Spitting in the wind

Settling into the long term role of opposition cannot be a comfortable experience but Labour will need to up its game from merely singling out Cheryl Gillan as a suitable case for treatment.

As Betsan Powys observes, Ms Gillan does have a tendency to be a bit accident- prone. Even so, any impluse to make sure that any mud thrown her way actually sticks is never going to be anything more than a pleasurable diversion. The reality is that the Conservatives and Lib Dems are the new kids on the block and whatever the circumstances, it was the new government which pushed through the Housing LCO – right to buy powers notwithstanding.

It was interesting to see David Jones and Peter Black both blaming Labour for the delays up to that point. No doubt we will see a lot more of this air-brush approach to history - from both sides.

Lowering standards

There are differing accounts as to the identity of the “self-important buffoon” who allegedly pushed his way through people standing in silence as the Last Post was sounded at a recent memorial event for fallen Swansea servicemen - just so that he could get a seat in the VIP row, according to an EP website comment.

However, reports that the individual in question arrived quite late in the proceedings, chose to sit alongside Swansea West MP Geraint Whatisname and then complained about the arrangements do strongly suggest who it might have been.

Desertion or just deserts?

It is not exactly earth-shattering news that 48% of those who voted Lib Dem at the election are now less inclined to back them again as a direct result of the increase in VAT – or so the Observer (and Ed Milliband) state this morning – but there is an detectable sense of Schadenfreude from a paper which was only recently urging Nick Clegg to “grasp an historical opportunity to become a moderating force in government”.

What on earth did they [the newspaper] expect? As junior partners, the Lib Dems are literally just making up the numbers. Their ability to moderate or even influence policy is very limited and it is only the dangled prospect of electoral reform plus a few shiny trappings of government that underpins the rationale behind this coalition.

Unable to abandon their propensity to spin an electoral reverse in May into an “opportunity for the country”, the party is rapidly losing ground with voters who thought something a lot better would come out of a hung parliament and now feel they might have been taken for suckers.

Writing in the Independent, Clegg argues that his involvement in the emergency budget resulted in making “the best choices available to us in the circumstances, offering protection to those who need it and ensuring those with the broadest shoulders take the greatest strain”. His PR background is clearly to the fore in a well-written thousand word article which talks a lot about the “poorest” but only once mentions VAT.

It makes for good Sunday morning copy but the claims will be largely dismissed by a wavering intelligentsia readership. The article is also slightly undermined by treasury dude Danny Alexander who admits in another paper that tax increases run contrary to the Lib Dem election manifesto.

Politics is full of ironies, as one former chancellor once observed, but the one looming in front of Lib Dems is that if their popularity continues to decline then the promised PR hybrid that eventually emerges from the coalition agreement will have a negligible effect on their electoral chances next time around.

Update: Mike Smithson at Political Betting provides some useful context for the poll itself.

Short changed

As mentioned by A Change of Personnel, the Lib Dems are going through their own austerity measures; having lost out to the tune of £2million in so-called "Short money". This is the allocation, named after Ted Short (a minister in the Wilson government) which is given to opposition parties so that they can effectively function doing err ... all the things that opposition parties do.

Michael Crick pointed out the anomaly last month that a party in government, albeit as a coalition adjunct, is not eligible for this cash and that Clegg's men were looking to get a hand-out from the public purse. If this doesn't happen then we must presume that Lib Dem staffers will be included in the consultation over how to achieve 25% reduction. Ouch.

Update: Valleys Mam gives a more comprehensive account.

No action over bullying claim

We hear that the Swansea councillor who was reported for swearing and hurling abuse at female staff has got away with a mild telling off by his political party. Sources say that no action is to be taken by the council or the Ombudsman against the six foot ex-builder, despite his admission that he screamed out a string of four-letter words to an office entirely staffed by women.

It seems the only sanction he 'suffered' was being told to apologise to an employee. However, the Swansea Valley councillor reportedly showed little actual remorse and, according to observers, was seen bearing a shit-eating grin across his chops when he later emerged from the office.

Managers who failed to flag up the incident to the Ombudsman, now insist that the matter is closed. This has enraged a large number of staff and one insider stated, “Politicians and senior management are just closing ranks. Bullying by councillors is now officially condoned”.

Kirsty: 20% VAT is all Labour's fault

According to the Welsh Lib Dem leader, the increase in VAT is entirely down to a discovery that government debt is £12 billion worse than Labour had admitted. A 2.5% rise in Value Added Tax will bring in an estimated £13 billion from January which is a pretty neat bit of economic planning.

The reason that Wales did not figure in Mr Osborne's budget is because the coalition has only been in power for a few weeks and Labour had 13 years to put right any injustices in regional funding.

Update: For those with short memories (Lib Dems)

Money for nothing

Swansea started to experience the effects of council cuts in action yesterday as early morning, late evening & weekend journeys were withdrawn from bus timetables. Operator First Cymru said around 25 routes in the city were affected as a result of a £200,000 drop in transport subsidy from the local authority.

Not much fun for low-income workers who rely on public transport or those struggling to get home from a late shift. But they will be even less thrilled to learn that the decision to cut subsidies was taken by cabinet members who get £29,000 a year for doing less than 8 hours work a week.

Research by local government analysts reveals that the average cabinet member is present in the civic centre for an average of just 6.9 hours each week in order to attend meetings and receive briefings. Committee chairmen, who are on £22,500 a year, are even less frequent visitors to civic offices.

The appalling figures, which are based on local research, will confirm what many council staff will already know from the number of times they pass by empty cabinet offices, committee rooms and group suites on the second floor of Calamity Hall.

Swansea Council pays out £1,306,705 a year in councillor allowances. Of that, £358,825 is made up of special responsibility allowances which are paid out on top of the basic payment given to each councillor. As has been mentioned on this blog before, cutting the cabinet from ten to six members – which is the norm in comparable local authorities in England – would save well over £100,000 a year.

Enough to put a few buses back on the road.

Update: It seems the Beans on Toast is also flagging up concerns on value for money at Calamity Hall.

Still spinning social services

According to their spin-site, Swansea Council claim that they at the forefront of protecting children from neglect. The impression is that the authority is forging ahead.

If so then it is a remarkable turnaround from the situation reported less than three months ago by the Care and Social Services Inspectorate for Wales who found four out of seven service categories were “inconsistent” and gave a less than positive picture over potential improvements.

Could someone at Calamity Hall be giving a less than truthful depiction? Surely not.

Stirring

An accusation often levelled at the South Wales Evening Post by rabid anti-fascist campaigners is that they print inflammatory stories designed to stoke up anti-Islamic feeling and then follow up with reports about rising racial tensions in the city.

Our verdict regarding this particular charge is one of “not proven” – but you have to ask what purpose the people behind Wales’ largest selling newspaper thought they were serving by printing this front page headline for it’s main edition.

The intent of provoking predictable outrage with news of how a terraced house in the Hafod area of Swansea is being “illegally” used as a place of worship may be about boosting circulation. Yet have the marketing experts ever asked themselves how many of the tattooed slap-heads and armchair bigots who comment on the website actually go out and buy a copy?

Having said that, we quite liked the contribution by one reader who commented

Can you imagine the scene? Peter is just about to break bread when one of the congregation shouts out, “Hold on, if the authorities find out that we don’t have planning permission to use this cave for worship they’ll crucify us”.

Two thousand years on and not much changes.

So true.

Boulevards

Promises of jam tomorrow by a tired-looking Lib Dem administration have failed to excite Swansea’s traders. In fact there is little support for the prospect of more streets being dug up to accommodate a new boulevard as part of more piecemeal city centre redevelopment works. Even Peter Birch, notable council stooge and former Independent candidate, poured cold water on the proposal.

He told the local paper, "Long term, I am for this development, but I feel the city needs a rest from all the development. We need to attract customers back into the town before this goes ahead. It is going to cause major disruption to the south end of the city.

"We are streets behind places like Cardiff. I want a European boulevard but, I would add, at what cost?"

Filling one's boots

The issue raised by Swansea’s local paper over the cost of the mayoral limo has moved on to questions by readers as to why city’s taxpayers are being forced to pay to house the first family rent-free in the Mansion House over the coming year.

As predicted, Sticky Dick attempted to portray his self-indulgences as some kind of saving to the public purse. But it was his adult daughter - who has also moved into the mayoral suites – to stoke up outrage by unwisely sticking her snout into the debate to claim that long service alone was sufficient justification for Lewis (plus entourage) to take up official residence.

Needless to say, her intervention prompted at least one reader to ask just (1) Why it had taken 35 years for her old man to eventually get his hands on the civic chain and (2) what she had personally done to merit her year’s rent-free accommodation in Swansea’s Mansion House. No answers were forthcoming.

Liberty Stadium: Open book or black hole?

Swansea's Lib Dems have been reported as giving an enthusiastic welcome to news of how the details behind all government spending above a certain limit will soon be made publicly available. Does this mean that we can also all look forward to the city council's ruling administration doing likewise over the financial fog that surrounds the £33 million Liberty Stadium? Probably not.

It was revealed this time last year how the clubs and council were locked in a bitter legal wrangle over who was responsible for long-standing maintenance issues and associated running costs at the sports facility built at public expense. Swansea Stadium Management Company, formerly StadCo, and which has a 50 year lease to run the stadium is made up of the Swans, Ospreys and Swansea Council on an equal thirds basis. However, it is believed that the company has persistently failed to file accounts and that a number of stadium staff are actually council employees on ‘secondment’. No rent for using the stadium has ever been paid.

A few months later came the claim that total income from hiring out the council-owned hospitality boxes had amounted to less than £2000 since the stadium opened five years ago.

Nothing of any substance has been heard since then. It appears that the local press, who showed a brief but grudging interest, sleepy opposition parties and local councillor Rob Speht - who was supposed to be chasing missing money ear-marked for a transport plan - have all been content to see the matter effectively kicked into the long grass.

In the past, claims of 'commercial sensitivity' by council legal officers have have been enough to block enquiries and frustrate any chance of public debate. But now that a recent failed Ombudsman complaint has shown such previous advice to be flawed, or at least highly questionable, then perhaps this is one of many issues that can be now dragged out into the light - either with or without the newly re-discovered Lib Dem commitment to openness & transparency.

One sided

Another one of those “it will happen in England but possibly not in Wales” scenarios emerges with a government announcement of an independent review of child protection and social work. The review will examine ways of cutting bureaucracy and consider means of improving links between social workers and other agencies like the police.

Children's Minister Tim Loughton has already written to all local authorities in England telling them that the full details of all serious case reviews undertaken into crimes against children will be published in future - a move designed to shine a spotlight on childrens safeguarding boards and the statutory bodies who are suspected of using them for cover. 

The move contrasts sharply with current arrangements in Wales which recently allowed Swansea Council to bundle heavily edited ‘executive summary’ reports into the unrelated deaths of three teenagers. A strong suspicion remains that this was done to obscure the true extent of departmental failings that led to one of the deaths.

It will be instructive to see if Con-Dem counterparts in the Senedd press for the devolved  Welsh health and social services regime to emulate the same standards of openness and accountability.

See you in court

We’re told that the Ombudsman has written a letter of apology to Labour and Conservative members of Swansea council. These are the 32 individuals who were cynically grassed up by Lib Dem leader Chris Holley for walking out of a meeting after being refused the chance to debate the costs of a controversial e-government project in public.

The subsequent investigation, which had lasted nearly two years, involved interviews with 50 witnesses and is said to have cost close on £200,000, was abandoned when a successful legal challenge showed the original advice given by the council’s monitoring officer that the meeting had to be held in private was actually flawed. The local government watchdog has now expressed his regret that the first the affected councillors heard that no further action was to be taken was via the local press.

But despite the apology, the councillors are said to be aggrieved that although the Ombudsman acknowledged no breach had been committed, his official decision notice carried a sting which states that the circumstances behind the walk-out will be “taken into account should I have occasion to carry out another investigation into the conduct of the members concerned”.

The lawyers are back on the case.

Are city's eco-nazis due for the sack?

The on-going political vagaries of constitutional devolution makes it a bit confusing as to whether the decision by the new Westminster government to scrap plans for “bin-charging” in England also applies to Wales or if such measures were ever on the cards here in the first place.

Swansea’s eco-nazis will doubtlessly still be hoping to get such powers as the ability to enforce a 7p charge for carrier bags is hardly the kind of robust platform from which to wage their campaign of terror against local residents – although you might be tempted to think otherwise.

Having informed a 95 year old West Cross resident last month that she faced prosecution for placing a plastic carton in a sack reserved for cardboard, the mean & green team were reportedly spotted rummaging around in recycling bags outside a property in the Manselton area. The story is that when informed that the household they were scrutinising is occupied by a Swansea council cabinet member, the response was “So, effin what? He can get done just like everyone else”. And quite right too!

Presumably the same egalitarian thoughts will be going through his mind when shortly asked to decide where the next tranche of service cutbacks should apply.

Is Clegg delivering?

There appeared to be little of actual substance in yesterday’s constitutional reform package announced by Cameron’s sidekick. The promise of a small three-party committee of MPs and peers to produce a draft bill on an elected second chamber and tweaking on constituency boundaries is hardly the kind of radical reform that Clegg’s Liberal antecedents would recognise.

As we now know, his commitment that a referendum on extra powers for the Welsh Assembly would be held early next year turned out to be “a slip of the tongue”; as was the implication that the Con-Dem coalition would be backing a yes campaign.

But it was the Lib Dem leader’s inability to provide either date or details on Alternative Voting, or even whether legislation required for the referendum will be included in a wider political reform bill, which signaled that his party’s claims of being a pivotal part of government might be slightly exaggerated after all.

Of course, that it only the jaundiced view of those who observed that far greater emphasis appears to be placed by the Deputy PM on the need for new measures to ensure that it will require a 55% majority (presumably of those voting rather than 357.5 MPs) before a fixed-term parliament can be dissolved.

Lib Dems approve of Labour all-woman shortlist

Swansea Lib Dems, who had (wrongly) convinced themselves that they had the Swansea West seat in the bag after Labour parachuted in an exile from Croydon as candidate, are said to be heartened by news that AM Andrew Davies’s replacement will apparently be coming from an all-women shortlist.

Whilst there is no reported discontent among the ranks of right-on comrades on anything approaching Blaenau Gwent proportions, certain local personalities are said to be privately very upset at this arbitrary action by Transport House. Accordingly, we hear that parliamentary hopeful Peter May, who was beaten into second place by just 500 votes last month is telling supporters that this turn of events means he can definitely make it to Cardiff Bay this time around. All he needs is the nomination - or so he says.

Liberty Hall?

Continuing the theme of mayoral matters and associated costs, we see that it didn’t take Sticky Dick too long to get his sweaty mitts on the trappings of civic office.

Colleagues of Gower councillor and all-round ratbag Richard Lewis have recently been graced with a personalised missive, produced courtesy of Swansea Council, advising that he and his brood are taking up full-time residence at Swansea’s Mansion House.

It is the first time in several years that an incumbent has opted to take advantage of a convention which provides a year-long rent free tenancy in what is undeniably the city’s largest and most luxurious council house. But few are surprised at this screw-you-all decision by the bumptious Lewis who has successfully managed to pull the con over the years of portraying himself as a champion of prudent council spending whilst never missing out on any publicly funded expense that might be on offer.

What his fawning followers may not appreciate is that his determination to play at lord of the manor will add substantially to the civic budget which now has to find cash for house-keeping services, meals & provisions, electricity and a few other perks that will no doubt be claimed in full. All of this, plus the additional cost of £28,000 for recently installed new security fencing and electronically controlled gates, comes at a time when schools face closure and front line services are seeing drastic cut backs imposed by the ruling Lib Dem administration.

Little credence is given to lame sounding claims by the arch-hypocrite that the move will save on fuel costs that would be incurred in transporting him from his Gower home to civic engagements - especially as the expectation is that a long list of friends and relatives will be taking turns to enjoy a freebie accomodation at local taxpayer’s expense.

But it is Duplicitous Dick’s intention to treat the publicly owned building as his personal property which is causing the most anger. The rule in the past is that the first family reside in the self-contained upstairs apartments whilst the lower floor serves to hold meetings, training seminars and promotional events. However, sources claim that the would-be Lord Fynone has somehow managed to ban any such use during his occupancy as he does not want “any intrusion upon on his family’s privacy” – and amazingly, it seems that he is to get his way.

No figures are available on the effect of this unprecedented ban or what it will cost the council to re-arrange scheduled events or book other locations. Nevertheless, staff who have reportedly been told to “live with it” fully expect a further series of indulgences and abuses of public office to which they will also be told to turn a blind eye.

It is widely known that Lewis has plenty of form dating back to his previous ill-fated stint as deputy when wore the civic regalia to a UKIP meeting (he later stood as their candidate) and a kerfuffle when it was discovered that he had “borrowed” a council-owned garden marquee & equipment to stage a charity event in his Gower home. It was later alleged that the charity was his 2004 election fund.

Council insiders forecast stormy times and a string of complaints over the coming year as the obnoxious nurk continues in the same vein whilst delivering a flagrant two-fingers to rules intended to limit uncontrolled mayoral largesse - otherwise known as “civic hospitality”. However, they also predict that the chances of any serious intervention by council chiefs or senior councillors are very remote.

Since becoming a newly incarnated Lib Dem (having previously been both Conservative and Independent) Lewis has not been backward in telling his shabby coterie of freeloaders & freemasons that he can do pretty much as he likes under Holley’s patronage. The most disturbing aspect about this statement is that it is probably one of the few truths he has uttered in his thirty-seven years as a councillor.

Taken for a ride

The ever-vigilant Beans on Toast has done an investigative piece (cue maniacal laughter) into non-essential costs by local authorities in their circulation area. As usual however, the paper is as about as capable of making an effective enquiry as they are at finding their own backsides without using two hands and a flashlight. Consequently, they end up accepting whatever old bollocks is given to them at face value and then printing it without further question.

Apparently we are supposed to believe that the bill at Swansea Council for what is euphemistically described as “civic transport” is actually less than £12,000 – or is someone having a laugh? Doesn’t the chauffeur get a salary and what about uniforms, etc?

If they delved just a little deeper – although that would be mean actually leaving the office – they would find that besides the mayoral limo for Sticky Dick, a separate car & a driver is often provided for council leader Chris Holley to attend the same official event. Sometimes it is used just to take him back and forth to his Gendros home. The same perk applies to the chief executive and the presiding officer if they are also on official business. Doh!

Preaching and practice

The anti-violence campaign announced this week is to be welcomed - even if the fact that it is still needed is a lamentable comment on Wales in the 21st century. The idea that men have the right to act aggressively towards women or make sexist comments in the workplace as "a bit of fun" is a hangover that really has no place in what we all like to think is a modern, egalitarian society. A wholesale change of attitudes is needed, and whilst it may not be the best example, the imposition of a national smoking ban showed that campaigns aimed at re-gearing behaviour need to be supplemented by rigorous enforcement.

So it will be intstructive to see what action - if any - is to be taken against the Swansea councillor alleged to have been reported for bullying and swearing at female members of staff.

Damned by self-praise

There is something uniquely surreal about the world of local journalism in that its practitioners are able to peddle two contradictory outlooks in the same publication and expect no-one to notice. An excellent example appears today in Swansea’s local rag which bears an editorial proclaiming that local voters are too sophisticated to be impressed by the tit-for-tat of political games – yet it expects the same readership to be taken in by the groundless suggestion that new safety railings at Swansea Marina are a down to the power of the local press.

According to one of its hacks, the Evening Post has been “campaigning” for improved safety at the city’s waterfront since 2003 when a local tragedy raised concerns about the absence of barriers. This was eight years ago and whilst the family involved is understandably willing to credit the paper for its coverage, it is hardly an overnight success. As it happens, the new railings are part of an entirely separate grant-aided scheme designed to enhance the riverside – and not a safety initiative.

But let’s be honest, the move that saw local neurosurgery services shunted off to Cardiff in the face of local opposition simply confirmed what most people already know; when it comes to campaigning on behalf of the community, the Evening Post is about as effective as bubble gum in a blast furnace.

Why the surge ended up a damp squib

An excellent analysis of why the Lib Dem surge dissipated on the electoral rocks is offered by Andrew Hawkins, main man at pollsters ComRes. This can be found on the well read and highly regarded Total Politics site.

(We have reproduced the article as the link was unstable at this end.)

The voice of experience

It will interesting to see if anyone else picks up on the delightful irony of councillor, AM and commissioner Peter Black questioning how someone else can effectively hold down a number of representative roles.