:00:44. > :00:54.Should an evangelical Christian church get taxpayers' money to
:00:54. > :01:02.
:01:02. > :01:05.build a bowling alley for the local Good evening. Concerns are being
:01:05. > :01:07.raised in Carmarthenshire over the funding of an Evangelical Christian
:01:07. > :01:12.organisation that plans to build an auditorium for worship and a
:01:12. > :01:15.bowling alley using public money. The Towy Community Church has
:01:15. > :01:17.received up to two million pounds from the Big Lottery Fund, the
:01:17. > :01:27.Welsh Government and Carmarthenshire Council for the new
:01:27. > :01:28.
:01:28. > :01:34.development. Here's Brian Meechan. These are tough times in the public
:01:34. > :01:39.sector. There are cuts in services and job losses. Can mother she
:01:39. > :01:43.Council is no exception. All the spending comes under the spotlight
:01:43. > :01:48.-- Carmarthenshire Council. This is the office of the Towy Community
:01:48. > :01:51.Church. It has grand plans for the future which are causing a ripple
:01:51. > :01:56.in Carmarthenshire politics. Supporters argue it is providing
:01:57. > :02:01.services, critics are worried about the huge sums of public money and
:02:01. > :02:08.how it plans to spend them. Unison represents many council employees
:02:08. > :02:12.under threat of losing their jobs or a pay cut. We do question how we
:02:13. > :02:21.can use the money and our members are facing cuts and a threat to
:02:21. > :02:27.jobs. We have only seen it possibly 10 or 20% of the cuts so far.
:02:27. > :02:34.People are fearful for their jobs and angry as to the use of money.
:02:34. > :02:37.This is a glaring example. This is the site of an Old creamery where
:02:37. > :02:44.the church is planning to build the new facility. The development will
:02:44. > :02:49.be home to a mix of facilities, an auditorium the church were used for
:02:49. > :02:55.worship and other organisations can hire it. There is a food bank, debt
:02:55. > :03:01.advice, furniture recycling and a bowling alley. Our members can be
:03:01. > :03:06.losing jobs due to economic problems, for much of problems,
:03:06. > :03:10.they could be going to the food bank for debt counselling. And yet
:03:10. > :03:14.they may not have needed to go there because the money could have
:03:14. > :03:20.been used to maintain their jobs. There are concerns among
:03:20. > :03:25.politicians. I have tried to look at the aims and objectives of the
:03:25. > :03:33.grant funding but those aren't clear. The lesson we are learning
:03:33. > :03:38.from the issues are we need to ensure any public money goes out
:03:38. > :03:43.for clear objectives and they are to live it and the government or
:03:43. > :03:49.whoever is dispensing public money monitors it. What is this money
:03:49. > :03:55.for? How is it being put into the funding streams and is the
:03:55. > :04:02.organisation using this money and restricting access to facilities?
:04:02. > :04:06.Are they being discriminate tree in their employment practices?
:04:07. > :04:12.main groups on the cancel all supported funding going into Towy
:04:12. > :04:17.Community Church. The leader of Plaid Cymru and the Labour group
:04:17. > :04:23.declined to be interviewed for the programme. We made numerous
:04:23. > :04:28.attempts to contact the councillor, the leader of the Council and the
:04:28. > :04:33.independent group but are calls were not returned. As a member of
:04:34. > :04:38.the People's First Group, Sian opposed the funding. I am very
:04:38. > :04:43.concerned we are dropping funding to other well-established secular
:04:43. > :04:47.organisations like Citizens' Advice Bureau on the pretext that these
:04:47. > :04:52.Christian groups can do debt counselling as well. I am not sure
:04:53. > :04:57.because evangelical churches are well-known for going after members,
:04:57. > :05:01.they would like to recruit, this church is building an auditorium
:05:01. > :05:07.for 600 people and it has a fraction of of those members at the
:05:07. > :05:10.moment. What will they use the services for? There are concerns
:05:10. > :05:14.over the Church's links to an organisation called Mercy
:05:14. > :05:20.ministries, which has faced criticism for the way it deals a
:05:20. > :05:28.vulnerable young women. The Church has links to other rather dubious
:05:28. > :05:32.organisations like that and I feel uncomfortable about the whole thing.
:05:33. > :05:42.People who believe in possessions at by demons and to treat anorexia
:05:42. > :05:45.through exorcism, it is not good. I would not like these people taking
:05:45. > :05:49.over social services, for instance with a sort of bizarre belief
:05:49. > :05:54.system. No seat Mr Rees was closed down in
:05:54. > :06:03.Australia because of the way they treated days in their care -- no
:06:03. > :06:08.seat ministries. It stated the aim of setting up similar ministry in
:06:08. > :06:13.Carmarthenshire. This body believes he can cure a vulnerable young
:06:13. > :06:18.girl's problems by exorcism. They are part of the Evangelical
:06:18. > :06:21.Alliance which is against any form of same-sex marriage and these core
:06:21. > :06:26.values go completely against the principles of public service which
:06:26. > :06:32.is based on equality. With up to �2 million of public money invested in
:06:32. > :06:36.the project, it is claimed it will provide 17 jobs and vital services.
:06:36. > :06:39.For its critics, it is too high a price to pay when jobs and services
:06:39. > :06:42.are being cut across the country. Brian Meechan reporting. We did ask
:06:42. > :06:46.to speak the Pastor of the Towy Community Church, but he declined
:06:46. > :06:48.our request for an interview. We then turned to Gwainy - an
:06:48. > :06:54.evangelical organisation that supports Churches, including the
:06:54. > :06:56.one in this case, in their bids for public funding for community work.
:06:56. > :07:01.At first they agreed to be interviewed but then changed their
:07:01. > :07:04.minds. We invited the Chief Executive of Carmarthenshire
:07:04. > :07:08.council to give us an interview, he said it wouldn't be appropriate
:07:08. > :07:11.because of the local elections. We asked the group leaders of the
:07:11. > :07:16.three main parties on the council, who supported the decision to fund
:07:16. > :07:20.the project. Cllr Meryl Gravel, who also leads the council, didn't
:07:20. > :07:24.return our calls. The leader of the Plaid Cymru and Labour groups
:07:24. > :07:27.declined to be interviewed. As did the Local Government Minister, Carl
:07:27. > :07:36.Sargeant. Just when I was starting to think
:07:36. > :07:41.no one liked me, Brian agreed to sit in the chair. I am paid to be
:07:41. > :07:46.here! You know how to make a girl feel special. We have had
:07:46. > :07:50.developments on this tonight. have had a statement from the Welsh
:07:50. > :07:54.government and it's important to be clear because it is an interesting
:07:54. > :07:57.statement. It says that Towy Community Church has not received
:07:58. > :08:03.any financial support from the Welsh governments communities
:08:03. > :08:07.facilities and activities programme. They say it has been agreed in
:08:07. > :08:12.principle the funding will be given to the project but crucially the
:08:12. > :08:16.money has not yet been paid and the details have not been finalised.
:08:16. > :08:21.That is a big development on the story. If you look at the website
:08:21. > :08:26.of the Church, it was up there they were receiving the funding. So, it
:08:26. > :08:31.remains to be seen what happens. Broaden this out into the wider
:08:31. > :08:35.significance, because as the pot of public money shrinks for community
:08:36. > :08:41.projects, are we likely to see greater competition between
:08:41. > :08:46.organisations? I think that is the crux of the issue. We have gone
:08:46. > :08:50.through a period of record levels of investment in health, schools
:08:50. > :08:55.and local communities. When there was the feeling of plenty of money
:08:55. > :09:01.to go round, projects did not compete and there was less scrutiny
:09:01. > :09:05.and perhaps less of an issue about where money was going. Now, I think
:09:05. > :09:12.we're seeing people asking the more questions about where money should
:09:12. > :09:16.be given and who it should be given to and what projects. We heard from
:09:16. > :09:21.Angela and one question she asked was in these times, is a bowling
:09:21. > :09:28.alley a priority in terms of spending? That is the general point
:09:28. > :09:32.but regardless of that, in any context money being given to an
:09:32. > :09:35.evangelical organisation to run services but it does not appear
:09:35. > :09:39.they are experienced at running, certainly not the bowling alley but
:09:39. > :09:44.more importantly the debt counselling service, there is no
:09:44. > :09:47.real idea of whether they have the experience to fulfil this when we
:09:47. > :09:53.have organisations like Citizens' Advice Bureau which is short of
:09:53. > :10:00.cash. And competition between organisations is likely to increase,
:10:00. > :10:07.presumably as people tried to get hold of money? Yes, we heard a lot
:10:07. > :10:12.from David Cameron about the "big society", this is David Camerons
:10:12. > :10:16.big idea. Essentially, you roll back the state, you stop the UK
:10:16. > :10:20.government and Welsh government and local councils providing services
:10:20. > :10:26.at you bring in charities and local communities and allow them to run
:10:26. > :10:29.the services. The idea being they will run in more efficiently and
:10:29. > :10:34.better and they know the needs of the community. The problem with
:10:34. > :10:41.that is you then have groups say why is this group getting money and
:10:41. > :10:45.not us? The resistance if you go to an awarding body various criteria
:10:45. > :10:49.and you are handed money based on criteria and it is objective. Once
:10:49. > :10:55.you start getting a challenge to what organisations are running this,
:10:55. > :10:58.you would have people like the councillor who we saw in the report
:10:58. > :11:04.saying I do not want evangelical churches running social services
:11:04. > :11:10.and it is not just that, many other organisations will be offering the
:11:10. > :11:13.same questions. They say they are getting the same scrutiny as any
:11:14. > :11:21.organisation and will follow the legal rules. Of course, in fairness
:11:21. > :11:26.that they would defend their record and the fact they will be going out
:11:26. > :11:30.and even though they perhaps are not in favour of gay marriage, but
:11:30. > :11:33.does not mean they will discriminate against gay people.
:11:33. > :11:35.Up to a hundred and fifty jobs are being lost at three Peacock's
:11:35. > :11:38.distribution centres across south Wales. The company's new owners
:11:38. > :11:41.described it as "a legacy of the administration process" after the
:11:41. > :11:44.company collapsed last year. The news comes after yesterday's
:11:44. > :11:46.unemployment figures showed a slight rise in Wales, with women
:11:46. > :11:49.bearing the brunt of the increase. Our Business Correspondent, Nick
:11:49. > :11:54.Servini joins us from outside the Peacock's distribution centre in
:11:54. > :12:01.Nantgarw. Nick in light of yesterday's figures, what's the
:12:01. > :12:11.wider context of the Peacock's announcement?
:12:11. > :12:15.Yes, a consultation process is under way for 150 job losses at the
:12:15. > :12:19.centre and two others in the South Wales valleys. It is a unique
:12:19. > :12:24.situation here because it is still the fall-out of the huge corporate
:12:24. > :12:27.collapse of Peacock's that we saw at the start of the year but it is
:12:27. > :12:35.pretty gloomy and that was reflected in unemployment figures
:12:35. > :12:42.yesterday. 131,000 out of work in Wales and the critical thing to say
:12:42. > :12:47.is it has been at 130,000 or above for seven months. Historically that
:12:47. > :12:53.is a high figure and it is the most sustained period where we have had
:12:53. > :12:58.unemployment at that level recently. The statisticians in Newport will
:12:58. > :13:03.say the way the figures are collated in the nations and regions
:13:03. > :13:06.of the UK, to look at the trend that's been going on. Rather than
:13:06. > :13:14.the one-off monthly spite in figures because they can be
:13:14. > :13:18.volatile. On that reckoning, -- We have had seven months of high
:13:18. > :13:23.unemployment and by any reckoning it is a gloomy assessment of what
:13:23. > :13:28.is going on. A narrower version of our employment which is a specific
:13:28. > :13:32.number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance went above
:13:32. > :13:38.80,000 for the first time in over two years, a jump of 10,000 on the
:13:38. > :13:41.quarter. It's interesting looking up a picture to look at the
:13:41. > :13:46.political reaction because the Conservative Secretary of State and
:13:46. > :13:50.Labour business minister were both keen to stress the positive side,
:13:50. > :13:56.particularly an increase in the employment rates and a decrease in
:13:56. > :14:01.the economic inactivity rate. How does this square with your picture?
:14:01. > :14:05.To some extent they are right to point that out because we have had
:14:05. > :14:10.significant increases in employment as well as unemployment. It does
:14:10. > :14:14.show that there is evidence of private sector activity because we
:14:14. > :14:17.know there isn't much recruitment in the public sector. For many
:14:17. > :14:21.people, they may be confused because you would think if
:14:21. > :14:26.employment is going up, our employment would come down as well.
:14:26. > :14:32.I think the answer lies in this issue of economic inactivity, a
:14:32. > :14:37.huge number of working age population classed as economic --
:14:37. > :14:42.economically inactive. They do not show up on the joblessness figures.
:14:42. > :14:48.The UK government in changes like phasing out incapacity benefit is
:14:48. > :14:54.starting to have an impact on those large numbers of people across
:14:54. > :15:00.Wales and in this area where I am in the South Bali's -- South Wales
:15:00. > :15:04.Valleys and many of these people are coming on to the jobless radar,
:15:04. > :15:08.and starting to claim jobseeker's allowance. That is what is
:15:08. > :15:12.happening and it is the impact being felt and starting to be felt
:15:12. > :15:17.in terms of figures. This is at least speculative but it could lead
:15:17. > :15:20.to a scenario in future in Wales where the economy improves, the
:15:20. > :15:26.private sector starts to take people on and yet unemployment will
:15:26. > :15:30.remain high because there will be a relatively steady stream of people
:15:30. > :15:40.previously classed as being economically inactive now claiming
:15:40. > :15:44.jobseeker's allowance and showing That's interesting, will follow it
:15:44. > :15:47.and see if it happens, but a quick thought from you before you go on
:15:47. > :15:51.some of the hardest hit groups, young people and the position they
:15:51. > :15:57.are in has received a lot of protect -- attention and women as
:15:57. > :16:01.well, bearing the brunt in Wales. What is being done for them? Yes,
:16:01. > :16:07.quite, I mean this ongoing crisis of youth unemployment, the figures
:16:07. > :16:11.have moved steadily from a 5th of 16-24 year-olds not in full-time
:16:11. > :16:14.education can are looking for work to close-up -- closer to a quarter
:16:14. > :16:18.of that and Wales is just about the UK average. A lot of political
:16:18. > :16:21.effort going into tried to deal with that issue, providing
:16:21. > :16:25.incentives for sorts of companies to take on the young people, give
:16:25. > :16:29.them a chance, provide work experience and get them on the jobs
:16:29. > :16:33.ladder, and as you mention, female unemployment as well, a trend
:16:33. > :16:39.emerging but women are being hit harder than men at the moment when
:16:39. > :16:43.it comes to unemployment. You are attracting a lot of attention, I
:16:43. > :16:46.don't know if those are beats of support. Thank you Nick Servini.
:16:46. > :16:50.It is a tense time for local authorities. Their budgets are
:16:50. > :16:53.being cut, demands for their services are growing and there's an
:16:53. > :16:56.election campaign underway. Arwyn Jones takes a look at the issues
:16:56. > :17:02.ahead of the local elections on May 3rd.
:17:02. > :17:05.It is a fairly familiar scene, especially with elections looming,
:17:06. > :17:10.these protestors in Aberystwyth are opposed to moving this day care
:17:10. > :17:15.centre for the elderly, saying up to 90 people can use it, so why is
:17:15. > :17:18.it being moved? Well, the council want to develop on the land.
:17:18. > :17:22.It's a tricky one for any council. On the one hand there is a chance
:17:22. > :17:26.of a new supermarket which would bring in new jobs as well as more
:17:26. > :17:31.shoppers into the area, and it would mean moving this day care
:17:31. > :17:34.centre, used by dozens of the most vulnerable people in society.
:17:34. > :17:38.Ceredigion council and proposing to remove the service altogether but
:17:38. > :17:41.they will move the day-care centre to another location -- are not
:17:41. > :17:46.proposing. Campaigners said the alternative doesn't match up to
:17:46. > :17:49.what they have now. So on Tuesday they were invited to have a look at
:17:49. > :17:53.what is being offered. It is not the whole of this building. That
:17:53. > :18:00.will house a new library. The new day-care centre will be in the
:18:00. > :18:03.basement. We have been trying since December to get permission to look
:18:03. > :18:07.at it, and it will be interesting what we will see, because people
:18:07. > :18:13.who have seen it have complained about the low ceilings, the
:18:13. > :18:18.dumbness, the humidity, the lack of space, it is only about one-quarter
:18:18. > :18:22.of the size of the old days centre. -- the dampness. Of course, the
:18:22. > :18:26.council doesn't have to provide services like these, it is not
:18:26. > :18:31.legally obliged to do so. Having now seen the new centre, what was
:18:31. > :18:37.the verdict? They have done their best, but I still don't think it's
:18:37. > :18:41.good enough. It is too small, it is too claustrophobic, it is too dark,
:18:41. > :18:46.even on a bright day like this with the lights on. And it's just not
:18:46. > :18:50.good enough for our old people. asked candidates from all political
:18:50. > :18:54.parties in Ceredigion on as well as the independent members of the
:18:54. > :18:58.council's cabinet to answer questions about the day-care centre.
:18:58. > :19:02.All but two were unwilling or unable to be interviewed, and the
:19:02. > :19:06.council asked us not to run this story before the election. They did
:19:06. > :19:11.tell us that they had listened to concerns and made changes to
:19:11. > :19:16.minimise the impact on services. Other candidates, however, were
:19:16. > :19:19.more keen to talk. Every councillor -- every councillors having to deal
:19:19. > :19:23.with making savings. We are in hard times, there is no escaping that,
:19:23. > :19:27.we must be honest, but it is how you make those savings and target
:19:27. > :19:31.them, and I think in this instance, we have to ask ourselves if they
:19:31. > :19:35.had been targeted correctly, are there other things that could have
:19:35. > :19:42.been done, and the whole issue of development as well, it comes back
:19:42. > :19:48.with the idea of looking at the plans. That type of facility is
:19:48. > :19:55.needed because, I think, if we have a policy of early intervention to
:19:55. > :19:59.help the older generation to stay as independent as possible, that is
:19:59. > :20:04.the type of thing that the facilities such as a day centre,
:20:04. > :20:08.where there it may be, does. It gives them a chance to socialise --
:20:08. > :20:13.where every maybe. They can have a hot meal and have their laundry
:20:13. > :20:16.seen to and other personal things if that is what they need.
:20:16. > :20:21.money councils have is being squeezed, so it is possible
:20:21. > :20:25.services like these may well feel the band in other parts of Wales.
:20:25. > :20:30.think in some cases we may be getting to that situation currently.
:20:30. > :20:33.I know local austerities are working very hard to work within
:20:33. > :20:39.the budget constraints that they face, and they have made
:20:39. > :20:42.significant efforts to prevent front line services being cut. But
:20:42. > :20:46.they are also trying to redesign services as well, so it is not
:20:46. > :20:50.simply a question of making efficiencies, but also finding new
:20:50. > :20:54.ways of delivering services which may not cost any more. They may
:20:54. > :21:00.even cost less, but still be able to provide a service which provides
:21:00. > :21:04.the outcome local-authority is want to meet. -- Local authorities.
:21:04. > :21:08.Whoever is in charge of the council's after elections, tough
:21:08. > :21:11.decisions will be made, but who will they be, at the moment a third
:21:11. > :21:15.of councils are run by Independent Councillors with Labour having the
:21:15. > :21:19.highest number of councillors around Wales, 27 percent, but they
:21:19. > :21:23.are followed not by other parties but by the Independent Councillors,
:21:23. > :21:26.with 22 per cent of the total. There are a fair bit that -- ahead
:21:26. > :21:30.of other parties at the moment and in Wales we have a higher
:21:30. > :21:34.proportion of independent members and other parts of the UK, but is
:21:34. > :21:39.that about to change? I think historically a lot of Conservatives
:21:39. > :21:43.were minded to fight these local elections as Independent
:21:43. > :21:46.Councillors, given the party's historic low standing in Wales.
:21:46. > :21:50.Increasingly of course, that is changing. At the last local
:21:50. > :21:54.elections in 2008, the Conservatives fielded a record
:21:54. > :21:58.number of candidates in such areas as Powys, Pembrokeshire, which were
:21:58. > :22:02.historically dominated by independent candidates, so there is
:22:02. > :22:07.a gradual shift of those independent Conservatives being
:22:07. > :22:11.minded to stand as independents increasingly standing on the
:22:11. > :22:16.official party ticket. By their very nature can select -- elections
:22:16. > :22:19.deal with the most local of issues, and there is no doubt difficult
:22:19. > :22:23.decisions are being made. We will have to wait another two weeks to
:22:23. > :22:27.find out who will make them. Arwyn Jones reporting. Earlier I
:22:27. > :22:31.spoke to Professor Roger Scully from the Wales government Centre at
:22:31. > :22:36.Cardiff University and asked him how the local election campaign was
:22:36. > :22:41.just standing up. -- Wales Governance Centre. At the moment it
:22:41. > :22:44.is looking like a normal election. We are seeing the party election
:22:44. > :22:48.broadcasts and to some extent seeing Billy fitting and boards and
:22:48. > :22:53.posters, but it is all at a much lower degree of intensity than a
:22:53. > :22:56.general election or National Assembly election. The one of her
:22:56. > :23:01.thing we are seeing, as one generally ceasing campaigns these
:23:01. > :23:06.days, is that the parties have rather few activists on the ground
:23:06. > :23:09.-- one generally seizing campaigns. Fewer people canvassing and
:23:09. > :23:14.increasingly looking to compensate to some degree for this through
:23:14. > :23:17.things like social media, use of the Web and so on and so forth.
:23:17. > :23:21.Let's look at the individual parties, starting with Labour, they
:23:21. > :23:25.had a real thumping in 2008 and will hope to gain ground,
:23:25. > :23:30.presumably. Yes, it will be a big disappointment for Labour not to
:23:30. > :23:35.make major improvements on their showing in 2008. 2008 was more or
:23:35. > :23:38.less than Nadia of their fortunes in Wales, -- the Nadya. They are
:23:38. > :23:42.doing much better in the polls in Wales and England at the moment,
:23:42. > :23:45.and it would be a major surprise if they don't gain ground in terms of
:23:45. > :23:49.councillors they have and also possibly take control of a number
:23:49. > :23:53.of additional councils. And of course Labour hoping to make the
:23:53. > :23:56.most, in some areas at least, of what is an unpopular UK coalition
:23:56. > :24:01.government, which brings us to the fortunes of the Lib Dems and the
:24:01. > :24:06.Conservatives, who may well fear a backlash. Yes, to some extent. We
:24:06. > :24:09.have said that with the Lib Dems, and you see the contrast in the way
:24:09. > :24:13.back campaigns are being fought. Labour launched a campaign about
:24:13. > :24:16.sending a message to the London government, capitalising on the
:24:16. > :24:22.national situation. The Liberal Democrats in particular are looking
:24:22. > :24:25.to play that down and their candidates are looking at local
:24:25. > :24:30.records, Local profiles, and implicitly saying, you might not
:24:30. > :24:34.like the UK government all be happy with Nick Clegg, but you know me,
:24:34. > :24:38.what I am like, trying to run on their local profile and local
:24:38. > :24:42.records. The Conservatives' national poll rating is how it --
:24:42. > :24:45.is holding up better than the Lib Dems but at the moment there has
:24:45. > :24:48.been a difficult period for the Conservative Party and some extent
:24:48. > :24:51.we would also expect to see the same from the Conservatives,
:24:51. > :24:55.running more on local profiles rather than making this a
:24:55. > :25:03.referendum on the government in London. And what about Plaid Cymru?
:25:03. > :25:06.They go into this with a recently elected new leader? Commentators
:25:06. > :25:10.will see this as the first vote on Leanne Wood, which will possibly be
:25:10. > :25:15.unfair as she has only been there for a few weeks, but coming on the
:25:15. > :25:22.back of pretty good performances in 2000 and date and a disappointing
:25:22. > :25:25.Assembly election last year, -- 2008, I am sure Plaid Cymru can
:25:25. > :25:29.hold most of the ground they won in 2008 and will be satisfied with
:25:29. > :25:33.that. If they could win pretty much all the seats they won last time
:25:33. > :25:35.and maybe make some gains, they would be delighted with that. I
:25:35. > :25:40.would be surprised if their expectations were anywhere near
:25:40. > :25:43.that tide. Just expand little on your thoughts about local versus
:25:43. > :25:48.national issues, which you already referred to in terms of how the
:25:48. > :25:52.parties of framing the debate. What dominates in elections like these?
:25:52. > :25:56.It is a mixture of the two. It is undoubtedly demonstrated very
:25:56. > :25:59.easily that when a party in government, particularly in London,
:25:59. > :26:03.is unpopular, its local election candidates have a much harder time
:26:03. > :26:08.winning. That is a very clear, consistent relationship going back
:26:08. > :26:12.many years and decades. At the same time, it is not always impossible
:26:12. > :26:18.for a candidate from an unpopular party at the national level to
:26:18. > :26:22.still do well locally, and what one has to do normally is downplay
:26:22. > :26:27.national issues, very much play of the local dimension, play up on
:26:27. > :26:31.their personal records -- play at the local dimension, and try as
:26:31. > :26:36.much as possible to avoid people making the election a referendum on
:26:36. > :26:40.the government in London. OK, Roger Scully, thank you.
:26:40. > :26:43.Let's talk about organ donation. The Welsh Government has a plan to
:26:43. > :26:47.move to an opt-out system. The Law Society has called for greater
:26:47. > :26:50.clarity in the proposed legislation. One of the points discussed in the
:26:50. > :26:54.Dragon's Eye special programme on the subject last year -- in the
:26:54. > :26:58.Dragon's Eye special programme. Our political Correspondent Tomos
:26:58. > :27:02.Livingstone is here to tell us more. What has the Law Society said?
:27:02. > :27:04.the moment if you want to leave your organs of your debt to carry
:27:04. > :27:08.an organ donor card but there was government wants to look at
:27:08. > :27:14.changing that system so effectively everyone's organs would be
:27:14. > :27:18.available unless they opt out, but at the moment, a person's relatives
:27:18. > :27:21.especially her -- effectively have a veto over all the 9th -- organ
:27:21. > :27:25.donation after death even if they carry a donor card. What would
:27:25. > :27:28.happen to that veto and this new system, for instance if someone
:27:28. > :27:32.died having not opted out of the organ donation system but their
:27:32. > :27:35.relatives said, I am certain she or he did not want their organs
:27:36. > :27:40.donated? Who decides in that situation what the deceased
:27:40. > :27:43.person's wishes really work? Now the Law Society responding to the
:27:43. > :27:48.Welsh Government consultation raised concerns about this, saying
:27:48. > :27:52."the extent of the family's role is not certain ." They say it needs to
:27:52. > :27:55.be cleared up before legislation is passed. What has the Welsh
:27:55. > :27:59.Government's response been? Health Minister Lesley Griffiths
:27:59. > :28:04.says she can't envisage a situation where someone's organs would be
:28:04. > :28:07.taken without the consent of their relatives, but the Welsh
:28:07. > :28:11.Government's White Paper talks about reducing the burden on the
:28:11. > :28:15.deceased's relatives, of making a difficult decision at that what is
:28:15. > :28:18.already a very difficult time. The Welsh Government's and research
:28:18. > :28:22.suggests concerns about the family issues are the number one concern
:28:23. > :28:26.the public has about this proposed change in the law. The problem for
:28:26. > :28:29.Welsh ministers is that public support or otherwise for this
:28:29. > :28:33.policy really seems to depend on the way this family question is
:28:33. > :28:37.answered. So we will wait to see what happens there, but they
:28:37. > :28:41.published yesterday the results of the consultation process as a whole.
:28:41. > :28:47.What are the things of interest were in there? A range of views,
:28:47. > :28:51.such as questions of religious and philosophical grounds, should the
:28:51. > :28:55.state have control over people's bodies, but more specific concerns,
:28:55. > :29:00.cross-border concerns, people perhaps to live over the border in
:29:00. > :29:03.England but are registered with a Welsh GP. That was a concern raised
:29:03. > :29:10.by the price of Dean MP Mark harbour. Others have questions such
:29:10. > :29:16.as has Wales got enough intensive care beds. -- Forest of Dean MP
:29:16. > :29:20.Mark Harper. The other thing is that there have been hundreds and