There's new evidence that a catch-all "London" has replaced "slap in the face" and "snub to Wales" as Plaid Cymru's campaign slogan of choice.
A press release from Hywel Williams MP uses the L-word no fewer than seven times, more often than the word "Wales".
Google "Plaid Cymru" and "London" and you get far more suggestions than you would googling "slap in the face" or "snub to Wales". They really are so last decade.
The strategy appears to be to try to convince voters that everything done at Westminster is purely for the good of rich people in the UK capital, a nationalist version of class war.
The Hywel Williams press release is peppered with references to "Labour in London", "cuts imposed on the Welsh Government by London" and "bosses in London".
Another press release from the party, announcing their line-up of candidates, arrived this afternoon with no fewer than five L-words in its three paragraphs.
Plaid's honorary president, Dafydd Wigley, once upset a few people by referring to "gin-soaked Surrey" (to compare, replace Surrey with any Welsh location and stand by your inbox). Plaid Cymru insist they are not anti-English - "some of my best friends are English" as Elfyn Llwyd told the BBC News Channel recently.
To demonstrate the L-word strategy is not an anti-English pitch, Hywel Williams highlights another area of the UK where public spending is higher than Plaid would apparently like.
"Public spending in England and Scotland outstripped Wales during the ‘good times’ while, under the Barnett Formula, Wales loses out on hundreds of millions of pounds a year."
Scottish public spending outstripping Wales? The SNP, who form part of a single parliamentary party at Westminster, will be thrilled with this contribution to their combined negotiating strength should there be a hung Parliament.
Showing posts with label Hywel Williams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hywel Williams. Show all posts
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
London calling
As any pantomime-goer will tell you, the streets of London are paved with gold.
Some politicians will tell you that gold grows on trees across the English capital and is then handed on a plate to millionaire City bankers thanks to the collusion of London politicians in London-based parties, such as those well-known cockneys Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling.
A press release from Plaid Cymru MP Hywel Williams on the 2012 Olympics arrives today: "London politicians have admitted that it is a scam to use public money to regenerate one of Europe's richest cities."
He may have a point about Olympics spending not benefitting Wales, but is London really one of Europe's richest cities? It certainly contains some of Europe's richest people, but unemployment here is higher than in Wales (9.1 per cent compared to 8.6 per cent) and no fewer than 41 per cent of London's children are growing up in poverty after the UK capital's huge housing costs are considered.
The average price of a London property - £427,987 - may be more than twice as great as that of its Welsh equivalent - £161,576 - but Londoners still have to find a way to pay for their homes.
London's Evening Standard newspaper has just devoted a full week to an in-depth examination of the issue of poverty on its doorstep in a city home to some of the greatest inequalities you will find anywhere.
Incidentally, if, as Sir Jon Shortridge suggests, Wales is poor because it has been governed from England for too long, how do we explain economic fortunes in the poorest London boroughs?
London Mayor Boris Johnson gave a subdued (for him) interview to Dragon's Eye last week, warning against cutting spending in London, but it was enough to spark criticism from Plaid Cymru AM Chris Franks:
"These comments by Boris Johnson show that the Tories simply don’t care that Wales is being severely underfunded. They have consistently refused to say what they would do about our dire funding situation, and now it turns out they want to give more money to the richest region of England."
"London" is an easy label to prefix to any press release that aims to stoke up resentment among Welsh voters, particularly when included alongside "bankers" and other pantomime villains. It has subtly begun to replace "snub" and "slap in the face" in party propaganda.
Perhaps it's a delayed response to the former London Mayor Ken Livingstone's view of another major project (of questionable benefit to Wales): "We need Crossrail to keep London's economy ticking over so that we can continue to pay for the Scottish to live the lifestyle to which they are accustomed."
Statistics on London poverty may bore the pants off you if you live in Wales - probably if you live in London too - but they illustrate just how difficult it will be to reform the way the public spending cake is divided up.
David Cameron has been hinting of changes to the Barnett formula, which decides 53 per cent of public spending in Wales, for some time but always stops shy of promising action.
Two years ago, he told The Herald, Glasgow the formula was coming to the end of its days but he was wary of stoking an English grievance about it: "I want this to happen in a consensual, sensible, non-inflammatory way and that's why I've been so reticent about it."
For all the hints of commissions to look at it under a Tory government, he warned in last Friday's Western Mail that there was no pot of gold that would follow the scrapping of the formula.
Tweaking the formula to benefit Wales could deliver political benefits at relatively little financial cost for a Conservative UK government. The Tories could bite the bullet and cut Scottish spending disproportionately as soon as they take office, although that would not sit well with being a "party of the Union".
Lord Barnett is a sprightly 86. I wouldn't bet against him out-living his formula.
Some politicians will tell you that gold grows on trees across the English capital and is then handed on a plate to millionaire City bankers thanks to the collusion of London politicians in London-based parties, such as those well-known cockneys Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling.
A press release from Plaid Cymru MP Hywel Williams on the 2012 Olympics arrives today: "London politicians have admitted that it is a scam to use public money to regenerate one of Europe's richest cities."
He may have a point about Olympics spending not benefitting Wales, but is London really one of Europe's richest cities? It certainly contains some of Europe's richest people, but unemployment here is higher than in Wales (9.1 per cent compared to 8.6 per cent) and no fewer than 41 per cent of London's children are growing up in poverty after the UK capital's huge housing costs are considered.
The average price of a London property - £427,987 - may be more than twice as great as that of its Welsh equivalent - £161,576 - but Londoners still have to find a way to pay for their homes.
London's Evening Standard newspaper has just devoted a full week to an in-depth examination of the issue of poverty on its doorstep in a city home to some of the greatest inequalities you will find anywhere.
Incidentally, if, as Sir Jon Shortridge suggests, Wales is poor because it has been governed from England for too long, how do we explain economic fortunes in the poorest London boroughs?
London Mayor Boris Johnson gave a subdued (for him) interview to Dragon's Eye last week, warning against cutting spending in London, but it was enough to spark criticism from Plaid Cymru AM Chris Franks:
"These comments by Boris Johnson show that the Tories simply don’t care that Wales is being severely underfunded. They have consistently refused to say what they would do about our dire funding situation, and now it turns out they want to give more money to the richest region of England."
"London" is an easy label to prefix to any press release that aims to stoke up resentment among Welsh voters, particularly when included alongside "bankers" and other pantomime villains. It has subtly begun to replace "snub" and "slap in the face" in party propaganda.
Perhaps it's a delayed response to the former London Mayor Ken Livingstone's view of another major project (of questionable benefit to Wales): "We need Crossrail to keep London's economy ticking over so that we can continue to pay for the Scottish to live the lifestyle to which they are accustomed."
Statistics on London poverty may bore the pants off you if you live in Wales - probably if you live in London too - but they illustrate just how difficult it will be to reform the way the public spending cake is divided up.
David Cameron has been hinting of changes to the Barnett formula, which decides 53 per cent of public spending in Wales, for some time but always stops shy of promising action.
Two years ago, he told The Herald, Glasgow the formula was coming to the end of its days but he was wary of stoking an English grievance about it: "I want this to happen in a consensual, sensible, non-inflammatory way and that's why I've been so reticent about it."
For all the hints of commissions to look at it under a Tory government, he warned in last Friday's Western Mail that there was no pot of gold that would follow the scrapping of the formula.
Tweaking the formula to benefit Wales could deliver political benefits at relatively little financial cost for a Conservative UK government. The Tories could bite the bullet and cut Scottish spending disproportionately as soon as they take office, although that would not sit well with being a "party of the Union".
Lord Barnett is a sprightly 86. I wouldn't bet against him out-living his formula.
Thursday, 9 October 2008
Y Tŷ Mawr o'r Tu Mewn
It would be rude not to welcome another Welsh blog, particularly one trying to make up for the lack of Welsh language print outlets.
Plaid Cymru MP Hywel Williams has started his new blog today and sees it as a replacement for a newspaper column he once wrote.
It's proof, perhaps, that the world is moving online in an age when evening newspapers are increasingly printed during the night before publication and fewer people read the printed word.
Y Tŷ Mawr o'r Tu Mewn - The Big House from the Inside - is written in Welsh but translations are apparently available for those of us who don't speak the lingo.
Plaid Cymru MP Hywel Williams has started his new blog today and sees it as a replacement for a newspaper column he once wrote.
It's proof, perhaps, that the world is moving online in an age when evening newspapers are increasingly printed during the night before publication and fewer people read the printed word.
Y Tŷ Mawr o'r Tu Mewn - The Big House from the Inside - is written in Welsh but translations are apparently available for those of us who don't speak the lingo.
Going global
An update on the long-running globalisation inquiry by Welsh MPs from committee member Hywel Williams: "I think we are all concerned that this should be finished as soon as possible. I wouldn't want to criticise any of the planning but it did grow unexpectedly.
"We hadn't foreseen how far-reaching globalisation and its inquiry would be."
He added: "Like Topsy, it grew and grew and grew. We were thinking of a straightforward investigation into globalisation. We then realised there were aspects to do with education and the mass media as well as economic matters.
"I am longing for the day when it is published."
He may not be alone in that.
"We hadn't foreseen how far-reaching globalisation and its inquiry would be."
He added: "Like Topsy, it grew and grew and grew. We were thinking of a straightforward investigation into globalisation. We then realised there were aspects to do with education and the mass media as well as economic matters.
"I am longing for the day when it is published."
He may not be alone in that.
Thursday, 22 November 2007
The hardest word
Westminster is a slightly calmer place today - not even an Alistair Darling emergency statement to keep us busy.
On Thursday, as Commons leader Harriet Harman sets out future business, MPs can seize precious parliamentary time to raise the issues that matter most to their constituents.
Poverty, climate change, world peace, missing child benefit records? MPs can also use it to score a few party political points. Conwy Labour MP Betty Williams raised the misuse by Plaid Cymru MPs of the communications allowance.
Ms Harman told her: "The committee on standards and privileges takes abuse of the communications allowance very seriously and rightly so as it brings our honest use of the communication allowance and the reputation of the House into disrepute."
Plaid aren't the only ones to fall foul of the new allowance - Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly has also had to write a cheque after using the allowance to publish leaflets viewed by some as propaganda.
Labour's desire to score points against their coalition partners is understandable in several ways. On April 26, Plaid Cymru's Caernarfon MP Hywel Williams wrote to Labour candidate Martin Eaglestone threatening him with legal action if he didn't retract, and apologise for, a suggestion the MPs had misused public funds.
Mr Williams gave a deadline of May 1. Mr Eaglestone didn't retract or apologise. He's still waiting for the Plaid legal squad to knock on his door.
Labour, too, will be waiting a long time for the apology demanded by Plaid for misuse of the funds.
Plaid parliamentary leader Elfyn Llwyd told BBC Wales he'd resist the invitation to say sorry: "Well, the committee don't so I think I'd rather listen to the committee than a few strange backbenchers with little axes to grind.
"If the committee had said apologise, clearly we would have done. The committee don't go anywhere near the word apology, so why should we?"
On Thursday, as Commons leader Harriet Harman sets out future business, MPs can seize precious parliamentary time to raise the issues that matter most to their constituents.
Poverty, climate change, world peace, missing child benefit records? MPs can also use it to score a few party political points. Conwy Labour MP Betty Williams raised the misuse by Plaid Cymru MPs of the communications allowance.
Ms Harman told her: "The committee on standards and privileges takes abuse of the communications allowance very seriously and rightly so as it brings our honest use of the communication allowance and the reputation of the House into disrepute."
Plaid aren't the only ones to fall foul of the new allowance - Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly has also had to write a cheque after using the allowance to publish leaflets viewed by some as propaganda.
Labour's desire to score points against their coalition partners is understandable in several ways. On April 26, Plaid Cymru's Caernarfon MP Hywel Williams wrote to Labour candidate Martin Eaglestone threatening him with legal action if he didn't retract, and apologise for, a suggestion the MPs had misused public funds.
Mr Williams gave a deadline of May 1. Mr Eaglestone didn't retract or apologise. He's still waiting for the Plaid legal squad to knock on his door.
Labour, too, will be waiting a long time for the apology demanded by Plaid for misuse of the funds.
Plaid parliamentary leader Elfyn Llwyd told BBC Wales he'd resist the invitation to say sorry: "Well, the committee don't so I think I'd rather listen to the committee than a few strange backbenchers with little axes to grind.
"If the committee had said apologise, clearly we would have done. The committee don't go anywhere near the word apology, so why should we?"
Monday, 19 November 2007
Breaking news and more..
News that may send the Elfynometer soaring......Plaid Cymru MPs have been reprimanded by a House of Commons committee for using taxpayers' money to pay for newspaper adverts in the run-up to the Assembly elections earlier this year. Parliament's standards and privileges committee has told Hywel Williams, Elfyn Llwyd and Adam Price to repay the cost of the adverts which were funded by an allowance set up to allow MPs to communicate with their constituents. The MPs said they acted on the advice of parliamentary officials.
You can read the report here.
The Plaid MPs say they will repay the money - either from party funds or their personal bank accounts.
The adverts will now count as campaign spending, pushing Plaid over the limit for the Assembly election, although parliamentary leader Elfyn Llwyd says the Electoral Commission will accept that.
He won't be taking up Labour's invitation to apologise for the misuse of public funds, as this was not demanded by the report:"Why should we?"
You can read the report here.
The Plaid MPs say they will repay the money - either from party funds or their personal bank accounts.
The adverts will now count as campaign spending, pushing Plaid over the limit for the Assembly election, although parliamentary leader Elfyn Llwyd says the Electoral Commission will accept that.
He won't be taking up Labour's invitation to apologise for the misuse of public funds, as this was not demanded by the report:"Why should we?"
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