Leadership

I announced my intention to stand for the leadership of the Labour Group in the Assembly on Monday. From now until the end of the campaign, all blogging will be at www.carwyn4labour.com (English) and www.carwyndroslafur.com (Welsh). You can find carwyn4labour and carwyndroslafur on Facebook, Youtube and Twitter, and there is a Flickr account for photographs as well.

Rhodri Morgan

Rhodri made it clear yesterday that he intends to stand down in December.

As someone who supported Rhodri when he stood for the leadership in 1999, I have felt privileged to have served under him in Government.

As I said yesterday, Rhodri commands a vast amount of respect from people across the length and breadth Wales, irrespective of their political persuasion.

It was Rhodri who gave me my first job both as a Minister and then in Cabinet. Over the years, I have learnt from and been greatly inspired by his leadership.

Conference

Rhodri Morgan of course deservedly stole all the headlines with his final speech to a UK Labour conference. Rhodri's wit and intelligence was given a standing ovation by conference, led by the Prime Minister and his Cabinet colleagues.

There was a great fringe meeting last night on the theme 'Winning for Wales in the global economy'. It was good to hear from the new prospective Assembly Candidate for Cardiff South and Penarth - and immediate past President of the Wales TUC - Vaughan Gething, and the newly-selected Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the Vale of Glamorgan Alana Davies. Secretary of State for Wales Peter Hain kicked off with a strong fightback message, just as he had in conference. I also spoke:

Those who caused the recession must pay their share

All the talk over the last few days has been of the cuts that will be required in the future to ensure stable public finances in the aftermath of the recession. Gordon Brown yesterday signalled that there would be difficult decisions to come. The Tories on the other hand said that they would like to go further with cuts, suggesting to me that they are using the smokescreen of recession to disguise far ranging cuts that are not necessary but that they would like to make anyway. It’s in their blood.

You would swear though that the recession was the fault of public sector workers if you read some of the papers. Yet again we hear the ludicrous clichés of public sector workers (like doctors, police officers and hospital support staff) being described as featherbedded pen pushers.

Public sector workers didn’t cause the recession; greedy bankers did. We must be careful as a party not to suggest that public sector workers should bear the brunt of measures like pay freezes when nothing of the sort applies to the banking sector. Wage restraint in the public sector will have no credibility if there is no equivalent in the banking sector, where the blame lies.

It isn’t simply a question of people bearing the cuts in equal shares either. There is an election poster from the 1920s which shows some men on a ladder. At the top is a man in a top hat; at the bottom a man in a cloth cap, whose head is just above the water. The man at the top suggests that it’s time for all to make sacrifices and says that they should all move down one rung on the ladder. For the man at the top, this means he still remains well above the water; the man at the bottom, his head goes under the water.

Strip away the old fashioned dress codes and the message is clear; those who are richer can afford to sacrifice and still live comfortably; the low paid can’t.

It’s time for those who made so much money and caused the collapse to move down a few rungs.

At what Price?

It was fascinating to hear of Adam Price's attack on the Tories in his speech at Plaid's Conference in Llandudno.

Warning his party of the "dangers" for Wales of a Tory general election victory. The "regressive right" he described them. A party who will declare "war on the poor".

Welsh Labour have been talking about the perils of unreconstructed Conservatism ever since Cameron was elected Tory Leader.The people of Wales cannot risk taking a 'punt' on the vacuous rhetoric that masks the true intent of his policy direction.

But Labour activists know that Adam's speech is a u-turn which reminds us how unreliable is Plaid Cymru's Carmarthen MP. I wonder sometimes though if the Welsh media notices his flipping and flopping.

Only a just over a year ago, Adam Price declared that as far as Plaid Cymru were concerned:

"There’s no veto as far as talking to the Conservatives."

Indeed, there was breathtakingly, even some boastful talk of "post-election discussions" with his new friend, David Cameron!

Of course, the people of Wales know that David Cameron and Adam Price have a lot in common.

With both of them, there's a lot of sizzle, but no steak.

Needless to say, Labour activists will be reminding the people of Wales of Adam's confused dalliance with the "regressive right" over the coming weeks and months. At the next General Election, people in Wales will understand - if you vote Plaid, you're likely to get the Tories.

UKIP's maths

I’ve always found the UKIP people I’ve met to be a fairly amiable bunch of people who don’t take politics that seriously. They tend to think that Britain took a wrong turn somewhere around 1959 and want to return to what they see as a golden age. Oddly enough, a few of them are farmers, which I’ve always thought strange as no group has benefitted more from both the European Union through subsidy payments and access to their biggest market which is southern Europe, and devolution which has led to agricultural policy being tailored to Welsh needs.

Today’s comments from John Bufton tend to reinforce that slightly eccentric image that UKIP has. He claims that the National Assembly is a European plot forced on the people of Wales and that he represents the “silent majority” of the people of Wales.

The argument about the referendum result is an old one. Yet at every election since its establishment the people of Wales have shown no inclination to vote for UKIP who are the only party that oppose devolution. In 2003 for example, standing on an anti-Assembly ticket, they polled less that 4% of the vote. Even this year, in the European election, where they got an MEP elected, they polled 12.8 % of the vote on a 30.4 % turnout which by my maths is less than 4% of the electorate. The fact is that 96% of the people didn’t vote for them. Not so much a silent majority but a non-existent one.

He also wants to close the Assembly Government’s offices in Merthyr, Aberystwyth and Llandudno Junction which would simply mean that the jobs there would return to Cardiff, or by his logic, to London, Exporting jobs from Wales seems to me to be a rash suggestion.

More worryingly, they accept the existence of the Scottish Parliament but refuse to accept a devolved body in Wales. If devolution is a European plot then that applies to Scotland as well as Wales. What on earth has Wales done to UKIP that they think Scotland should have a Parliament but Wales have nothing?

al-Megrahi and the "conspiracy"

The media furore over the al-Megrahi case has led to some fairly odd conclusions on the part of journalists.

The main part of the conspiracy theory surrounding it is that the UK Government conspired in some way with the Scottish Government to release a convicted murderer solely to help British business interests in Libya.

An interesting tale, but one with a fatal flaw caused by devolution. The Scottish criminal justice system is completely separate from that of England and Wales. There isn’t even a right of appeal to the House of Lords in Scottish criminal cases.

It follows then that any decisions affecting prisoner release fall within the powers of the Scottish Government, which has sole responsibility in this area. UK Ministers have no powers to intervene.

The Scottish Justice Minister is a member of the SNP, and unlikely you may think to take instructions from a UK Labour Government. Yet, according to the press, this is what happened. Kenny Macaskill was told to release al-Megrahi and apparently rolled over meekly. Like me, I’m sure you find this unlikely, yet this is the basis for today’s story.

We then heard David Cameron on the Today programme who tried to pin the blame on Gordon Brown by ignoring the simple fact the devolution exists. He tried to give the impression that somehow the decision wasn’t taken in Scotland at all. He criticised Gordon Brown freely, but the question he should have been asked was “If you had been Prime Minster, what would you have done?” The answer of course is nothing because he wouldn’t have had any powers to do anything.

Again this raises the question of the Tory attitude to devolution, but it also gives ammunition to the SNP who no doubt will soon try to portray Cameron as an Englishman meddling in a Scottish affair. What David Cameron is in danger of doing is fanning the flames of nationalism in Scotland by his clumsy intervention.

Responsibility for the decision lies with the Scottish Government and it’s for them to explain it.
It's also for the Scotttish opposition parties to hold them to account.

Aberpergwm and the future of coal

I'm off to visit the Aberpergwm mine tomorrow in the company of the NUM. The purpose of the visit is to see how the mine is faring and also to talk to those involved in the industry.

We shouldn't forget that drift mining is still important as a source of employment and the steelworks at Port Talbot will need to secure a source of coal for the future. What better way of doing this then by looking to win that coal from the seams at Margam?

I know about the arguments about coal's carbon footprint, but if we could replace imported coal at the plant with local coal then the carbon foorprint wouldn't increase. Arguably it would decrease because the footprint generated by moving the coal by sea across great distances would be removed.

The last time I was underground was at Tower with Brian Gibbons six years ago. We walked for some distance to reach the face from pit bottom and got a lift part of the way back by lying flat on our faces on the conveyor belts.

Tower's gone now but Aberpergwm's success shows that our coal industry is still there despite Margaret Thatcher's efforts to kill it stone dead.

Pembrokeshire Labour's fightback

It was good to be with party members at the Pembrokeshire Show on the 18th. Once again we showed that agricultural shows are not no-go areas for us.

The enthusiasm of local members was infectious. There was no sense of despondency amongst them and they leafleted enthusiastically throughout the day.

We also have a good Parliamentary Candidate there in Mari Rees. She believes like me that the Preseli Pembrokeshire seat is up for grabs. Remember that the Tory majority is only 607, and that was achieved when there was a great deal of argument within the local Labour party which didn’t exactly help during the campaign. Now though the local party is united in campaigning to get Mari elected. It will certainly be a good contest.

Thanks to everybody for their hospitality on the day and I’m looking forward to coming back to knock doors next spring.

Tories are bad for your health

The Tories are in trouble. After David Cameron's declarations of love for the NHS and his promises (now diluted) to increase health spending we now have the off the wall comments of Daniel Hannan who thinks the NHS was a "60 year mistake". He also made his comments on the rabidly right wing Fox News Network which he would have known would cause problems for his leader.

We learn from today's Observer though that several other Tory MPs have signed up to his view, but what sort of response had come from David Cameron. Only a suggestion that Hannan is "eccentric". This isn't good enough.

At the moment Hannan is in the USA trying to deprive people of the chance to get health coverage; claiming the the NHS is some kind of imposition on the British people that they would love to shake off. If David Cameron is so keen on the NHS why isn't he slapping down his errant colleague and telling the American people that the NHS is strongly supported by the people of Britain?

The real tragedy is that there are strong forces at work trying to prevent change in the US healthcare system. Some people make a lot of money out of providing healthcare in the US and they will pay a lot of money to defeat any change. They don't care about the millions of people in the US who can't afford treatment; they only care about their profits.

How sickening then to see some Tories supporting healthcare for the rich while their leader offers a weak response to their views.

Incidentally, where are the Welsh Tories on this. They've been silent. Where's the condemnation from Nick Bourne or Andrew RT Davies? Silence will be regarded as acquiescence if they don't defend the NHS.

Victory in Bridgend

Ok-perhaps it's a dramatic title, but winning a seat from the Lib Dems in the Morfa ward of Bridgend Town Council was good news for us here in Bridgend.

Although it was only a town council by-election it shows that the Team Bridgend approach can win seats. By that, I mean leafleting every fortnight and getting all party branches to leaflet for each other. Incredibly, it's the first seat we've won back in a by-election for many years.

Well done then to Haydn Morgan on his win, and we can look forward to a successful General Election campaign next year.

Good Show

I was up at the Anglesey Show yesterday at the invitation of Albert Owen MP and it was good to meet so many familiar faces in the Ynys Mon party and on on the showground.

Albert is a remarkably active MP and I'm confident that he will hold Ynys Mon next year. Many people knew him on the showground and he attracts support from those people who are occasional Labour voters as well as having built up a substantial personal vote.

It was good to see the Ynys Mon party sharing a stand with UNISON and to hear that the local party is in very good heart. As well as doing well in Holyhead in last year's council elections we won a seat in Amlwch, providing the first Labour councillor outside of the ferryport for many years. I've no doubt there's more to come.

It's important that as a party we do have a presence at events like this to show that we haven't forgotten rural Wales or indeed the farming community. As I've said before, there should be no no go areas for us.

Many thanks to all those on the stand for such a warm welcome, and I look forward to lending Albert a hand next year.