"Historic" is a word used almost daily in Welsh politics, but a small landmark looms next week.
MPs are due to grill Ministers from Cardiff Bay and Westminster on the Welsh Assembly Government's request to be able to legislate on the Welsh language.
Assembly Government Culture Minister Alun Ffred Jones will be followed by Wales Office Minister Wayne David during next Monday's meeting of the Welsh affairs select committee.
Ministers from both Parliament and the Assembly frequently appear before the committee to discuss plans to transfer law-making plans to Cardiff Bay.
But this is likely to be the first time that the UK Government Minister doesn't simply endorse the request for powers but voices reservations about the Assembly Government's request.
Wayne David, if prompted, is expected to refer to the results of a Wales Office consultation exercise that insiders say proved overwhelmingly hostile to the idea of extra responsibilities on business to offer services in Welsh.
Welsh Ramblings suggests the Wales Office has skewed its consultation exercise to obtain the sceptical response it wanted. Either way, another outbreak of tension between politicians either side of Offa's Dyke looks inevitable.
3 comments:
If indeed the Welsh Ramblings story has legs, that the consultation was deliberately skewed to 'consult' people who would toe the anti-LCO line and avoid 'consulting' those who might not, then surely it behoves you as a reporter to investigate that rather than repeat the claim and leave it at that?
I mean, isn't that what political reporters do? Or do we now leave all investigative or potentially controversial reporting in Wales to bloggers?
I can't be the only one to be disappointed by political reporting in Wales, which seems little more than providing commentary on what has happened, rather than investigating behind the scenes politics.
Discuss
it will be interesting to see what happens, I posted on the visit to the Welsh Affairs Select Committee by the Catalan Minister on this very subject of small business being included in the language legislation, judging by what was said both sides in Catalonia seemed to workd together to find a solution that suited both.
Or, Welsh Ramblings, which is a Plaid Party blog, could be trying to score political points behind the scenes to do Plaid's dirty work.
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