| Non-Regulation of Pollution, Criminalising Non-voters, Welsh Language Decline, Across the Board Opposition to Labour-Plaid's Voting Reform |
A Political Diary |
| Things That Were Said , Politics Second Half of 2023 , January 5, 2024 |
[A guide and index to this sequence of comment can be read in the first two links below.]Public policy is difficult, complex and detailed. It is not easily entered into by lay persons. An arts writer has no particular insights of value. But political language, like all language, is the critic's domain. Language reveals attitude and attitude is a determinant of action; a watchful eye on public language is a useful eye. So some words from the second half of 2023: * * * * 25th August Jeffrey Jones, experienced in local politics, puts it succinctly: “Can anyone tell me what is the point of devolution when every time the going gets tough Welsh politicians always blame and ask for help from whoever is in government in London?” * * * * 28th September. David Blunkett: “The ‘closed list’ system, which involves electors voting for a party, not for representatives of individual constituencies, has profound implications. It does, of course, as all such proportional systems entail, break the link between the constituent and the individual representative. “But it does so much more. It embeds, in aspic, the power of party leaders to determine who gets a preferred position on the list put to the electorate, cutting out the local party membership from the internal democratic process. The danger to recruiting and maintaining party membership is obvious, but so is a route to a form of top-down politics, which further erodes genuine democratic participation.” Source: https://nation.cymru/news/new-senedd-voting-system-wrong-says-ex-home-secretary/ * * * * 19th October. Welsh Water admits illegally spilling sewage for years. Delyth Jewell MS:“This is hugely concerning for our natural environment...Urgent answers are needed to explain why Dŵr Cymru has not faced penalties for these ongoing failures and why this situation has persisted for almost a decade without decisive action.” Janet Finch-Saunders, the Welsh Conservative shadow climate change minister,“Welsh Water has broken the law and must face the consequences...The Labour Government need to follow the lead of the UK Government and start holding this disgraceful dumping to account by fining and start prosecuting Welsh Water, their inaction is harming our environment and waterways.” Peter Perry, chief executive of Dŵr Cymru, told the Senedd’s Climate Change Committee, told MSs that the company has 3,500 permits and flagged less than 200 to Natural Resources Wales. Source: https://nation.cymru/news/dwr-cymru-bosses-to-face-westminster-grilling-following-sewage-dumping-admission/ * * * * 20th October. Llyr Gruffydd, Plaid Cymru MS for North Wales: “A recent YouGov poll showed that a third of people – a quarter of a century into devolution – still don’t appreciate that the Welsh Government is responsible for health. A third actually believe the Conservatives have ministers in the Welsh Government following the 2021 election.” Source: https://nation.cymru/news/concerns-raised-about-poor-coverage-of-welsh-politics-by-broadcasters/ * * * * 22nd October. Adam Price called again for citizens who do not vote to be fined. He also called for more state-funded journalism. “I would say new public funding for political think tanks and public interest journalism.” Source: https://nation.cymru/opinion/adam-price-has-a-blueprint-to-improve-welsh-democracy-that-must-be-taken-seriously/ * * * * 27th October. Alan Renwick, a political science professor at University College London, gave evidence on the Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) bill. “It just seems to me very, very clear that to remove that ability from voters to vote for individual candidates would create a significant danger of increasing public disaffection with the system. When we are talking about a reform to increase the number of politicians … the suggestion that you also change the voting system to give voters less power to determine who the politicians filling those seats are, seems to me really dangerous.. And I just would urge the committee and the Senedd as a whole to think very seriously about whether it really wants to go down that path.” “We have abundant evidence from various sources that removing from voters the opportunity … to choose an individual person on the ballot paper would further enhance that dissatisfaction. I did a big study a few years ago on voting systems across all European countries and there has been a very clear trend over recent decades towards giving voters greater choice at the level of individual candidates, precisely to respond to that concern.” Source: https://nation.cymru/news/plans-to-change-the-senedds-electoral-system-dangerous-mss-are-told/ * * * * 9th November. The Senedd’s climate change committee took evidence after reports that spills in Wales account for about 25% of all discharges across Wales and England. Six of the UK’s 20 most polluted rivers are in Wales. Gareth O’Shea, executive director of operations, said NRW shares the public’s concern. Labour’s Huw Irranca-Davies asked: “Who holds the feet of Dŵr Cymru to the fire?” Mr O’Shea said NRW is responsible in terms of environmental regulation and he disputed suggestions that the body takes a hands-off approach to enforcement. Janet Finch-Saunders, the Tory MS for Aberconwy, raised concerns about Dŵr Cymru breaching permit conditions more than 200 times in six years but only being fined twice. Mr Gruffydd said there is a carrot-and-stick approach “but you never use the stick”. Mr O’Shea disputed this, saying there is a lag between incidents and enforcement. He told MSs there have been six prosecutions and 19 formal cautions. Source: https://nation.cymru/news/mss-grill-dwr-cymru-nrw-and-ofwat-over-illegal-sewage-spills/ * * * * 11th November: Jess Blair, director of the Electoral Reform Society Cymru: “We do have some serious concerns about the closed-list system proposed … primarily around the lack of voter choice that’s associated with it.” She raised the risk that the public will disengage or feel disenfranchised, saying one election under a closed-list system is too many. She told MSs: “I think it is extremely concerning that a small number of party members could potentially decide … who gets elected – there’s a massive issue with that.” Source: https://nation.cymru/news/senedd-election-reforms-sub-optimal-committee-told/ * * * * 14th November: Mr Miles said the second key issue was a decline in traditional Welsh-speaking heartlands. The minister explained he has commissioned a sociolinguistic survey to better understand what lies behind the decline and inform interventions to reverse the trend. Mr Miles highlighted the publication of a white paper on a Welsh Language Education bill. He said it aims to ensure all pupils leave school as confident Welsh speakers, regardless of the medium of teaching. Mr Miles told MSs: “That is an ambition that I would argue is just as ambitious as – perhaps more ambitious than – the million Welsh speakers. Mr Miles also pointed to the disparity between census data on one hand and the Welsh Government’s annual population surveys on the other. During the statement in the Senedd on Tuesday November 14, he said: “Looking ahead, despite the challenges presented by the census results, the narrative around the Welsh language has certainly changed and there is more support than ever for the language.” “The entire nation was disappointed with the census data, and we must all take hold of that energy and enthusiasm to work together to make a difference for the Welsh language.” Source: https://nation.cymru/news/concerns-raised-over-progress-towards-welsh-government-target-of-a-million-welsh-speakers/ * * * * 22nd November. Prosecuting water companies does not improve the environment, the CEO of Natural Resources Wales (NRW) has told MPs. NRW has not made any prosecutions anywhere in Wales over illegal sewage dumping for the last five years, according to a recent BBC report, despite data showing that Dwr Cymru (Welsh Water) has been doing so for years. Professor Peter Hammond, an environmental investigator from the group Windrush Against Sewage Pollution, told the Welsh Affairs Committee that data from one sewage treatment plant in Cardigan seemed to show that every spill there for the last six years has been illegal. When asked by MPs why NRW is not prosecuting water companies for illegal sewage dumping, the regulator’s CEO, Clare Pillman, said: “I think that going to court is in a way, the point at which regulation has failed. “Likely it has a demonstration effect but what we are looking for is for compliance. At the point at which you’re prosecuting for the failure, you are not getting environmental betterment. Whereas what we’re trying to do all the time is push for environmental improvement.” The lack of prosecution in Wales despite repeated incidences of Dwr Cymru holding their hands up not only after the fact, but after it has been exposed by external parties, might also be described as a failure of regulation. What’s the point in holding the principle of polluter pays up as a way of embellishing environmental credentials by the Regulator and Government if actually the polluter never pays? Source: https://nation.cymru/news/prosecuting-water-companies-does-not-improve-environment-says-nrw-boss/ * * * * December 1st. Dafydd Wigley: “Closed lists are a democratic scandal – and isn’t a price worth paying for an enlarged Senedd. Closed Lists give all the power to the parties and the ordinary voter has no power. It’s not the electoral system that Plaid Cymru wants, nor, I suspect, do a lot of Labour members. I think it would be a serious mistake to bring in Closed Lists.” Source: https://nation.cymru/news/wigley-urges-rethink-over-closed-lists-senedd-voting-system/ * * * * Rhun ap Iorwerth: "What I want to do as Leader, above all, is to try to build a new trust in our vision." Source: “Agenda”, the house journal of the Institute of Welsh Affairs , Issue 71 Autumn / Winter 2023. * * * * December: “We have also provided funding for Wales-based companies. to develop...a fun-filled, water-based children’s gameshow.” “”We have launched a new innovation strategy for Wales, setting out an aspiration for Wales to be a leading, innovationbased nation. It focuses on ensuring innovative new products and processes are developed to help solve the biggest challenges facing communities and ensuring they reach every part of society. Source: Labour-Plaid “The Co-operation Agreement – Annual Report 2022-2023”. |
Reviewed by: Adam Somerset |
This review has been read 725 times There are 34 other reviews of productions with this title in our database:
|
