Not long after the Coalition Government in Westminster was agreed they announced that Sheffield Foregmasters was not getting the Government loan to help it expand, the decision was condemned as short sighted by Labour and the Government made out that it was a bad loan that the Country simply couldn’t afford.
It was also highly embarrassing for the Lib Dems who run Sheffield Council and whose leader Nick Clegg represents a Sheffield constituency, but a story that having done some damage seemed to be fading from the headlines until this week.
Details have emerged that a Tory donor and owner of another engineering plant in the area, Andrew Cook lobbied for the loan to be cancelled claiming it breached EU law, while at the same time looking to invest in the company himself.
Andrew Cook is also the same Conservative donor who paid for Prime Minister David Cameron’s flights to the Yorkshire region to the tune of £54,000 in opposition according to the Guardian.
It’s no surprise that the Labour Party has called for an inquiry, but the Lib Dems and Conservative are less keen, incase there are more uncomfortable facts to emerge.
I have no idea if the story has legs but it’s certainly been causing a few headaches for the Government this week and perhaps more worrying for Mr Clegg this latest episode reinforces the view that the Liberal Democrats are dancing to the Conservatives tune and are not fully aware of the reasons for the Government’s decisions, it’s something that will do damage to Liberal Democrats in upcoming elections despite the spin from them to the contrary.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
Some thoughts after the IBW figures were revealed
Dylan Jones Evans and Valleys Mam are to be congratulated for tracking down the embarrassing and uncomfortable news for WAG, that the soon to be scrapped International Business Wales has had considerable success in the past 12 months in securing jobs and investment for Wales. As Dylan said in these tough economic times when so much Welsh economic and business news is awful this is something to be proud of.
The figures show IBW was successful not just in Welsh terms, but faired very well in UK terms out performing Scotland and Northern Ireland and bringing in nearly 8% of the UK’s total inward investment, it all begs the question of why the figures weren’t released by WAG, political expediency comes to mind.
But now we have the figures, it’s worth mentioning a few things
Firstly about the state of Welsh Business Journalism and its understanding of what makes a good business story and about its news gathering ability. It speaks volumes that it took two bloggers in their spare time to hunt down and break a story that by any journalistic standards would be considered worthwhile, especially after WAG announced IBW was being mothballed the previous week, it proves it’s not just in political journalism that Wales is badly served.
Secondly, where were the Opposition Parties in this, they should have flagged this up along with the press, I know the Assembly broke up last week for their Summer Break, but surely the political staff were aware that the figures for UK Investment were due to be published last week, they should have made sure they got hold of a copy or tracked them down from the UK Government, if WAG wasn’t co-operating and made the Opposition politicians comment on them at the very least.
It’s also worth asking whether there is a statutory duty on the Welsh Assembly Government to release these and other figures (even if they are uncomfortable politically) so we the public know how well or how badly Government department are performing, if there isn’t, it should be something the Opposition follow up when they get back to Cardiff Bay in the Autumn, but I’m not holding my breath.
This has been a sorry saga for WAG, but one that has a familiar theme because Welsh journalists and Opposition politicians are simply not holding Ministers feet to the flames over a whole range of issues; it means the Welsh Government gets away with murder over and over again and feels safe to ignore any criticism, even the legitimate kind.
However, this stonewalling approach may suit the parties in power and the Civil Service, but it does little to engage the public or improve the health of Welsh democracy and it certainly does little to persuade people of the argument that the National Assembly for Wales and its Government deserve more powers, maybe WAG should think about that over the summer.
The figures show IBW was successful not just in Welsh terms, but faired very well in UK terms out performing Scotland and Northern Ireland and bringing in nearly 8% of the UK’s total inward investment, it all begs the question of why the figures weren’t released by WAG, political expediency comes to mind.
But now we have the figures, it’s worth mentioning a few things
Firstly about the state of Welsh Business Journalism and its understanding of what makes a good business story and about its news gathering ability. It speaks volumes that it took two bloggers in their spare time to hunt down and break a story that by any journalistic standards would be considered worthwhile, especially after WAG announced IBW was being mothballed the previous week, it proves it’s not just in political journalism that Wales is badly served.
Secondly, where were the Opposition Parties in this, they should have flagged this up along with the press, I know the Assembly broke up last week for their Summer Break, but surely the political staff were aware that the figures for UK Investment were due to be published last week, they should have made sure they got hold of a copy or tracked them down from the UK Government, if WAG wasn’t co-operating and made the Opposition politicians comment on them at the very least.
It’s also worth asking whether there is a statutory duty on the Welsh Assembly Government to release these and other figures (even if they are uncomfortable politically) so we the public know how well or how badly Government department are performing, if there isn’t, it should be something the Opposition follow up when they get back to Cardiff Bay in the Autumn, but I’m not holding my breath.
This has been a sorry saga for WAG, but one that has a familiar theme because Welsh journalists and Opposition politicians are simply not holding Ministers feet to the flames over a whole range of issues; it means the Welsh Government gets away with murder over and over again and feels safe to ignore any criticism, even the legitimate kind.
However, this stonewalling approach may suit the parties in power and the Civil Service, but it does little to engage the public or improve the health of Welsh democracy and it certainly does little to persuade people of the argument that the National Assembly for Wales and its Government deserve more powers, maybe WAG should think about that over the summer.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
More grist to Labour’s mill
Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan finally said out loud in answer to a question at the Welsh Affairs Committee yesterday what most people already know, that due to Wales poor economic position and reliance on the public sector for jobs and investment, we are likely to be hit hardest and most disproportionally by the spending cuts to come.
That earth shattering revelation will be music to the ears of Labour who in the space of a few months since the General Election have managed to not only absolve themselves of any blame for economic failures in Wales over the past 13 years, but have also well and truly won the argument in Wales that the cuts to come are grossly unfair and that its all the fault of the evil Conservative Party and their dastardly little helpers the Lib Dems.
But if that wasn’t enough they have also stolen Plaid Cymru’s argument about the Barnett Formula backed up by the Holtham Commission findings that it is unfair to Wales and managed to take all the credit for it, even though before the Election they saw no reason to lobby colleagues in the Treasury to change it, leaving the door open to score points more against the Tories.
And while this is totally shameless behaviour from Labour, it’s nothing new and certainly won’t be challenged by the Opposition Parties who have been neutered by the UK Coalition, or the ever compliant Welsh press and a gullible Welsh electorate between now and the Assembly Elections next year.
I had been wondering if Wales was capable of sinking any lower, the answer is most certainly YES.
That earth shattering revelation will be music to the ears of Labour who in the space of a few months since the General Election have managed to not only absolve themselves of any blame for economic failures in Wales over the past 13 years, but have also well and truly won the argument in Wales that the cuts to come are grossly unfair and that its all the fault of the evil Conservative Party and their dastardly little helpers the Lib Dems.
But if that wasn’t enough they have also stolen Plaid Cymru’s argument about the Barnett Formula backed up by the Holtham Commission findings that it is unfair to Wales and managed to take all the credit for it, even though before the Election they saw no reason to lobby colleagues in the Treasury to change it, leaving the door open to score points more against the Tories.
And while this is totally shameless behaviour from Labour, it’s nothing new and certainly won’t be challenged by the Opposition Parties who have been neutered by the UK Coalition, or the ever compliant Welsh press and a gullible Welsh electorate between now and the Assembly Elections next year.
I had been wondering if Wales was capable of sinking any lower, the answer is most certainly YES.
Monday, July 19, 2010
4,100 jobs or 0.3 job growth in 5 years, is this news or a sad fact of Welsh life?
Both the news readers and commentators on BBC Wales Today last Friday did their best to sound shocked at the report findings from Oxford Economics, a respected economic forecaster, that said Wales would be at the bottom of the list of nations/regions by a considerable margin in creating jobs over the next 5 years and that Wales won’t get back to 2008 employment levels till 2025 slower than every other region in the UK, including the North East of England (where 22,000 jobs are expected to be created in the same period) the area Wales has most in common with economically.
When compared to Scotland and Northern Ireland things are even worse, Scotland is predicted to create 65,300 jobs equivalent to 2.5% job growth while Northern Ireland will create 21,000 equivalent to 2.6% job growth making Wales look even more like the poor relation than it already is, not that any of the political parties will actually admit to any failures on the economy over the years mind you.
The figures state the Welsh economy would create 4,100 jobs from now until 2015, that’s just 820 jobs created a year and to put that in some perspective current unemployment in Wales stands at 131,000 and well before the thousands of jobs in the public sector are cut in the coming years
Also worrying from a Welsh perspective, the report pours cold water on the current Government thinking of rebalancing the UK Economy to achieve stronger growth in the regions outside London and the South East of England, stating that the arguments about the UK’s finance industry (based in London), being bad for the real economy but good for the Treasury’s tax take have been around since Victorian times and as long as they drive UK growth other factors are ignored.
That means the new Economic Renewal Programme from WAG is even more important to the current and future health of the Welsh economy and makes the decision over slashing support to small businesses look even more foolish and flawed.
The reports publication will inevitably bring another round of the blame game with Labour and Plaid Cymru blaming the Tories and Lib Dem for the Cuts and taking Wales back to the 1980’s and the Conservative and Lib Dems blaming Labour for their poor management of the Welsh economy for the last decade and Plaid Cymru for the deeply flawed Economic Renewal Programme they launched last week.
But maybe the fact our Assembly Members who broke up for the Summer recess last week and won’t have a chance to debate the report’s findings in the Assembly until September tells us all we need to know about how seriously our politicians take issues about the Welsh economy, the answer not very seriously at all.
When compared to Scotland and Northern Ireland things are even worse, Scotland is predicted to create 65,300 jobs equivalent to 2.5% job growth while Northern Ireland will create 21,000 equivalent to 2.6% job growth making Wales look even more like the poor relation than it already is, not that any of the political parties will actually admit to any failures on the economy over the years mind you.
The figures state the Welsh economy would create 4,100 jobs from now until 2015, that’s just 820 jobs created a year and to put that in some perspective current unemployment in Wales stands at 131,000 and well before the thousands of jobs in the public sector are cut in the coming years
Also worrying from a Welsh perspective, the report pours cold water on the current Government thinking of rebalancing the UK Economy to achieve stronger growth in the regions outside London and the South East of England, stating that the arguments about the UK’s finance industry (based in London), being bad for the real economy but good for the Treasury’s tax take have been around since Victorian times and as long as they drive UK growth other factors are ignored.
That means the new Economic Renewal Programme from WAG is even more important to the current and future health of the Welsh economy and makes the decision over slashing support to small businesses look even more foolish and flawed.
The reports publication will inevitably bring another round of the blame game with Labour and Plaid Cymru blaming the Tories and Lib Dem for the Cuts and taking Wales back to the 1980’s and the Conservative and Lib Dems blaming Labour for their poor management of the Welsh economy for the last decade and Plaid Cymru for the deeply flawed Economic Renewal Programme they launched last week.
But maybe the fact our Assembly Members who broke up for the Summer recess last week and won’t have a chance to debate the report’s findings in the Assembly until September tells us all we need to know about how seriously our politicians take issues about the Welsh economy, the answer not very seriously at all.
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