| Three Months of Tumult Like No Other |
A Political Diary |
| Second Quarter of 2024 , Public Life of Wales & Scotland , July 5, 2024 |
The trajectories of the devolved nations have much in common. 2nd March Bagehot, the commentator in the Economist, turned their eyes to the north. “The SNP dreams of a new state but has done little to reform the one it runs.” “Every issue is seen through the lens of social outcomes first and implications for growth last. The SNP has grown chilly to businesses and made the fuzzy idea of a “well-being economy” the centrepiece of its agenda...The party has hoarded power centrally in Edinburgh, when cities such as Glasgow ought to have been able to try out their own growth-enhancing policies. “In a country where devotion to the cause counts for more than competence, scrutiny has been sorely lacking. Holyrood lacks a vibrant backbench culture; the poison of polarisation has made think-tanks and academics hesitant to criticise the SNP. “Ms Sturgeon refused to take questioning from parliamentary committees in Westminster...The Public Accounts Committee should take more interest in how the Scottish government spends its money. This more businesslike approach will inevitably prompt nationalists to say that the English are recolonising Scotland....Politics is about vision and emotion. But the parable of Scotland shows that even populists must eventually demonstrate that they can solve genuine problems. The country’s political class has been on a long holiday from reality. Scotland cannot afford another wasted decade. “Public services may be generous but they are not in good shape....The SNP has indulged in piecemeal giveaways but avoided deep-rooted change. Local government, and its antiquated tax regime, has been left untouched. “A read through Audit Scotland’s back catalogue captures this sense of drift. There are recurrent problems with fuzzily designed schemes that lack clear objectives, modelling and budgets, resulting in what it calls “a major implementation gap between policy ambitions and delivery on the ground.” “It is often difficult to say how well things are going in Scotland. In signing off the Scottish government’s accounts in 2021, the watchdog concluded that in the “absence of defined, measurable targets, it is difficult for the reader to assess whether the national outcomes are being achieved”. “Stasis is not a viable long-term option. Scotland is ageing more rapidly than England, adding to strains on the health- and social-care systems. In the event of independence, Scotland would need to pull off the doubly heroic feat of building a new state fit for an ageing population. The SNP’s record of government does not inspire much confidence.” https://www.economist.com/britain/2023/03/02/nicola-sturgeons-modest-record-of-reform * * * * 15th April: A new Cabinet forms in Cardiff. Lesley Griffiths takes on these responsibilities: Culture and the arts Broadcasting and media policy Sponsorship and remit of the Arts Council of Wales The historic environment in Wales Cadw and the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments National Museums and Galleries of Wales Local museums and collections National Library of Wales Development of a National Archive for Wales National Botanic Garden of Wales Elite Sport Community sport, physical activity and active recreation in Wales, including sponsorship of the Sports Council for Wales Co-ordination of cross-cutting measures to promote prosperity and tackle poverty Co-ordination of measures to mitigate Child Poverty Digital Inclusion Oversight of the distribution of Lottery funding within Wales Welfare Reform Fuel Poverty Financial inclusion, including credit unions Equality and Human Rights Co-ordination of issues relating to Gypsies, Roma and Travellers, Asylum-seekers, refugees and community cohesion Anti-slavery, domestic abuse, gender-based violence and sexual violence The Voluntary sector and volunteering Youth Justice and Female Offending blueprints Community Safety Relations with the Police and Crime Commissioners, Police and other Criminal Justice agencies Relations with UK government in respect of Prisons and the Probation Service Advice and Advocacy Services Lead responsibility for monitoring Post Office and Royal Mail matters in Wales Public appointments policy and implementation Relationship with the Older People’s Commissioner for Wales, Children’s Commissioner for Wales, and Future Generations Commissioner for Wales. National implementation of the Well-being of Future Generations framework, including Well-being of Future Generations National Stakeholder Fora and oversight of relationship with Public Bodies under the WFG Act. * * * * 3rd May: A Police and Crime Commissioner is elected on 6% of the electorate. There is no reason for the position be party-based. Vaughan Gething of the results: “They show Labour is, and always will be, the true party of Wales.” * * * * 4th June: Mark Drakeford spoke from the backbenches to criticise the Government. The back-tracking by the Gething Cabinet on term-time changes was the “abandonment of a manifesto commitment”. Other policies shelved were the Sustainable Farming Scheme and Council tax reform. “I regret the political damage. I regret the reputational damage that will be done to Wales, just as other parts of the United Kingdom were looking at Wales and pointing to us as an example of what a progressive Government could do. “The Minister shouldn’t seek to shelter behind semantics in saying to me that this was a commitment to explore reform of the school day, because she knows perfectly well that her predecessors published a plan—not an exploration, but a plan—to implement that commitment, and that will now not be happening in this Senedd term. The Cardiff West MS continued saying deprived families approach the summer holiday with “anxiety sometimes amounting to fear”. “The Cabinet Secretary for Education responded saying she regretted the tone of the former First Minister which she felt called into question her commitment to young people. She said: “This is not about reactionary forces. This is about me making a decision based on a 16,000-plus consultation and what I am hearing on the ground about a school system that is struggling and overwhelmed with reform, that is finding it challenging to raise attainment, and which is also struggling for funding. So that is what I am prioritising, and I make no apologies for that decision.” https://nation.cymru/news/drakeford-rebukes-cabinet-secretary-on-school-holiday-reform-u-turn/ * * * * 5th June: Terry with 45 years experience of schools in Wales and England for 45 years. The author of the 2019 book “The Slow Learning Country: Out of the Dim into the Light” wrote an open letter to Lynn Neagle. https://nation.cymru/opinion/a-letter-to-lynne-neagle-the-new-cabinet-secretary-for-education/ * * * * June was eventful but the constitutional position of executive and legislature went unexplored. . 11th June 2024 at First Ministers Questions. "But the vote took place, and the outcome is the outcome. I now need to look at the future and what that means for the few weeks I've been the first minister, and the way in which I want to lead my country into the future, and the need to build confidence across this Chamber and acceptance of the reality that I am stood here as the first minister, needing to work with different people to make the institution work. For what we have done in devolution, it has required different people to work together." And a week later: "I recognise and respect the vote of the Senedd. I look forward to working to regain the confidence of members from across the chamber, and ensure that the government that I lead is focused on the priorities of the people of Wales". BBC “I recognise the choices we need to make in moving forward to meet the questions and the priorities of the people of Wales. I set that out when I became First Minister less than three months ago.” https://nation.cymru/news/the-gig-is-up-tory-ms-launches-scathing-attack-on-gething-for-ignoring-no-confidence-vote/ * * * * July: “So, I am committed to behaving in a way that allows this institution to carry on meeting the needs of people in Wales, Now, it's not for us to have a running commentary on the two people who are not well. It's really important we think about that. That isn't just an issue for my own political group, it is an issue for us as an institution. I want those people to be able to come back, when they're well and able to do so, to be reintegrated not into just my own political grouping but actually within the institution. I think a lot about the choices I've made in trying to protect other people, in trying to make sure there's room for those people to have a route back, because I think that matters. And it's why I've been prepared to take blows and to not respond to different things that have been said, because that's part of my job in being a leader. “So, it's how I have behaved, and it's how I will behave, and I think everyone should reflect on not just what was done last week with the vote, but, actually, everything around it and the comments that were made as well. It is a responsibility for all of us.” “So, I will go on making the argument for the future we could have, the future I want us to have after 4 July, the future that I will be happy to argue for right up to and all the way through to the Senedd elections in 2026, a reformed Senedd that will be returned by the people of Wales, and not just the record we'll have of the next two years, but the period of devolution, and what we have done for our country in partnership with others in this place and beyond. That's what I will be doing, and I'm very proud to carry on making that case. https://record.senedd.wales/Plenary/13947#C596907 * * * * 18th June: Leader of the Opposition: “You don't half talk a load of cobblers, First Minister.” Deputy Presiding Officer: “Before you answer, First Minister, I'm sure the leader of the opposition would reflect upon the opening statement in the last question, and I'm sure he'll appreciate that it was probably not the language that we would use in this Chamber.” * * * * 23rd June: On BBC Wales' “Politics Wales” Vaughan Gething said “Of course I regret the difficulties that have been caused to a range of people.” * * * * 26th June 2024 “The party has risen to dominance in Wales by successfully articulating the interests of several different groups at once. The party has positioned itself as the defender of working-class interests, often by using radical language and reminding voters of its strong links to Labour traditions – particularly Nye Bevan, who led the creation of the NHS. “It also positions itself as the party of Wales, appealing to voters in terms of both identity and class. Former first minister Mark Drakeford once declared that “social solidarity is part of what it means to be Labour, and what it means to be Welsh”. “Yet, sustained single party dominance has negative consequences. As noted by the political scientist TJ Pempel, the dominant party can shape the nation and political landscape in its own image, but a failure to adapt can sow the seeds for its own destruction. https://nation.cymru/opinion/can-election-success-draw-a-line-under-welsh-labours-crisis/ * * * * A general election was announced on 22nd May. In the Oak Hall at Rhosygilwen on 23rd June Ben Lake was on his feet for two hours. It was an event without minders and no slogans, no sound-bites. The questions from across the range were addressed clearly & comprehensively. My own: “I've watched around thirty children grow up, most from Meithrin in 2000, a few from Year 7. Much of my perceptions of class, social mobility, education I've got from seeing them. For all the lives that are so different there is one thing in common. They don't pay for a TV licence, they have no intersection with the BBC, they don't buy newspapers. But then they seem to know well enough what they want to know. You live more broadly than I. You've been out on the stump for four weeks. Do you have any fears for a democratic culture, of participation?” Ben Lake: “It's certainly a generation difference. Many I meet are well-informed. Sometimes better than me. The antidote, to all these different sources, it may be a small thing, but it is at events like this. We can disagree, but we can agree that we do, and when we are in a place like this, it can be done with respect.” * * * * July 4th: The votes in Wales were: Labour 487636 Plaid 194811 Tory 240003 Reform 223018 Liberals 85911 Across the United Kingdom the votes were: Labour 9660081 Conservative 6755953 Reform 4072947 Lib dems 3487568 Green 1931880 SNP 685405 Plaid Cymru 194811 Picture: General Election hustings at Saint Michael's church, Aberystwyth * * * * July 28th: “There is, however, a positive initiative that Baroness Morgan can launch as soon as she takes possession of the First Minister’s office that will not break her government’s budget. She can end the pervasive culture of secrecy and hostility towards any group that dares to hold the administration to account. Such an approach had early beginnings. In the first months of the National Assembly, before he was ousted in a no confidence vote, the body’s first leader Alun Michael would regularly lambast anyone, including opposition politicians, who criticised decisions made by him and other ministers for “talking Wales down”. Elements of such an attitude persisted and were manifest during Mr Gething’s short period in charge. I remember Rhodri Morgan proclaiming that he intended to lead “the most open administration in the western world”. Whatever his intentions, those at the Welsh Government who respond to freedom of information requests are, as at many public bodies, notorious for using the many exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act to withhold, often on spurious grounds, documents that should be in the public domain. Eluned Morgan should ditch the secrecy-centred approach to the disclosure of information and revert to Rhodri Morgan’s intention to run the most open administration in the western world (why not the whole world?). While she’s about it, she should shake up Welsh Labour’s press office, which has been useless, evasive and unresponsive for a long time. Continuing such an approach will do the party untold damage, especially in the run-up to the Senedd election in May 2026. A healthily functioning government is one that is honest with its citizens, admits when things have gone wrong and shows leadership by explaining why it’s in the best interests of the country to make certain policy choices. We at Nation.Cymru will tell truth to power. In the new era of two Labour governments working together for the good of Wales, so should Eluned Morgan. https://nation.cymru/opinion/the-new-first-minister-must-be-honest-and-open-with-the-people-of-wales/ |
Reviewed by: Adam Somerset |
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