20/05/2012 Sunday Politics Wales


20/05/2012

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In Wales will it be another thinner blue line? 1,600 officers will

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disappear says the Police Federation. The Home Office claimed

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Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1796 seconds

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Hello, are welcome to the Sunday Politics Wales. We will have our

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take on policing as well. The federation is accused of

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scaremongering same Wales is set to lose 1,600 officers. A senior

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officer tells us we should be worried and does Team GB compromise

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Team Wales? We discuss all things Olympics in the week that the torch

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relay comes. Here for the sprint through those topics are Dafydd

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Elis-Thomas and Nick Ramsay. Coming up tomorrow, the publication of a

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paper on changing the electoral system. Is this something that

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should be tampered with? When I was in my previous job I did have

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assurances then from David Cameron and from the Secretary of State

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that there would be a consideration of the electoral system of the

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Assembly separately from that of Westminster. I would like the

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Assembly itself to be in charge of its own arrangements. We know that

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the number of MPs in Wales will go down. Some are saying there should

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be a change in the Assembly to reflect that. What would you say?

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The position has been decoupled with the legislation. We are having

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a reduction which is the right course of action. As for the

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Assembly system, my group in the Assembly, the Conservative group

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has made clear they support things as they are. What we do not want is

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the Labour Party proposing the scrapping of the proportional

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element so that parties would not get their fair share of the boats.

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That would be a disgraceful proposal. The UK government is

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accusing the Police Federation of scaremongering over the number of

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officers to be that Wales would lose the equivalent of an entire

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force, 1,600. But the Home Office has told us that the federation's

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playing fast and loose with the figures and fewer than half that

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number would go. The anger of rank-and-file police

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officers over budget cuts and reforms is clear. Tens of thousands

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of them demonstrated in London recently. Last week the Home

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Secretary was heckled at the Police Federation's conference in

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Bournemouth. She told delegates to stop pretending they were being

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picked on. Earlier its chairman used wild to illustrate an ever

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thinner blue line. When you look at Wales, what is happening there, the

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number of offices they are losing their is the equivalent of one

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whole force. It is like losing the whole of the north Welsh police

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force. That is the reality. Estimates of the number of officers

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going as the government implements cuts and very. There are various

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ways of calculating the because and Darryl four different force areas

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involved, but the Police Federation's figures are stark. The

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federation predicts that across Wales, up over three years ending

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in 20th April 14, 1,600 officers will have gone. The home of this

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has told Sunday Politics the Police Federation is intentionally

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misleading the public. In a The Independent inspectors has

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As a service spending �14 billion a year, the police must play their

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part in reducing the record de -- budget deficit. We have hit a raw

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nerve with the Home Office and the truth hurts. They seem to be

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celebrating the fact that 800 police officers will be lost in

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Wales whereas the truth is we will lose 1,600. Trent % of the officers

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in Wales equals 1,600 cop said. Officers will be going from the

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We support the Inspectorate of policing. The cards are at the

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right level and we support that, beyond that to get beyond the flesh

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of the organisation, we will do his officers and the public see through

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that. Ian Johnston is a former chief superintendent. He is also

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ex-president of the Police Superintendents Association. He

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maintains contacts with senior officers and endorses the

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federation's figures. The public should be worried. We will see more

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crime because criminals will realise that officers are not there

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to deal with them and death in the public will find that police

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respond to incident will get slow and police will have to look hard

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at what they respond to and what they do not respond to.

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coalition has given assurances that savings will concentrate on back

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office functions, that frontline policing will be protected.? They

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are talking about police constables in uniform, patrolling on third and

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back office they tend to think about Taipei'ss and secretarial

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support but back of this is detectives who deal with murders,

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rapes and frauds and traffic officers who deal with a road

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safety and accidents. It is not really telling the public the truth

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when they talk about front line and back office. The previous

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government budgeted for a top % cut in police funding over the same

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three-year period. It argues the Government's a jump from 12 to 20 %

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is too extreme. David Hanson was previously the labour minister in

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charge of policing. Crime is rising all ready for the first time in 13-

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14 years. We have seen crime rise by 11 % over the past year,

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burglary, robbery and theft. This will have a real impact. The police

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are saying that this week at their conference, chief officers are

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saying, this will have a major impact. Theresa May has denied that

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her relationship with the federation is beyond repair. Yet

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the war of words over how many officers are going in Wales is a

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symptom of increasingly acrimonious exchanges between a Conservative

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Home Secretary and police as unprecedented cuts are implemented.

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Dafydd Elis-Thomas, there is a lot of emotive language surrounding

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this issue. Quite hard to get to the facts. Are these cuts

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acceptable? It is not for me to decide. This is a matter for

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Members of Parliament. I am worried about the destruction we are facing

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now which is the election of police commissioners because that will we

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politicise the argument. I have seen Detection, modes of operation

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of the police chains radically over the years -- change. The

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efficiencies in delivery which I have seen in the last few months in

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the reorganisation is something that I welcome because it has not

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resulted in responses -- changes to response times. It has retained the

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community policing facility which everyone welcomes. We have seen

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officers a march on the streets of London, the reception the --

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Theresa May had in Bournemouth. How can she pushed through these

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reforms when she has officers so against her? These cuts were going

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to happen anyway. I understand the police's concerns and we have

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always been strong supporters of the police. They are essential to

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the way our society operates. But cars have to be made and there is

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no way that one organisation such as the police can be outside of

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that process. I appreciate it is typical. I have spoken to and

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number of officers and the police authority in Grant has done very

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well to make the cuts that are necessary without affecting the

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front line. One way of making it different in Wales would be to have

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the devolution and having police within the control of the Welsh

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Government. That could mean the jobs of many police officers in

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Wales could be safeguarded. I do not think that follows. Privately

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the police have seen how the fire service has benefited from

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devolution but we only had a referendum last year and I think we

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should allow the situation to stabilise and see what needs to be

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done. To say that devolving policing, and no, we are dependent

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on the finance from Westminster to keep Wales running and the police

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would still require that finance whether it was coming from

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Westminster or the Assembly. Resort the former chief superintendent of

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the Brent saying we could see more crime as a result of frontline

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officers under response times slaver. Do you share those

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concerns? That is a total generalisation that I would not

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take seriously. I am interested in what kind of crime, how we maintain

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and increase and respect for law and order in communities and that

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is best tackled by an improvement in the way that we educate

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citizenship, where we have a sense of responsibility and along with

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that there is the local police presence of the community policing

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and that has been the key. You talk about generalisations, what about

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this generalisation that back office staff are not police

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officers who are there detecting crime. I do not think the

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expression and pressure has been used. There is a lot of confusion

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and I do not want to get into the argument about figures. What people

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have to we -- realise is that sadly because of where we are

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economically, a cut has to be made. The UK government has been working

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closely with the police to make sure that the cars are sympathetic.

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Proper cent but they are not up for 20 %? A cut had to be made. What

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matters is whether it is 12 or a higher figure, it is where those

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cuts are made and I am confident that the current government has not

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said, he is your lot. They have said they will work with the police

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to make sure the cars are sympathetic. There is a lot of

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scaremongering and people engaging in that should be aware of the

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worried they are causing. Thank you. If you have not been hit by Olympic

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fever, there is hope the arrival of the torch relay in Wales will

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ignite the fire. One particular sport and one team has been a topic

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of debate. Does the formation of a Great Britain football team

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compromise Wales's standing of an independent association? Like to

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midfield terriers the Conservative Andrew Davis and Plaid Cymru's and

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then Fred Jones went head to head. The Olympics are being hosted here

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in the United Kingdom and it poses no risk. If you have one team why

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can you Anna Ford associations? This is typical Plaid Cymru

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nationalism scaremongering. We have given that assurance to the people

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that in this case that this is the Olympics hosted by the UK in this

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instance and there is one team, Team GB to play at the London

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Olympics. Let celebrate that fact, embrace it and promote Wales in a

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positive light. I am a bit older and have been celebrating Wales or

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longer. The fact is there is potentially the undermining of the

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existence of the associations within the UK. A diplomatic scored

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four. Dafydd Elis-Thomas, Alan Fred Jones comments typical. This is a

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total red herring. The history is that the Football Association of

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Wales is the third oldest in the world because England needed

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somebody to play with and that is how this developed. This is totally

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unrelated. I have the privilege of welcomed athletes back from Beijing

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and they wear their UK kit and they have the red dragon on their backs.

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We are talking about the prominence of the Welsh Football Association

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within Uefa and Fifa or. There has always been a UK team that competes

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in athletics but what some are saying is that the Welsh football

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Association's place could be under threat. This is not an issue that

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we should face in relation to the Olympics. Let's take the British

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Irish? There are some who say they will not want to see Welsh athletes

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wearing Team GB. Named them. probably have the one member of the

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party for that argument. We are talking about the football coming

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home for the Olympics but Alan Fred and Andrew... I am not here to make

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the comments of other people. We need to focus on the Olympic torch

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coming to Wales next Friday. It is a great opportunity for Wales as

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part of the country that includes the host city London. Whether you

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are a proud Welshman or a proud supporter of the UK, let's all get

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together to make sure this Olympics works for the whole country.

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what other ways will Wales benefit economically because there -- it

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was always said there would be games in other parts of the

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country? What ways will Wales reap the rewards? I think it is

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straightforward. The fact that we have the women's football here, we

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have got the Uruguay match, the fact that Cardiff is playing a part

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and the training part of it as well, so we will have athletes here, all

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of that means Wales will see economic benefit. You can have

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arguments about the overall cost, actually I think this is a great

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moment for Wales and Britain to have this sort of contest. I look

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forward to welcoming the torch. I thought it was beautifully welcomed

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and I hope the same thing will happen in Wales. This petty

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nationalism, we do not need it. have to move on. Time for a look

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:49:05.:49:05.

back at some of the political events of the week.

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Peter Kane resigned a shadow Welsh secretary in order to campaign for

:49:11.:49:21.
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a power generating a sudden barrage. His seat went to Owen Smith. The

:49:23.:49:33.
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Assembly unanimously cent said an MP after his behaviour in after a

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drunken night out. A pledge to raise literacy

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standards to improve their reading and writing skills of pupils.

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An election count a mix-up resulted in a Conservative candidate winning

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a seat earlier this month. The council apologised for the mistake

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which led to the throat of Labour -- vote. One man in the news last

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week, Peter Kane. Let's have a quick word on his legacy. 0 win

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Smith his successor I remember working in this unbilled --

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building. He will make a fine replacement. I do not want to

:50:29.:50:39.
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comment on Peter Haynes. I think that clearly my politics and

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Peter's are different. He was part of the last government which left

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the current government having to sort out the things it did. But he

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has been one of the big piece in politics and he will be missed.

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Whatever your views of Peter, he has made a clear statement he wants

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to go and fight and campaign for the 7th garage. -- barrage. Whether

:51:09.:51:18.

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