BBC - David Cornock's blog

Happy St Dunstan's Day

2011-05-19T11:14:45Z

As I was saying, my blog is going to a new home, but its departure has been delayed due to what we'll call circumstances beyond my control.

So, for the moment at least, do keep reading on a day when Wales, if not exactly centre stage at Westminster, is certainly headlining the fringe.

Westminster Hall, the second Commons chamber, is hosting the closest thing we will get this year to a St David's Day debate. You may (or may not) remember the row earlier this year when March 1 came and went without the traditional (since 1944) Welsh day debate.

Labour's Paul Murphy teamed up with Plaid Cymru's Elfyn Llwyd to try to get a debate scheduled by the backbench business committee, a committee of MPs that now plays a powerful role deciding what MPs get to talk about in the Commons.

The consolation prize is two debates on reports from the select committee on Welsh affairs; one on the Severn crossings toll, the other on "the constitutional implications for Wales of the government's proposals for constitutional reform".

The latter may not be the sort of title that features on many bestseller lists but it refers to the arguments over the cut in the number of Welsh MPs from 40 to 30, a cut to take place at the next general election.

Messrs Murphy and Llwyd are continuing their campaign for a proper St David's Day more than two months after the event.

With that campaign so far unsuccessful, Mr Murphy has promised to highlight a Welsh saint of the day in question to maintain the tradition.

Tuesday belonged to Madron, a sixth century monk and disciple of Tudwall, or so I'm told. Saturday belongs to the sixth century hermit Collen.

There is no Welsh saint whose day falls today, May 19, so the former secretary of state for Wales is going for geographical proximity.

So a happy St Dunstan's Day to all of you who choose to celebrate a day belonging to a saint from Glastonbury.

See you on the other side

2011-05-18T13:11:42Z

As I write this, Kenneth Clarke is still justice secretary, Chris Huhne is still environment secretary and my blog is where it's been for the last year or so.

By the time we next, things may be rather different. Mr Clarke is struggling to explain his comments about rape sentencing, Mr Huhne is waiting for Essex police to corroborate his version of events and my blog is about to move to a new home.

From tomorrow, if the technology works, you'll be able to visit my new page. Over time it should become home to my work reporting politics in a variety of media. As with other BBC blogs, it will have a fresh format and a more up-do-date photograph of the author (sorry).

The reasons for the change can be found here. If someone above my pay grade presses the right buttons tomorrow you should be able to follow me here.

Welsh Questions meets Casualty

2011-05-11T13:01:26Z

It looked more like an episode of Casualty than the House of Commons as MPs gathered for the parliamentary treat that is questions to the secretary of state for Wales.

Labour's Chris Bryant hobbled in, his leg still in plaster after a recent rugby injury. Tory MP Glyn Davies, recovering from a back operation, arrived on crutches, which he propped against the back of the bench in front of him. It made an interesting backdrop for the Prime Minister, occupying that bench, as he answered MPs' questions.

The warm-up act was provided by Cheryl Gillan and her deputy David Jones, taking time off from their twitter duties to field questions.

There was a reminder, or two, of last week's election results but as an event it did little to fill bulletins or newspapers.

The Press Association reported subsequently that the system for electing Welsh assembly members could be changed, leading to a surge of excitement from those who feel we don't do nearly enough constitutional navel-gazing in Wales.

Plaid Cymru MP Jonathan Edwards suggested that the cut in Welsh MPs at Westminster, from 40 to 30, be used to shake-up the voting system used in the assembly. "Considering the opposition of the Labour Party to decoupling Westminster and National Assembly constituency boundaries, would it make sense to make the next make-up of the fifth National Assembly based on 30 regionals and 30 constituency AMs?"

Cheryl Gillan: "That's a very interesting thought. I'm taking his question
as a recommendation and I will look seriously at his recommendation we have 30
first-past-the-post seats and 30 on the list system."

A review of voting systems would doubtless prompt calls for the assembly to have rather more members to cope with their extra legislative workload.

The UK government is already committed to looking at ways of increasing the assembly's financial accountability - its budget is currently set at Westminster.

Tory MP Mary Macleod, a Scot who represents an outer London seat, is on the case: "A priority in Wales and elsewhere is to make sure the deficit is under control. But now that ministers from the Welsh assembly have more power, is it not right they are financially accountable for those powers as well?"

An issue that will be looked at by a commission later this year. Politicians come and go but in Welsh politics you're never too far away from your next committee.

The Bourne Supremacy?

2011-05-10T12:38:12Z

Ah well, back to the day job. As the process of government-building continues in Cardiff Bay, this election correspondent is back at Westminster trying to shake off withdrawal symptoms after five weeks on the campaign trail.

Fully forty per cent of members of the fourth Welsh assembly are new to the job, including three of the five Liberal Democrats. Their leader did accuse me, during the election, of being always "upbeat and positive" so I won't mention the 17 deposits lost by the Lib Dems in the 40 constituency seats.

Those who love elections have the possibility of two leadership races to cover. Plaid Cymru's Ieuan Wyn Jones says he's getting on with the job, although you would not put your mortgage on his long-term job prospects.

The Welsh Tories certainly need a new leader. Here at Westminster the suspicion is the defeated Nick "victim of his own success" Bourne will shortly be joining us. Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth, anyone?

One intriguing rumour doing the rounds is that he could find himself in government, representing Wales in the Conservative/Lib Dem coalition.

This may just be mischief-making among Westminster Tories, as it would be unprecedented for the secretary of state for Wales to sit in the Lords.

A department of the nations might make that easier, but that is a story that fills plenty of newsprint but has yet to deliver. David Cameron has also ruled out a reshuffle this year.

But the Wales Office spokesman in the Lords is currently represented by the Scottish advocate general, Liberal Democrat Lord Wallace. A fresh voice for Wales, to coin a Tory election slogan, may not be so far-fetched.

Stranger things do happen in politics. Cheryl Gillan has joined twitter, not a sentence I thought I'd ever get to write.

Tweeting is now allowed in the Commons chamber so it will be interesting to see tomorrow if she combines answering MPs' questions with summaries of 140 characters or fewer.

Famous Belgians and the Welsh general election

2011-05-06T10:35:11Z

Should you find yourself in a pub quiz racking your brains for famous Belgians, you may want to add Victor d'Hondt to Eddy Merckx and Plastic Bertrand.

Victor, a mathematician by calling, gave him name to the electoral system used to elect regional list members of the Welsh assembly.

That system, which compensates parties which fail to win first-past-the-post seats, is responsible for the Welsh Tory leader's failure to win a seat in the assembly despite leading his party to its most successful electoral performance.

Monsieur d'Hondt's system allowed the Conservatives to rebuild themselves after they were wiped off the political map during the 1997 UK general election. Nick Bourne's failure is the price they pay for their success.

It was grim night for Plaid Cymru, who lost a deputy leader, Helen Mary Jones, and a rising star, Nerys Evans.

Imagine yourself a fan of a relegated football team whose season is condensed into eight hours and you get a sense of the sort of evening experienced by Plaid's director of elections, Ian Titherington, their representative on the BBC Radio Wales election results programme.

He blamed Plaid Cymru's defeat on the way Labour had turned the election into a referendum on the UK government and taken ownership of the assembly powers referendum in March.

You can see his point, although Plaid Cymru have themselves used UK issues ("Blair lied, vote Plaid") in a Welsh context. Mr Titherington was gracious enough to stay until the end of the show, when others would have taken the opportunity to beat the traffic.
Liberal Democrats Jenny Willott and Roger Williams also took the flak for their party without complaint.

Another programme guest, retiring Labour Minister Jane Davidson was magnanimous in her party's victory, praising Helen Mary Jones's contribution to Welsh politics.

Even before the polls closed, the spin doctors moved to lower expectations. Labour stressed how difficult it would be to get a majority, the Lib Dems reminded us it would always going to be a difficult election for them, and Plaid Cymru confided that they didn't expect to make any gains.

As I write, there are 13 (out of 60) results still to come, along with a Tory leadership election and a Plaid Cymru inquest, quite possibly followed by another leadership election.

Monsieur d'Hondt has long gone to that polling station in the sky, but his place in the list of notable Belgians appears secure.

The dog ate my ballot paper

2011-05-04T15:37:37Z

The end is nigh. The political parties have only hours left to convince us to support them; and little more time to rehearse their lines for when the results come in.

Some, I suspect, will be better-rehearsed than others, despite the absence of some regular alibis for below-par performance in Welsh elections, Messrs Brown and Blair.

It's not difficult to see which party will be first to share "this was always going to be a difficult election for us", a polite version of blaming Nick Clegg.

The referendum on the parliamentary voting system should offer a handy excuse for those who feel that distraction inhibited their ability to get their message across.

We can probably add bank holidays, Easter and the royal wedding to the list of options for parties seeking to mask electoral disappointment. Oh, and the weather's been far too nice for politics.

The London media can always be blamed for failing to enthuse their readers with exciting tales from the Welsh campaign trail despite suggestions that devolution doesn't sell quite so many newspapers as the death of the world's most wanted man.

"Someone stole my placard" probably belongs to "the dog ate my homework" school of excuses, although you may yet here it before dawn breaks in Cardiff Bay. The phrase "dirty tricks" may yet appear on election night programmes.

Few are predicting a big turnout. Voter fatigue in our second trip to the polls this year could be used to explain that one.

Honesty may be the best policy after all. Perhaps the disappointed could borrow the phrase of the American political strategist Dick Tuck, who greeted one setback with the phrase: "The people have spoken - the ********".

Join me, and Sarah Dickins, as we try to guide you through the night on BBC Radio Wales as the polls close at 10pm on Thursday night.

Aisle three, the shadow chancellor

2011-05-04T08:22:11Z

Your starter for ten. Which member of Labour's shadow cabinet is on record supporting the idea that the Welsh assembly should have tax-raising powers?

If you guessed Ed Balls, then take a bow. The shadow chancellor told a 5Live audience six years ago (when he was a backbencher) that tax-raising powers would help accountability.

It's an argument that's increasingly winning friends on the Conservative benches at Westminster, although there's a distinct lack of enthusiasm for the cause among Labour MPs.

This is what Mr Balls said on the publication of the government of Wales bill: "Personally I'm in favour of more powers for the Welsh Assembly. If you are going to have an elected assembly, then it's important that you get the powers for it right... I think that should include tax-raising powers too.

"If you are going to have people elected and accountable it's important they have the power to make decisions for which they can then be accountable and if they get the decisions wrong they can be thrown out."

Mr Balls was in Cardiff yesterday and my colleague Carl Roberts caught up with him in a supermarket cafe. Now he's shadow chancellor, can we expect his backbench views to become party policy?

"There's been a debate here in Wales, there was a referendum [on law-making powers], that's been sorted out. I do think the issue here is making sure that funding is fair for Wales".

Placards, polls and the police

2011-05-04T07:22:39Z

Were Sir Alex Ferguson ever to swap Old Trafford for the Welsh assembly campaign trail he would doubtless describe this period as "squeaky bum time".

It is that time of the campaign when the big issues are decided, when one slip from a candidate or party can jeopardise years of hard work.

It is also a time when rivals tend to get rather tetchy, when parties play their "taking legal advice" card: when even the police are called in.

In Caerphilly, the cops have been kept rather busy this week by a row over the strange disappearance of party placards. Political parties tend to view their placards as if they were rare Picassos, to be viewed but not touched by their opponents.

So Plaid Cymru have complained to the police after the local Labour MP admitted taking down some Plaid placards from front gardens in the constituency.

Plaid say Wayne David told one of their supporters her placard was illegal and offensive and intimidated her into allowing him to take it away. (His constituent didn't recognise him but an identification process involving his black Audi and an encounter with a former TV executive on the Plaid campaign put a name to the face).

Plaid councillor Anne Collins told me: "He did have her permission but it was a funny way to go about it. This behaviour is beyond belief".

Mr David, accused of theft by Plaid, and of an unusual approach to his constituency duties by other candidates, accused Plaid of trespass in posting their placards in gardens of Labour supporters and says he too has complained to the police.

The Plaid candidate in Caerphilly is Mr David's predecessor as the Labour MP, Ron Davies, the former Secretary of State for Wales. The two are not friends.

Mr Davies, who believes Mr David may have breached the Representation of the People Act, invited us to film him in a street with an impressive (untouched) array of Plaid Cymru placards in the front gardens.

Unfortunately for him, the first door we knocked on belonged to a Terry Fullick, who had been a bit annoyed to return from holiday to discover a Plaid placard in his garden.

Mr Fullick has always been a Plaid Cymru supporter but, to put it mildly, isn't a fan of their candidate. "I was away on holidays, I came back, I've seen that and I thought "no"."

The police say they're looking into reports of electoral irregularities in the Caerphilly area.

Mario Cuomo and the Welsh general election

2011-04-27T10:20:20Z

It was the American politician Mario Cuomo who said: "You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose".

Mr Cuomo never had the pleasure of a Welsh assembly election campaign or he might have had to rethink his analysis.

It's hard to think of any poet whose vocabulary would include words such as "ring-fence", "capital" or "revenue", terms with which our politicians are all too familiar. And too few words rhyme with "doorstep", although I'm ruling nothing in and nothing out, as they say..

Campaigning in cliches might be a more appropriate phrase for political parties who declare in their manifestos they are "not afraid to roll up their sleeves" and "will never be afraid to rest on their laurels".

The absence of poetry may be one reason why this election campaign feels flat, an atmosphere not helped by the stop-start public holiday weeks.

Strategies are a bit last year in Welsh politics but one party is proposing them for shopkeepers, seaside towns and even religious heritage. It sounds like a strategy for strategies.

Two parties are promising a "happier" Wales. The others aren't promising to make us more miserable; it's just that the happiness agenda doesn't appear in their manifestos.

Some policies are more long-term than others. I suspect even I won't be around to report on whether bilingualism has been delivered by 2051.

I've avoided attributing any of the policies above as I'd hate to disappoint those of you who've yet to read every manifesto.

If that challenge proves resistable, you could always start with my colleague Daniel Davies's policy poker here.

Royal wedding fever: dress down Friday

2011-04-26T11:09:11Z

Never mind election fever: the speculation over wedding attire is at fever pitch on the doorstep. Who will design it? How much will it cost? Will someone else turn up in the same gear? Can I buy one in Primark?

As of today, the speculation will stop. I can reveal, as those royal reporters say, that the Welsh first minister, Carwyn Jones, has decided to shun morning dress for the big occasion.

"I will be wearing a lounge suit," he told me. "I don't look good in tails." This despite Labour leader Ed Miliband joining David Cameron and Nick Clegg in morning dress for the occasion.

Mr Jones said: "Really, I associate tails with being part of the official party as it were. I don't think people are going to be looking at what I wear.

"It is up to people to decide what they want to wear. The option is morning suit, lounge suit or uniform. I don't have a uniform, so it's lounge suit."

Another notable Welsh guest is also shunning tails. Presiding officer Lord Elis-Thomas will also be wearing a lounge suit, although probably one of immaculate tailoring. (It was once suggested that the reason he was so demob-happy during his last days as an MP was because he was the only one wearing a demob suit styled by Giorgio Armani).

Lord Elis-Thomas has been known to express the occasional republican sentiment in the past, although he was once late for his own leader's speech at a Plaid Cymru conference due to a visit to his constituency by the Queen.

As Bethan Jenkins, one of his past colleagues in the Welsh assembly, put it on twitter: "The Lord works in mysterious ways".

Cafe culture and the cost of a day off

2011-04-21T09:35:57Z

The photograph comes from Llanelli yesterday, but today's broadcast cafe of choice was the Market Chippy in Swansea Market, the last leg on the Good Morning Wales election tour.

With two weeks to go, it was a chance to remind people of what happens on May 5 - and for me to brush up on my knowledge of electoral systems (there's no better way to start the day).

Back in Cardiff, sorting through an inbox creaking with election propaganda, I spy a challenge from the Welsh Liberal Democrats - "the only party to have published a full set of costings as a part of their election manifesto".

The Welsh Lib Dems are consitent on this, publishing costings in their UK general election manifesto last year; a manifesto that promised to increase the Welsh assembly government's budget in year one and put more police on the beat, two pledges that didn't survive the coalition negotiations.

The fullness of the latest costings, which largely rely on using assembly government reserves, are equally debatable.

Take this from page 16 of the party's manifesto: "We will promote Wales to visitors....by making St David's Day a public holiday".

Any reader of the manifesto could assume this is additional to current public holidays and, as the Lib Dems' best friends in Westminster have pointed out, this is not a cost-free option. Nowhere in the manifesto, so far as I can see, does it say that this holiday would replace another one (the policy of the Welsh Conservatives).

Indeed, the (Conservative) Wales Office Minister David Jones has put the cost at £138m, not a trivial sum when budgets are squeezed and probably worth including in any "full set of costings".

The Lib Dems don't have far to look for the impact on public budgets of extra public holidays - the Lib Dem-led coalition on Cardiff Council estimates that next week's royal wedding holiday will cost the city £840,000.

Ed Miliband offered campaign trail ammunition

2011-04-20T17:29:56Z

Another day, another market cafe. Today it was the Teapot in Llanelli, where I caught up with the Labour leader, Ed Miliband.

He had to share top biling with the Welsh WI conference in the town, but it's fair to say he got a warm reception in a seat his party wants to win back from Plaid Cymru.

Not everyone knew who he was. One lady confidently told me that the Labour leader's name was Miliband but despite my clue ("David or Ed") was unable to be more specific.

He wasn't short of ideas from supporters either. Another lady wanted something done about what she called "these bloody Tories".

"I know," said the Labour leader sympathetically. "We have got to do something about them."

He then received an interesting contribution to his party's policy-making process: "Machine gun them".

Ed Miliband: "Well, I don't think that is a good idea but we need to get them out".

Lady in street: "Machine gun.....shoot 'em....rat-tat-tat..." Mr Miliband moved swiftly on to the next handshake.

He's on the look out for contributions to Labour's policy review, although somehow I can't see this one making the next manifesto.

Caesars Cafe, AV, Twitter and Lembit

2011-04-19T09:17:32Z

It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it. Somehow, it fell my way.

So I found myself at seven o'clock this morning at Caesars Cafe in Barry trying to explain the alternative vote to an expectant nation.

Explaining how AV works can be a challenge in broadcasting. Some of the BBC's greatest brains, and me, have been struggling to find an appropriate gimmick, sorry visual metaphor, for TV audiences.

So I turned to Twitter in the hope that supporters and opponents alike would give their views concisely within 140 characters.

Here's a summary of the response:

@CharlotteV: "Many have tried, and many have failed. Have not yet seen AV described in 140 chars"

@moronwatch: "Have yet to see FPTP defended coherently anywhere"

@bjhallett: "Rank candidates by preference, candidate has to get 50% of votes, lowest goes out & next pref counted till 50% reached"

@SimonThomasAber: "AV is the same as first past the post except the goalposts move as you count the votes"

I do hope that helps. Tonight, I shall be trying to explain it for a Wales Today audience, this time with an added Welsh angle.

It's difficult to predict how seats would change hands in future elections under AV, as voters' second preferences may change and political parties may campaign differently.

But academics have tried to look at how AV would have made a difference during the last campaign. The British Election Study found 43 seats would have changed hands a year ago, including five in Wales.

In Cardiff North, Labour's Julie Morgan would have held off the challenge of the Tories; Labour would also have held Aberconwy, won by Conservative Guto Bebb. The Liberal Democrats would have taken Swansea West and Newport East from Labour and in Montgomeryshire, Lembit Opik would have survived the Tory challenge.

Never mind changing the course of political history, AV could well have changed the world of celebrity television as we know it today.

A new commission is commissioned

2011-03-30T13:41:04Z

The Eskimos are reputed to have several words for "snow". In Welsh poltics, we have almost as many for "committee".

Task and finish group, convention, task force, action group - take your pick, although commission appears to be the buzzword of the moment.

The Richard commission looked at the Welsh assembly's powers, the Holtham commission its funding. A Calman-style commission will look at the way it is financed. A West Lothian commission will review the impact of devolution on parliament.

These commissions should not be confused with the Wales Office's rural economy project, which Secretary of State Cheryl Gillan has recently upgraded to the status of, you've guessed it, "commission".

It is also to produce a report, which may surprise those who thought this ministerial letter of thanks published nearly six months ago marked its climax.

Last October, as now, the price of fuel was a major issue. It was even suggested that vehicle excise duty for 4 x 4 vehicles be cut according to postcode. (We're talking rural Wales here, not Kensington & Chelsea).

The project led the Wales Office Minister David Jones to write to the chief secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, to suggest that motorists in rural areas of Wales receive a 5p a litre discount in the price of fuel duty.

This morning, Mr Alexander turned up at the Welsh Grand Committee to give his response. He has written to the European Commission (another one) to ask for permission to set up a pilot scheme for "remote island communities."

These happen to be remote island communities in England and Scotland. Petrol and diesel may cost more in rural Wales, but the UK government says that it can cost between 10p and 25p a litre extra to get fuel to remote island communities.

Mr Alexander said that to obtain a derogation on duty permission would be needed not only from the commission but also from 27 EU member states.

That required "the most robust evidence possible" on the impact of fuel prices and it doesn't appear that evidence includes the work of the rural economy project, sorry commission.

English MPs discover devolution

2011-03-29T12:52:07Z

It lasted 90 minutes and saw Wales pitched against England with passions running high on both sides, but no-one booed (or sang) the national anthem.

Westminster Hall, the second chamber of the House of Commons, is a more sedate venue than the Millennium Stadium but the arguments raged as fiercely as they did on Saturday.

Some would say more fiercely; at least this survived as a contest beyond the first 15 minutes.

The debate, on the West Lothian question, was led by a former Secretary of State for Wales, Paul Murphy.

He's worried that UK government plans to look at the role of non-English MPs at Westminster could lead to a ban on Welsh MPs voting on laws that affect England alone - "English votes for English laws" as the Conservatives put it while in opposition.

Mr Murphy believes any changes could threaten the Union between Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

But the debate saw warnings from several Conservative MPs about the impact of devolution on England and allegations that the English are subsidising public services north of Hadrian's wall and west of Offa's dyke.

The Torfaen Labour MP said: "I believe the Union is best maintained by recognising the diversity of our countries and regions within the United Kingdom in the way we're doing it."

He said the "disproportionate" loss of MPs from Wales at the next general election would affect the efficacy and significance of the Union. It would also be difficult to separate English issues from those of the rest of the UK at Westminster as funding is so closely related.

But London Tory MP Mark Field told him: "There is one leg, and rather an important leg, of the United Kingdom, that feels under-represented and unloved, which is one of the reasons this West Lothian question is becoming more high profile in England."

Monmouth Tory MP David Davies said: "We cannot possibly have a situation where we as Welsh MPs are telling the English what to do with their Health Service and education and they can't have any say over what goes on in Wales."

Mr Davies said the answer was to give the English their own parliament with similar powers to the parliaments in Cardiff and Edinburgh.

Totnes Tory MP Sarah Wollaston said there was a great feeling of unfairness within English constituencies. "We feel under-represented but equally we feel over-taxed and we wonder how it is we can be subsidising university education for Scottish pupils and how we can be subsidising free prescription charges."

The Constitutional Affairs Minister, Mark Harper, who is Tory MP for the Forest of Dean, said: "The English-Welsh border has become more of a border, more of a real barrier, since devolution, than it was beforehand. That is certainly the experience of my constituents."

He warned of the danger of ignoring some of the views of English voters. Mr Harper said there were a number of commentators who that if ever the United Kingdom is threatened it's the resentment of English voters that would damage it. "It's important we deal with these issues so that we can keep our United Kingdom together."

He added: "If you had a United Kingdom government that which didn't have a majority in England and insisted on governing as if it did given that we have a devolution settlement in Wales and Scotland that may lead to the sort of resentment."

Details of a commission - yes, another one - on the issue are due to be revealed later this year.