Preseli Pembrokeshire MP Stephen Crabb has set the cat among the Tory pigeons with this attack on devolution.
His views are shared by the Monmouth MP David Davies, leaving Conwy's David Jones as the sole pro-devolution Welsh Conservative voice in the Commons (and I think he might quibble with that description).
Whatever you think of Stephen Crabb's views, there are some interesting thoughts there on the nature of devolved politics:
"Devolution has created a politics which is based overwhelmingly around calls for greater public expenditure and freebies for various sections of the population......in the absence of any mechanism to ensure a line of accountability between Welsh taxes and Welsh expenditure, all Assembly politicians are incentivised to ramp-up calls for greater spending in Wales."
That applies across all parties, so there is limited meaningful debate on the size of the state in Wales. Perhaps Ron Davies has succeeded in creating "inclusive politics" after all.
3 comments:
I've just posted comment on Stephen's article on my own site. As it happens , I agree with the thrust of the quote you used from it. There is need for a challenge to the freebie culture of Assembly politics - which should be the natural role for the Conservatives.
Have to say I DO quibble with your description of me as "Conwy's David Jones" - and so would Betty Williams.
Er, whoops! David is of course the Conservative MP for Clwyd West. This blog's sub-editor has now been moved to other projects......
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