A Sad Day for Devolution

The plenary meeting of the national assembly has been called off as a strike by civil and public servants continues for a second day, which could be described as a simple case of one step forward and two steps back for devolution in Wales.

Is democracy this fragile?

Up to 20,000 workers in Wales are expected to take part in the second day of a UK-wide industrial action over changes to redundancy terms.

It has caused the assembly to postpone Tuesday's scheduled meeting of all members until Wednesday morning, which must surely put back other business that was due to be discussed.

The UK government insists the new rules are "fair" to both staff and taxpayers.
The 48-hour stoppage by the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union is affecting job centres, courts and the Welsh Assembly Government.

An assembly spokesperson said plenary would be held throughout the day on Wednesday.

This will allow the planned business for the week, both government and opposition, to be completed.

In reality, Assembly business will be behind and members would've lost an entire day, and all thanks to the weak decision of certain political parties in the National Assembly. PCS members will understandably lose two days pay for striking, but will Assembly Members lose out on pay? You'll always find there's plenty of backbench constituency work to do on days like this... problem solved!