Unlike his colleagues who have been stomping around the Palace of Westminster in simulated outrage, the Sennedd’s presiding officer says he has no problems with coalition government plans to combine dates for various referenda with Assembly elections next year.
Despite protests from Plaid parliamentary knob Elfyn Llwyd who said the proposal smacked of "contempt", a more relaxed Dav-El said he thought cost was the "overriding issue".
This is probably not so much an internal party split as an example of how even the Party of Wales is prone to different perspectives in matters devolutionary. Of course, it may also be evidence that Elis-Thomas remains the more astute of the two when surveying political landscapes. His very reasonable stance will cost Plaid nothing whilst the current signs are that Clegg’s electoral reforms are unlikely to get majority backing from MPs.
1 Comments:
Ellis thomas might be worth listening too if he actually demonstrated any consistency or logic in his public pronouncements on this issue but a glance at his recent track record reveals anything but!! Its barely a year since he rubbished the very idea of a referendum on primary lawmaking powers for the assembly…indicating he did not think such a referendum could be won. He then a couple of months ago told the welsh politics show it didnt matter to him if the referendum was won or not…….. a somewhat odd position to take for a leading member of plaid cymru….even by this maverick’s dubious track record. He then argued only a couple of weeks ago that the proposed referendum on lawmaking powers should be put back to autumn 2011…….and now it appears he has undergone yet another change of mind on the issue…….hence yesterday’s absurd pronouncement.
If welsh secretary cheryl gillan were to bow to Ellis Thomas's latest 'optimum time' to stage the referendum voters in wales would be faced on may 5th with 4 separate ballot papers – one for the referendum on primary lawmaking powers for the assembly, one for the british govts referendum on AV, one for the Welsh Assembly constituencies and one for the Assembly regional lists. This ridiculously overloaded ballot being preceeded by campaigning by two seperate Yes campaigns, two seperate No campaigns….and every political party in wales trying to get their own respective messages over to the welsh electorate. So far from being 'very reasonable stance' ellis thomas's plan would be a recipe for confusion and chaos...and would make a united and effective Yes campaign for lawmaking powers for the welsh assembly an impossibility
dafydd ellis thomas is of course entitled to his opinion on the timing of the referendum...even if it is an opnion that seems to change every few weeks...but it is surely unacceptable that he should use his position as presiding officer to seek to continually undermine the timing of the referendum in this way. It is frankly an outrageous abuse of his position. Also lets be quite clear here ….ellis thomas is speaking for himself….he certainly doesnt speak for the welsh assembly…or anyone else on this matter. Im sure however his ’submission’ will have no effect on cheryl gillan’s decision on the timing of the referendum…it is clear that the decision has already been taken and it will rightly be held in march 2011.
Leigh Richards
swansea
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