrokeshire County Council and the Welsh Local Government Association.
Campaigner of the Year: Nerys Evans.

Dafydd Wigley, the Honorary President of Plaid Cymru, received a Lifetime Achievement award.

Elis Owen, National Director of ITV Wales, said: “We are delighted to support these awards, which are one of the ways that we celebrate the hard work politicians do for us in Wales.”

The awards will be shown on ITV Wales in a special programme on Thursday December 18 at 11.05pm, hosted by Wales Tonight’s Jonathan Hill and Sharp End’s Mai Davies. All winners received a personalised cartoon by Mumph and a bottle of Penderyn Welsh whisky.

Is it me or are some of the award results highly questionable and could be described as scraping the barrel? No wonder Pippa Wagstaff is on a break from blogging. At this rate she won't have the will to return!

Plaid Lords are leaping: The party giveth and the party taketh away

Following on from an earlier post it seems at National Council*, Plaid Cymru have democratically nominated [sort of] their potential peers for the House of Lords, or as they prefer to call it, the Second Chamber. Going off subject, does that mean that they refer to the National Assembly as the Second House of Legislation?... I think not

Anyway, the three nominated are Dafydd Wigley, Eurfyl ap Gwilym and Janet Davies.

Some believe that this process was Plaid's master stroke, others differ in opinion. I hope that some have repaid the favour - when casting votes - of Janet 'retiring' at the last Assembly election.

.

Somehow I don't think they will break with tradition and not be styled appropriately after they get the nod from the Prime Minister. It makes you wonder how long it will be before there's mention of 'reforming the chamber from within'.

.

*Other news from Plaid National Council: The Council also agreed to look again at the rule that prevented Mr Wigley from returning to the Assembly last year – the party’s policy of having a woman at the top of its regional lists. Mr Wigley was placed second on the North Wales list below Janet Ryder, who was elected. The same policy also gave Ms Jenkins the number one slot on the South Wales West list with just 14 votes.

But the controversy the policy caused within the party – it became known as the “Wigley Rule” – means Plaid will now look at a policy of whoever receives the highest number of votes from party members being placed on top of the regional list, with the second place automatically being given to a candidate of the opposite sex, a system known as ‘zipping’.

Dafydd Wigley Accepts - Shock, Horror!

Are you sitting comfortably? Yes! then I will begin with the shock of the year. Dafydd Wigley has accepted for his name to be put forward for the party's internal election for membership of the House of Lords.

The former MP and AM confirmed he had accepted the nomination and said a "strong voice" for Wales was needed.

I know that you've all just fallen off your seats, but if you remember, there were three conditions:

1. Plaid’s policy should permit members to take seats there: this was satisfied by the November vote of the party’s national council.


2. Plaid’s group of three MPs should agree with the move and that there should be a co-ordination mechanism between the MPs and the party’s peers. Plaid’s parliamentary leader Elfyn Llwyd has confirmed there is no difficulty on this account and that he welcomes the establishment of a Plaid presence in the second chamber.


3. Involved creating a linkage between the Plaid team in the Lords and the National Assembly.

Well, it wasn't as if it involved moving heaven and earth.

As well as Mr Wigley, candidates for seats in the Lords will include the party’s economics adviser Eurfyl ap Gwilym, former chief executive Dafydd Williams, former AM Janet Davies, Gwynedd Council chair Meinir Owen and Rhian Medi Roberts, who works for the Plaid group in the House of Commons. Some prominent party members have decided not to stand, including the well-respected former AM Cynog Dafis.

Most people will be pleased by his announcement as Wigley will be a good voice for Wales. There's some even better news however - Yesterday, Pauline Jarman, a former AM who led Rhondda Cynon Taf council until 2004 and remains the council’s opposition leader, said she would not be a candidate for the House of Lords.

Mrs Jarman said, “I’ve listened to the advice of some people whose opinions I respect, and have decided not to put my name forward. There’s a lot of work to be done locally.” Phew!

Assembly Government Spin Doctors Costing Taxpayers £438k

The Assembly Government is to take on two new 'spin doctors' costing the taxpayer nearly £110,000.

The Assembly will now have a total of seven full-time and two part-time spin doctors, officially known as special advisers, costing about £438,000.

However, it still has fewer advisers than either the Scottish government or the Northern Ireland Executive.

At a meeting of the Cabinet, First Minister Rhodri Morgan said that the Privy Council had approved the request for the two extra appointments, which are to be recruited by open competition. They will then join the others in Cabinet Secretariat in Cardiff Bay.

Special advisers straddle the centre ground between the civil service and the parties of government. Although civil servants, they are allowed to give party political policy advice to ministers and sometimes deal directly with the media.

Opposition leader Conservative Nick Bourne, hit out at the appointments and questioned the openness of the Assembly Government:

I’m very surprised this has all been done secretly. No permission has been sought from the Assembly for these extra advisers. For a government which prides itself on openness I think I think this is very worrying. At a time when money is scarce I am wondering how they have managed to find this extra money for advisers.

Looks like Dafydd Wigley will now be able to join the salaried Plaid SpAds that include Simon Thomas and Rhuanedd Richards.