15/03/2012 Dragon's Eye

Plaid has a new leader. What are the challenges she faces in shaping

the future of the party? This is they were distracted by the

Cheltenham Festival. Nevertheless, the Wood campaign ran a clever race

which saw her romp home this afternoon. We'll hear from her in a

moment, but first Brian Meechan has been looking at the challenges the

It was hardly a photo-finish in the three-horse race for the Plaid

leadership. Leanne Wood has held a centre-left seat for the party

since 2003. In that time, she has built a reputation as a tireless

campaigner on a range of issues. Plaid Cymru members will get the

first into their new leader in action when they meet for the

conference at the end of this month. One former Plaid Cymru leader

offered this advice. Obviously every political party has discrete

elements within it. Some agree wholeheartedly with the party's

mainstream policy, and some with their individual aspirations. Any

leader has to bridge these different strands within the party

to make everyone feel they are part of a team and to ensure that they

maximise the delivery of what is best for Wales. There is also

advice from Plaid Cymru's Caernarfon stronghold. We need to

create a new political hinterland, to represent the party in all parts

of Wales and reach out to people in Wales and get them feeling that we

now have a party we can relate to and a party who we can feel part of

and who want to represent our best interests. That is a huge challenge.

John Paul stood for plied -- Plaid in 2001. He left the party after

falling out of his leadership and is now running his own business

after retiring from his job as an economics lecturer. There are two

issues here. The party has suffered from very poor leadership, and it

doesn't know why it exists any more. Whether you agree with Plaid Cymru

or not, any organisation has an objective and a purpose, and there

is no question in my mind that Plaid Cymru has lost its way. And

that is as a consequence of a very poor leadership. Plaid Cymru lost

this constituency in the last election to Labour. The new leader

will have to address the poor electoral form. One of the reasons

we lost from Netley is because people were afraid. That was the

only message people could hear, they were so frightened of the

Tories, and we lost our votes. We want to say to people here and

right across the valleys, come with us, we have an exciting journey our

country, and we can build the economy that we need and build a

fairer for society. But Leanne Wood doesn't have time to market card

for the race with the council elections in May. It has come a

little early for the new leader to make their mark, but on the other

hand, it is an opportunity to perhaps have a springboard and

ensure that the party does perform well. That is going to be a

challenge, we know, but there is an opportunity there to reach out and

for people to recognise that we are the party who can represent them in

their community and in counties and protect services. The SNP's success

in cost Scotland has led some to say that independence has been seen

as a handicap for too long. A recent poll suggests that only 7%

of people here support Wales leaving the United Kingdom.

Independence is what most people think of Plaid as a party for, but

our message is really about the economy and jobs. Some of us

believe that independence is a way to achieve that. But that is how we

need to achieve that - hour mission is to improve the quality of life

for Wales. When Plaid Cymru rallies here at the end of March, the party

will have to assent that they are led by someone with a clear idea of

where they are going. With May's council elections in sight, there

won't be long. Brian Meechan reporting. Let's

speak to the winner now. Leanne Wood joins us from Cardiff Bay.

Congratulations. Thank you very much. I guess top of your in-tray

at the moment must be reversing the decline that Plaid Cymru has seen

since the first assembly elections. How will you do that? And think we

need to take some time to build up the case for a new type of economy

for Wales, and I think that we can pull together all the best talent

within the party, talent from outside the party, to put together

a strong plan to turn around the world economy. That has got to be

Plaid Cymru's priority now. Far too many people are suffering from the

economic recession. People are concerned about lack of jobs, youth

unemployment and so on, and people's financial situations are

very difficult. So I think that I would like to ensure that everybody

comes together in the party now and works on putting together this

long-term economic plan. He said in your acceptance speech that you're

going to make the case for a real independence. Isn't that what Plaid

Cymru has been doing since it was formed in 1925? What we do now that

is so different? I would argue that we haven't put the case for

independence as yet, and that is why such small numbers of people in

polls supported. But what is encouraging about recent polls is

that two-thirds of people now want to see the financial levers

devolved to Wales so that we can sort out our economic problems. So

there is a huge task to do in turning around our economy. Figures

out this week show that West Wales and the valleys is in decline.

what can you offer in terms of practical policies to give people

jobs? That is what people are most concerned about at the moment. What

you have to offer them? Viewers can log-on to my website to and they

will find there a raft... What are the concrete policies? There is a

raft Of concrete policies on that website for creating jobs, for

example in the green energy sector. If we had a plan to retrofit homes

for energy efficiency, we could create jobs that way. What we need

in Wales is the equivalent of a 1930s style at USA New Deal.

Austerity isn't working in any country in Europe, and it certainly

isn't working for Wales. Our situation is dire and getting worse.

So at a time when the country is almost skinned, you are saying,

let's spend more money? I am, yes. In the 1930s, during the Depression

and the United States, there wasn't cash around there either, but a job

creation plan was proposed, and that is what turned the situation

around, and that is what we have to do in Wales. The latest GDP figures

that came out this week, we can say the GDP may not be the same measure

of -- the best measure, but they were very worrying figures. Despite

billions of pounds of aid, the Welsh economy is continuing to

decline. We have to sort that out, and that will be my priority as

leader of Plaid Cymru. You say that you want to target the valleys, but

Plaid Cymru need to pick up votes in the South Wales valleys, but

surely they had a chance back in 1999 when you got a member in

Rhondda, but the voters turned back to Labour. What will change now?

What happened in 1999 was interesting, and it shows that

Plaid Cymru can make gains in areas that we don't hold them. There are

areas where Plaid Cymru needs to get representation, and they think

this is where our message on the economy and to build up our local

communities is one that can reach out, and I have got a message for

people in Wales today - join with us. Join Plaid Cymru today to help

us build your community, help us build our economy and a stronger

Wales. Go online to the Plaid Cymru website and joined tonight! Very

quickly if we can, in terms of ruling out a coalition with the

Conservatives, as you have done, in terms of aiming for Labour's vote,

as you have just done, when are you ever going to get into government?

We have to have ambition for Plaid Cymru in the same way as we have to

have ambition for Wales. I want to see Plaid Cymru become the biggest

party in the National Assembly, and under my leadership, we will be

working towards that aim. Leanne Wood, thank you very much for

joining us. We'll have more on Leanne Woods' victory when our

Welsh Affairs Editor, Vaughan Roderick, joins me later in the

programme. Official figures from the European

Commission have confirmed what Dragon's Eye exclusively revealed

last October - huge parts of Wales are continuing to get poorer in

comparison to the rest of Europe despite receiving billions of

pounds of aid aimed at boosting their economies. The latest figures

show that the measure of economic productivity, GDP, has dropped to

68.4% of the European average. Alun Davies is the Welsh Minister

responsible for European Programmes. I asked him whether he was

disappointed with the latest figures. I think everybody wants

Wales to succeed. I represent a constituency in the valleys, I was

born and brought up in that region. I want to see economic growth

creating prosperity there and across the whole of Wales. We all

recognise where we are today, and we are not surprised by where we

are but disappointed. What we need to do now is move forward. What has

been this morning doing was working with different people, planning

ahead to look at what we can do to invest in economic growth in Wales

between now and 2020. But what has gone wrong? The trend is very

disappointing. 79% of GDP in the Nineties has gone down to 68% now.

What has happened? We are broadly trending along with other parts of

the United Kingdom and the European Union. There is nothing surprising

in these figures. We have just been through an economic storm. It is

not surprising that a fragile economy such as West Wales and the

valleys will be disproportionately hit. The important thing to

recognise is that when you look at these figures, we were in steep

decline as an economy into the 1990s and up to the turn of the

century. We have arrested the decline at the moment, and what we

need... To the decline here is carrying on, and had started before

the global recession hit. Those figures that we are discussing

today are from 20th nine, -- 2009. If you look at the story of the

last decade, you will see that West Wales and the valleys, the Welsh

economy, was broadly following you -- UK and European trains. You can

see some indicators that we were narrowing that gap. Most people in

my constituency don't worry about GP, but they do worry about

household income. With respect... With respect, the European

Commission looks at GDP. The funding has arrived by GDP. �6

billion of money in total since the year 2000, and things are getting

worse. That has to be a problem somewhere, and if we don't accept

there is a problem, where will the answer come from? If you look at

what the European commissioner said when they gave evidence, they

described the actions of the Welsh government as being exemplary.

how can decline be exemplary? are talking about the investments

we have been making, and that is what the European Commission said.

I meet European Commission and Council ministers fairly regularly.

What we are seeing is investment in As somebody who was born and

brought up here, we have seen a relative decline from the 1920s

until the end of the century. What we are trying to do his arrest that

decline. That is the point, it is not happening. That is the problem.

If you measure output figures, and if you look at what those figures

are measuring, they are not measuring wealth but output, you

will see that we are broadly tracking with other parts of the

European Union. What we need to do is invest so that we can outstrip

other parts of the European Union and create prospects for everybody

in this can true. Thank you very much. Now, how structural funds

have been spent in Wales and the valleys with Andrew Crawley of

Cardiff Business School and Owain Davies who runs a manufacturing

business in Carmarthenshire and is a council member of the business

body, CBI Wales. And Drew, looking at these rather depressing set of

figures, what would you say has gone wrong? It is difficult to put

up the full tat one body -- it is difficult but the fault on one body.

GDP per head, the measure the European uses, does not count the

value added element within any of these transfers, is that if you

work in Cardiff, your GDP is not counted in the area where you live.

So that has to be put in these figures. The over all performance

has been disappointing, saying that. We have received two tranches of

European funding, and you could question the effectiveness of the

policies put in place to help spend those. You could question the

procedures that we have, how you actually apply for these funds, a

have been effective. Can you give us an example of the kind of thing

that has gone wrong? Quarters a concrete example of something that

ought to have been improving? -- can you give us? Some of the

capital projects, the way in which the funds are administered is very

strict, so you have to spend it with in particular areas. There is

a lack of co-ordination between bodies at the start of programmes

over organising where the funds will be spent. They run for a long

period of time so all these bodies must come together to co-ordinate

where the funding should be administered. So instead of

applying for small pots of cash, you are applying for large projects.

There were few and far between. There were some examples in higher

education, but there were not any links with businesses. Small

business and large business needs to be working with private or

organisations. You have done a bit of work looking at how businesses,

the private sector, interacts with European funding. What has been

your experience? The private sector has not interacted far enough. I

have been involved with the process from the early stages. I am

disillusioned with the process and amount of money wasted rather than

spend on delivery. We have been reluctant to engage because it is

bureaucratic. The Welsh government has missed a trick by making sure

everything has been filtered through so the private sector can

deliver. The private sector and the business sector can improve the

economy. The public sector cannot. The way to deliver and improve his

to make sure that Wales is a place to do business. What business

people want is a nice environment with good infrastructure. I do not

necessarily mean rails and road, but people with the right skills

and education, and opportunity for businesses to invest in Wales. That

is not there and we have missed a trick. And to be entitled to

another third tranche is a disgrace and we Ashford -- we should be

ashamed. What can government to? Government is bureaucratic,

European government. What could they do? What we need to do is to

insure the people in the decision- making process understand what our

roles and guides. What we are getting too hung up about is the

rules that Brussels imposes. We need to look at the needs of Wales

and find a process to get money out of Europe to deliver on the needs,

not worry we have got �1.5 billion to spend and where we should spend

it on. That is the cart before the horse. We have got to make sure

needs are evaluated and then the funds are put in place to improve

and deliver a. You seem to be nodding in agreement. Is that

roughly what you are thinking? Does it need to be flexible? Flexibility

is tough, but it is possible. I think it is about pulling together

all organisations, so private organisations large and small,

communicating with the government what their needs are now. We will

qualify for a third tranche. We can question that, but we now need to

say that we need to use this in a more effective way. It is about

getting keep people's voices. Large organisations and small businesses

need to tell us what they need to make economy working better.

Linking these things together, unfortunately, you have seen

different organisations going off at different tantrums, and we need

the whole picture combined and getting the private sector involved

is keen. I imagine we will be coming back to this of -- in the

future, but for the time being, thank you.

What next for Remploy workers? Last week, we reported that nearly 300

employees found out their jobs were at risk, after the UK government

pulled the funding from seven of the nine factories located here.

It's a difficult time, as you can imagine, but Dragon's Eye has

learnt that the Welsh Government is hoping to secure new contracts to

make the factories more viable. But will this be enough to save them?

I've been finding out what else there is out there for people with

disabilities looking for work. It has been a tough few weeks for

these Remploy workers. Last week came the announcement none of them

wanted to hear that their factory was going to close with nearly 300

jobs at risk. They took their plight to the Senedd after the

Welsh government said they might consider stepping in to help out

but after the UK Government refused to give the Welsh government the

share of the money, that is now more difficult. I think they have

started with the decision they wanted to close these factories,

and to reduce the subsidy, and I don't think they understand what is

going on in these factors. The UK Government says they will talk to

anybody who wants to help out with the Remploy factories and to

millions of pounds will be available. The big question now is,

what next? The Welsh government told us today they are hopeful of

finding more work for Remploy factories. Tomorrow, the council

will be signing a contract in the 4th Remploy factory and other

councils are looking to give support to Remploy factories in

their areas and North Wales in Wrexham, that is the case. We have

a number of opportunities within the Welsh public sector, the

Assembly government has been able to award contracts as well. We have

got to continue to do what we can to make sure there is a supply of

work to these factories and I am pleased with the expressions of

interest we have had, some from people in the private sector,

others from major social enterprises like registered social

landlords who believe there is a future for Remploy factories.

Despite what has been done, does there need to be more of a push

from the public sector in Wales to put business Remploy's way? There

is more we can do. We can co- ordinate procurement on a national

basis in Wales and reserve contracts for Remploy factories.

However, it is easier if we know there is a continuing life for the

Remploy factories to encourage businesses and public sector bodies

to procure work from those factories. Of course, Remploy

workers have seen this before in 2007. The Labour UK government

closed many Remploy factories including the swan neck Cardiff.

The experiences of those workers might hold a clue as to what is

going to happen. Steve Watts was one of the luckier ones to lose his

job. A line manager with Remploy, he found some work, but nothing

permanent, so he took redundancy and has ploughed his money into a

new company. Tomorrow, he will sign a lease on this new workshop.

cannot wait to go. Hopefully, we will help people. We are hoping

eventually we will be able to be on the scale of Remploy and be able to

employ 90 people. Those things take their time. I am glad to help the

people of Remploy. There are places that are going to be geared up to

help them. His brother will work part-time at the new company. He

will a pulsed and the cycle furniture. The game will be to

employ as many former Remploy workers as possible. I will come in

and help as much as I can. And if I don't feel well, a day, a couple of

weeks, months, there will be no pressure. As long as you are OK,

they can wait. Since Remploy finished, there has been nothing.

Other than this enterprise, opportunities for former Remploy

workers are few and far between. The climate at the moment is

challenging. What we are finding is that the number of applications per

vacancy has increased, you know, significantly over the last few

years, which makes it even more challenging with somebody -- for

somebody with a disability to axe the his employment. Zoe is at

school and is looking for work. She is doing work experience here to

beef up her CV. Why do you have a job? Because it gets me out of the

house. She enjoys her job but those that are about to lose their jobs

at PGG Tour say they prefer not to work in mainstream employment.

and I would say the main thing. -- the same thing. It is about

reintroducing somebody to a new environment and supporting them

because what we wouldn't do is help them find the right job and leave

them. We provide support so we can do intensive job culture to help

them get used to the job. Whether or not mainstream jobs can be found

for these Remploy workers, many would prefer to remain in their

factories. Whether or not new contracts can make them viable

remains to be seen. Vaughan Roderick is our Welsh

Affairs Editor. Leanne Wood, the new leader for

Plaid. How much of a break with the past is it? A major break. It

demolishes a few myths about Plaid members. A lot of people said it

would never elect a leader that was not fluent in Welsh. A lot of

people said that grassroots members were fairly conservative. That

doesn't seem to be the case. I think there are a lot of people in

rural Wales that are left wing. It shatters a few myths about Plaid

but it is a big change for an open left-wing candidate to be elected

party leader. Looking at how the other parties will react, she can

expect a lot more scrutiny as a leader. That's right. Although she

has been at the Assembly affair while, she doesn't look that

certain on her feet. The other parties will try to test it in the

chamber. Now, it is very easy for the Conservatives and the Lib Dems

because what they will do is paint her as a politician who is out of

the mainstream, a politician that is on the far left. More difficult

for Labour. They will have a new wins job because they will not want

to be seen to be attacking Leanne Wood from the right. That would go

down badly with their constituents. The other parties will put the heat

on her within the next done few weeks. She will have a torrid time

because they sense their weakness is their. They have seen a steady

decline since the Assembly. What will she have to do in order to

turn that around? Are what is interesting is the fact that she

won the leadership so easily is what she is not that great in the

chamber, she is very good at retell politics. She is good at face-to-

face politics. She is good at meeting people. It may well be that

the tactic for Plaid will be not to bother about what goes on in

Cardiff Bay, but to get their leader out there campaigning. That