Browse content similar to 02/05/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Good afternoon. Welcome to the programme. As footballers prepare | :00:25. | :00:30. | |
for the FA Cup final this Saturday, politicians are getting ready for | :00:30. | :00:35. | |
their own cup final, tomorrow's local elections. Rupert Murdoch has | :00:35. | :00:38. | |
written to staff at British newspapers acknowledging that he | :00:38. | :00:42. | |
should have cracked down faster on the wrong doing at the News of the | :00:42. | :00:47. | |
World after some MPs say he's not a fit person to run a major | :00:47. | :00:51. | |
international business. And we look ahead to tomorrow's elections. | :00:51. | :00:57. | |
I will be looking at why he voters often call for the local produce on | :00:57. | :01:02. | |
offer. And on the last full day of | :01:02. | :01:05. | |
campaigning, I will be hearing from representatives of the Labour and | :01:05. | :01:15. | |
:01:15. | :01:18. | ||
Conservative parties about why they think they should have your vote. | :01:18. | :01:21. | |
Joining the are two Assembly Members and two former council | :01:21. | :01:27. | |
leaders. We do not throw this programme together! Good morning. | :01:27. | :01:30. | |
The Prime Minister would not be at the despatch box or -- answering | :01:30. | :01:36. | |
his weekly Questions today. But there is plenty happening in | :01:36. | :01:42. | |
Westminster. We mentioned earlier on, Rupert | :01:42. | :01:45. | |
Murdoch and the report yesterday from the committee. The headlines | :01:45. | :01:49. | |
from that was that Rupert Murdoch was not a fit person to run a major | :01:49. | :01:55. | |
international business. Is that for politicians to say? I think more | :01:55. | :01:58. | |
intriguing is exactly what the extent of his knowledge was | :01:58. | :02:03. | |
regarding what went on. I find it very difficult given his track | :02:03. | :02:07. | |
record with regard to the way in which he has controlled companies | :02:07. | :02:11. | |
to believe that he did not know what was going on. That is the | :02:11. | :02:15. | |
impression he is trying to create. If he did not -- if he did know | :02:15. | :02:20. | |
what was going on, I think it is right that politicians should | :02:20. | :02:24. | |
actually give their views on that. There are some politicians who | :02:24. | :02:27. | |
perhaps were quite close to Robert -- Rupert Murdoch when it suited | :02:27. | :02:34. | |
them. That is what they need to ask questions about as well. What you | :02:34. | :02:39. | |
make of the headline of the committee report? Rupert Murdoch's | :02:39. | :02:44. | |
denials and his son's denials in not remembering much do not ring | :02:45. | :02:51. | |
true. Flatley, I think they are telling lies. | :02:51. | :02:55. | |
It is funny because the Tories are now accused of being too close to | :02:55. | :02:59. | |
Rupert Murdoch but the truth is that Labour when in government | :02:59. | :03:04. | |
courted Rupert Murdoch avidly. Tony Blair was in and out of his house | :03:04. | :03:08. | |
on a regular basis. And they felt that they had to do | :03:08. | :03:18. | |
:03:18. | :03:20. | ||
so in order to gain his support. Everybody is as guilty as each | :03:20. | :03:25. | |
other in the main parties because they felt that he -- his influence | :03:25. | :03:34. | |
through his newspapers was Orpheus and so pervasive. You mentioned how | :03:34. | :03:38. | |
parties courted Rupert Murdoch but if we look at the vote yesterday, | :03:38. | :03:42. | |
members of the committee took a vote as to whether they approved | :03:42. | :03:48. | |
what was said and that was split on party lines. The Conservatives not | :03:48. | :03:54. | |
happy to endorse the view that he was not fit and proper. | :03:54. | :03:58. | |
Yes, and you can almost understand it. Labour and the Liberal | :03:58. | :04:02. | |
Democrats now want to put as much distance between them and Rupert | :04:02. | :04:08. | |
Murdoch as they can. He has an awful, terrible man. And Labour | :04:08. | :04:14. | |
when in power courted him, Gordon Brown did, Tony Blair did. But now | :04:14. | :04:22. | |
it since then to painting as dark as they can find -- as dark a brush | :04:22. | :04:25. | |
as they can find. It is just politics. Your party voted to | :04:26. | :04:30. | |
support the idea that he was not a fit person. | :04:30. | :04:34. | |
News Corporation say that tears. What do you make of the political | :04:34. | :04:39. | |
split on the committee? Does anything like that happen in the | :04:39. | :04:44. | |
Assembly? Not in my experience. We tend to debate the recommendations | :04:44. | :04:48. | |
put forward uncertainly, I am not aware of minority reports coming | :04:49. | :04:54. | |
out, but I think the nature of politics in the Assembly is quite | :04:54. | :05:00. | |
different to that in Westminster, luckily. I would say there is a | :05:00. | :05:04. | |
weakness here, we tend to feel that we should agree on everything. It | :05:04. | :05:12. | |
is not natural. You do not agree on everything in the Chamber. It means | :05:12. | :05:20. | |
that the recommendations for the often are a bit general. Even the | :05:20. | :05:23. | |
Government accepts most of them. There is something unnatural about | :05:23. | :05:28. | |
that. I think that might change as the institution becomes more mature. | :05:28. | :05:35. | |
And in reality, we will have more meaty legislation. It may well be | :05:35. | :05:40. | |
the case that there are minority reports for example if it is the | :05:40. | :05:45. | |
case that the Government cannot actually get its way as far as it | :05:45. | :05:55. | |
:05:55. | :05:56. | ||
legislate -- Lesley to programme is concerned. -- legislative. | :05:57. | :05:59. | |
might start calling questions on disagreeing we are members of | :05:59. | :06:06. | |
committees? It very much depends on the topics. To date, the | :06:06. | :06:11. | |
committee's advice on, we have been discussing things like oral health. | :06:11. | :06:14. | |
The reality there is there was agreement amongst the committee | :06:14. | :06:17. | |
which was even critical of some of the stance is that the Government | :06:17. | :06:26. | |
took. The Government in that case, the Welsh government, it has | :06:26. | :06:30. | |
rejected one of the recommendations. It was only accepted one in | :06:30. | :06:37. | |
principle. -- it has. The committee took a somewhat critical view of | :06:37. | :06:42. | |
the programme. That is how we committee should operate. Are you | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
going to be causing havoc on committees? As I get older, | :06:46. | :06:56. | |
:06:56. | :06:56. | ||
obviously, I will probably get wilder! And more insane. There is a | :06:56. | :06:59. | |
suggestion in the last Assembly when Andrew Davis and Brian Gibbons | :06:59. | :07:03. | |
stop being Ministers and went on to committees, they really did cause | :07:03. | :07:12. | |
some problems for people giving evidence. You are a former Minister. | :07:12. | :07:17. | |
Maybe you can cause some have it yourself. Certainly, I do not | :07:17. | :07:21. | |
believe that committees should operate, they should try to operate | :07:21. | :07:25. | |
objectively. That is not easy. There is a tendency for the | :07:25. | :07:31. | |
Government benches to try and protect Ministers. That is to focus | :07:31. | :07:38. | |
and -- understandable. There is no reason why you cannot take an | :07:38. | :07:45. | |
independent view as a committee. There are sound reasons sometimes | :07:45. | :07:50. | |
for agreeing as a committee and operating independently. But there | :07:50. | :07:56. | |
are other times when it is obvious that there are other things at play. | :07:56. | :08:04. | |
Politics being one of them. We will leave it there for now. We | :08:04. | :08:12. | |
will move on to see what is happening in the Senedd today. | :08:12. | :08:16. | |
Good afternoon. Quite an interesting afternoon in prospect, | :08:16. | :08:19. | |
as always. We start off with ministerial | :08:19. | :08:23. | |
questions to the Education Minister, later Andrews. And in local | :08:23. | :08:28. | |
Government Minister, Carl Sargeant. -- Leighton Andrews. And then | :08:28. | :08:31. | |
emotion to establish a committee to scrutinise the First Minister and | :08:31. | :08:36. | |
elect members to back new committee. We have the first debate of the | :08:36. | :08:43. | |
afternoon. It is on oral health, children's oral health specifically. | :08:43. | :08:46. | |
There was a report a couple of months back which was quite | :08:46. | :08:49. | |
interesting on the way forward on that issue. A couple of | :08:49. | :08:52. | |
recommendations in the tiddler. Dentists should do more to prevent | :08:52. | :09:02. | |
:09:02. | :09:03. | ||
tooth decay and other matters in the first place. | :09:03. | :09:07. | |
They wanted to keep an open mind about this idea of adding fluoride | :09:07. | :09:14. | |
to the water supply. There is a lot of debate about that. | :09:14. | :09:18. | |
Following that, a couple of debates which are very much focused on | :09:18. | :09:21. | |
tomorrow's comes elections. The Conservatives want to talk about | :09:21. | :09:29. | |
Council Tax. The argument that they feel the money provided by the UK | :09:29. | :09:34. | |
government to freeze Council Tax in Wales if the Welsh government what | :09:34. | :09:37. | |
did to that, they did not, should have been passed on to the Council | :09:37. | :09:47. | |
Tax payer. The Government decided would be far | :09:47. | :09:51. | |
more useful to spend that money on apprenticeships. And on home energy | :09:51. | :09:59. | |
efficiency. Even more so, you might argue, the | :09:59. | :10:04. | |
Liberal Democrat debate which follows. It is on how effective the | :10:04. | :10:10. | |
management of their councils has been. Was that the kind of debate | :10:10. | :10:14. | |
that was envisaged all those years ago? I do not know. It is | :10:14. | :10:18. | |
interesting we are having an -- a debate on how effective sum was | :10:18. | :10:28. | |
councils are. -- some Welsh councils. The short debate, today | :10:28. | :10:32. | |
it is from the Conservative form of Wales, Mark Isherwood. He wants to | :10:32. | :10:42. | |
:10:42. | :10:45. | ||
talk a lot hospices and palliative care. | :10:45. | :10:52. | |
You can watch the proceedings live on Democracy Live. Online coverage. | :10:52. | :10:57. | |
The address is on the screen. Let's have more on the phone | :10:57. | :11:05. | |
hacking scandal. Good afternoon. What is the latest | :11:05. | :11:09. | |
this morning. --? We have had plenty so far this morning on the | :11:09. | :11:13. | |
sofa. A strongly-worded report published by the committee | :11:14. | :11:19. | |
yesterday is losing a bit of it might become as committee members | :11:19. | :11:26. | |
cannot agree on the detail. -- because. Let's see what they set | :11:27. | :11:31. | |
out to do. It wanted to see if certain individuals had misled the | :11:31. | :11:35. | |
committee and therefore Parliament. It relates to previous hearings on | :11:35. | :11:41. | |
the phone hacking. The conclusion is clear. All the members agree on | :11:41. | :11:49. | |
the conclusion of lard. Three former executives did mislead | :11:49. | :11:55. | |
Parliament. This report has gone beyond its original remit by | :11:55. | :11:59. | |
criticising the boss himself, Rupert Murdoch, and saying he is | :11:59. | :12:06. | |
not a fit and proper person to be the head of a global company. It is | :12:06. | :12:09. | |
on that particular criticism that has caused the split within the | :12:09. | :12:15. | |
committee. That spitters on party lines. It is clear that | :12:15. | :12:21. | |
Conservatives do not agree with it. It is the Conservative MPs that a | :12:21. | :12:30. | |
poll that particular criticism of Rupert Murdoch. -- a poll was. -- | :12:30. | :12:40. | |
oppose. It is said that it means the report is effectively worthless. | :12:40. | :12:44. | |
That is because it will be perceived as being partisan. News | :12:44. | :12:48. | |
Corporation has issued a statement to say that they apologise for all | :12:49. | :12:55. | |
be wrong to win but the attack on Rupert Murdoch himself is | :12:55. | :13:05. | |
:13:05. | :13:06. | ||
unjustified. -- wrongdoing. But it makes it seem as if the | :13:06. | :13:10. | |
Conservative MPs are siding with Rupert Murdoch. And it creates | :13:10. | :13:18. | |
further tension within the coalition. Does this damage Rupert | :13:18. | :13:26. | |
Murdoch? Of course it is damaging to half the sorts of headlines. -- | :13:26. | :13:36. | |
:13:36. | :13:44. | ||
have. It casts a Shadow over Rupert Murdoch's stake in BSkyB. Results | :13:44. | :13:49. | |
will be published in due course. But oddly enough, BSkyB does not | :13:49. | :13:55. | |
seem to be suffering at the moment because of these headlines. At | :13:55. | :14:02. | |
close of play yesterday, shares were up. News Corporation has | :14:02. | :14:08. | |
issued a statement saying that profits are up. As well as | :14:08. | :14:12. | |
customers. Rupert Murdoch has e- mailed its staff -- his staff say | :14:12. | :14:19. | |
in this report is hard reading but BSkyB insists it is fit and proper. | :14:19. | :14:23. | |
Parliament is in recess. MPs are back next Wednesday. What can we | :14:23. | :14:32. | |
expect our --? Many would say it is not a break. They are loud drumming | :14:32. | :14:38. | |
up support for local election candidates. MPs will be back on May | :14:38. | :14:44. | |
9th for the Queen's Speech. Parties when the Government sets out its | :14:44. | :14:49. | |
legislative programme. -- that is when. One bill that will cause a | :14:49. | :14:59. | |
:14:59. | :15:01. | ||
bit of problem -- tension within the coalition will be that they | :15:01. | :15:09. | |
will that relates to the House of We'll talk about local elections | :15:09. | :15:13. | |
today, but tomorrow is the day of the London mayoral election. It has | :15:13. | :15:19. | |
been a lively campaign? Yes, it's been a bloody battle in London | :15:19. | :15:24. | |
between the two main candidates, Labour's Ken Livingstone and the | :15:24. | :15:29. | |
Conservative, Boris Johnson. Other candidates of course include Brian | :15:29. | :15:34. | |
Paddick for Liberal Democrats and the independent candidate and Jenny | :15:34. | :15:40. | |
Jones for the Greens. You can go to the BBC web-site for the full list. | :15:40. | :15:44. | |
The polls show the most recent Politics Show that Boris Johnson is | :15:44. | :15:50. | |
in the lead and the feeling is that Labour has missed a trick by | :15:50. | :15:55. | |
fielding Ken Livingstone. That it should have put forward a strong | :15:55. | :15:59. | |
female candidate that would have been a better contest for Boris | :15:59. | :16:06. | |
Johnson. And there is the feeling that possibly Ken Livingstone has | :16:06. | :16:12. | |
too much political baggage. It is never a good thing to predict | :16:12. | :16:16. | |
election results, but I'm pretty sure Boris Johnson will be in City | :16:16. | :16:21. | |
Hall for another term. Thank you. I have never been one for making | :16:21. | :16:28. | |
predictions and I never will. Now we don't just enjoy talking | :16:28. | :16:32. | |
amongsts ourselves in the studio, we want to hear from you. You can | :16:32. | :16:42. | |
:16:42. | :16:49. | ||
Tomorrow the polling station will be open for the local elections. | :16:49. | :16:58. | |
Here is Mark at the Oriel. I'm joined by Nick Ramsay. Your party's | :16:58. | :17:02. | |
gone big on the idea of freezing Council Tax. Not many people will | :17:02. | :17:07. | |
disagree with that and not many taxpayers want to pay more. But | :17:07. | :17:12. | |
what services will you cut? Some people have disagreed with it. But | :17:12. | :17:18. | |
we are pleased. It is a populist measure? It is a pledge what has | :17:18. | :17:23. | |
happened in England. We don't see why people, just because they live | :17:23. | :17:27. | |
in Wales, won't benefit. The Welsh Government was given the money to | :17:27. | :17:32. | |
freeze Council Tax and they chose not to do that. In our areas we as | :17:32. | :17:37. | |
local authorities will be freezing Council Taxes where we can. Haven't | :17:37. | :17:40. | |
you hit on something, the Welsh Government has made the decision | :17:40. | :17:45. | |
not to enable that money to go on to freeze the tax f you do well | :17:45. | :17:52. | |
tomorrow, your councils still won't be able to freeze council tax. You | :17:52. | :17:55. | |
would need to be in power in the National Assembly. Nofrpblgts then | :17:55. | :18:00. | |
all councils would have had the -- No, then all councils would have | :18:00. | :18:06. | |
had the power to do it. In Monday moultshire, they have chose on the | :18:06. | :18:10. | |
freeze Council Tax and local Conservatives winning local | :18:10. | :18:14. | |
elections can freeze Council Tax. It is not as easy as it should have | :18:14. | :18:19. | |
been, but Conservativing will keep your Council Tax down. Some | :18:19. | :18:26. | |
services will be cut? No there are huge savings that can made in local | :18:26. | :18:30. | |
authorities. In Monmouthshire they have taken money from management | :18:30. | :18:35. | |
cost and it can be done. Don't think that local authorities just | :18:35. | :18:39. | |
because they haven't been given the resourcing from the government can | :18:39. | :18:44. | |
blame everyone else, but themselves. Its for locals to save Monday ci. | :18:44. | :18:49. | |
You mentioned Monmouth and the veil of Glamorgan, what do you think, | :18:49. | :18:54. | |
you have mentioned efficient circumstances is there a policy | :18:54. | :18:58. | |
platform that would appeal to people? I think if you look at | :18:58. | :19:02. | |
where we have been in power and where we controlled authorities, | :19:02. | :19:06. | |
then public services are doing well. So it is not just about making | :19:06. | :19:11. | |
savings, but value for money. In the sort of climate we're in, | :19:11. | :19:16. | |
households are having to save money, but they're having the same out | :19:17. | :19:20. | |
goings. We have said where local authorities want to levy more, they | :19:20. | :19:24. | |
should be allowed to ask people in a referendum if they want that. | :19:24. | :19:30. | |
Going through your manifesto, you are talking about direct funding of | :19:30. | :19:33. | |
schools. That has been a Conservative for a while, why do | :19:33. | :19:37. | |
you think it is a good idea to circumvent local education | :19:37. | :19:42. | |
authorities? Because of waste. If you give money to schools, not only | :19:42. | :19:47. | |
does it m power people to have the schools they want, but you don't | :19:47. | :19:50. | |
have the expensive management costs that we can't afford. It is | :19:50. | :19:54. | |
happening in England, there noise reason why it shouldn't happen here. | :19:54. | :19:58. | |
-- there is no reason why it shouldn't happen here and give | :19:58. | :20:02. | |
people the power to do things. We believe Conservatives are better | :20:02. | :20:09. | |
suited to do that. What about your plans for small business? That is | :20:09. | :20:14. | |
my particular interest. We believe that business rates are too high. | :20:14. | :20:19. | |
We're waiting to hear what the Government's panel comes back with, | :20:19. | :20:26. | |
but when I was, when I went to Caerphilly, people were saying time | :20:26. | :20:31. | |
after time these business rates are crippling us. Again, we think that | :20:31. | :20:36. | |
small businesses should be taken out of business rate relief. But | :20:36. | :20:40. | |
failing that there is some support. We have got through as much as we | :20:40. | :20:46. | |
can in the time. Thank you. Back to you. As I mentioned the Prime | :20:46. | :20:53. | |
Minister isn't facing his queebg -- weekly questions. So let's turn our | :20:53. | :20:59. | |
attention to the Senedd and yet's - - yesterday's questions to the | :20:59. | :21:03. | |
First Minister. Prior to the last elections, you gave a promise to | :21:03. | :21:09. | |
the people of Wales that a Welsh Labour Government would not | :21:09. | :21:11. | |
downgrade district General Hospitals. Today the BBC has | :21:11. | :21:15. | |
reported that your Government has a plan to undermine public confidence | :21:15. | :21:22. | |
in the NHS so you can go ahead with your plans to downgrade hospitals. | :21:22. | :21:27. | |
You have an opportunity now to set the record straight. Will you tell | :21:27. | :21:33. | |
us ahead of next Thursday's local elections does your Government plan | :21:33. | :21:39. | |
to downgrade hospitals, or centralise core services? It is a | :21:39. | :21:44. | |
serious allegation to make about the BBC that they have published a | :21:44. | :21:49. | |
news zory, claiming we're trying to undermine the health service. That | :21:49. | :21:54. | |
is not what they have said. I think the cat was let out of bag when she | :21:54. | :21:58. | |
talked of the local elections. From our point of view, we want to make | :21:58. | :22:02. | |
sure the health services are safe. No hospital is under threat. No | :22:02. | :22:07. | |
hospital was ever under threat in Wales. I note in the Plaid Cymru | :22:07. | :22:12. | |
press release, they say, as far a this report, which is not our | :22:12. | :22:16. | |
report, it is a cynical scaremongering tactic and people | :22:16. | :22:20. | |
across Wales will be horrified they are willing to sink to these depths | :22:20. | :22:24. | |
to get their way. I won'ter whether they were looking in the mirror | :22:24. | :22:31. | |
when that was written. -- wonder. It notice there was no denial in | :22:31. | :22:36. | |
the report and isn't tit kies that if your Government intend to | :22:36. | :22:43. | |
scaremongering to -- isn't it the case that your Government intends | :22:43. | :22:49. | |
to scaremongering. Would you say the BBC is scaremongering. Order. | :22:49. | :22:55. | |
Can we listen to this please? you. On the 1st February, your | :22:55. | :23:02. | |
health minister denied that she knew the LHB's plans with regard to | :23:02. | :23:07. | |
health reconfiguration, last week she confirmed that she was awaiting | :23:07. | :23:12. | |
LMB's plans. If that is true, how could you minister and your | :23:13. | :23:17. | |
Government know what case to make to the people of Wales? There are | :23:17. | :23:24. | |
no plans in place, final plan for the LHBs, this report was | :23:24. | :23:28. | |
commissioned by the confederation. Is not a Government report and | :23:28. | :23:31. | |
contains information we can't ignore. We want to improve the | :23:31. | :23:37. | |
health service and mortality rates. If that is not a priority for Plaid | :23:37. | :23:41. | |
Cymru, they should say. She is playing hard and fast with the | :23:41. | :23:46. | |
facts. She's stepped back from the allegation about the BBC and I | :23:46. | :23:50. | |
repeat what she didn't hear the first time, no hospital in Wales is | :23:50. | :23:54. | |
under threat and no hospital was ever under threat. We want to make | :23:54. | :23:59. | |
sure that there are centres of excellence across Wales that | :23:59. | :24:04. | |
provide services for the people of Wales. You say you have no final | :24:04. | :24:12. | |
plans, will you publish the plans that you have. You have tried to | :24:12. | :24:18. | |
keep t under wraps. Now you have been caught out. It is time for | :24:18. | :24:21. | |
honestty. If your Government is making the case, what are you | :24:21. | :24:29. | |
making the case for? What services do you intend to strip out of | :24:29. | :24:37. | |
Prince Philip hospital or the hospital in Wrexham, Prince Charles | :24:37. | :24:44. | |
in and I could go on. You know that there are big concerns about the | :24:44. | :24:47. | |
future of our district General Hospitals. First Minister, why | :24:47. | :24:52. | |
won't you come clean? Well I'm appraised to hear her say this is | :24:52. | :24:56. | |
secret. Because we published it on the web-site. It is not even our | :24:56. | :25:01. | |
report. Let me make something clear. She talks about scaremongering, | :25:01. | :25:10. | |
Plaid Cymru are handing out leaflets saying that we close A and | :25:10. | :25:14. | |
E and that another hospital will close. If that is not | :25:14. | :25:19. | |
scaremongering, I don't know what is. If we're going to have honestly, | :25:19. | :25:24. | |
let's have honestly from Plaid Cymru and let me say to the people | :25:24. | :25:28. | |
of clan earthly, there noise threat to those hospitals there never was | :25:28. | :25:33. | |
a threat to the hospitals. We want to make sure there are centres of | :25:33. | :25:38. | |
excellence in both areas, because we care about health, we care about | :25:38. | :25:44. | |
access to services, we care about outcomes and lives. But Plaid Cymru | :25:44. | :25:54. | |
:25:54. | :25:58. | ||
seem to care about votes. Thank you. We move to question three. Will the | :25:58. | :26:01. | |
First Minister make a statement on the delivery of the programme for | :26:01. | :26:06. | |
Government. Yes we are making good progress and the first full report | :26:06. | :26:13. | |
will be published this month. course, it is the 1st May fr, now | :26:13. | :26:16. | |
the rights measure places the important duty on your Government | :26:16. | :26:21. | |
to have due regard to the UN convention on the rights of child | :26:21. | :26:25. | |
in all your policies. So how will you demonstrate what your | :26:25. | :26:30. | |
Government is specifically doing to uphold those rights? We know, what | :26:30. | :26:35. | |
the new law imposes on us. And of course we will be looking to, well | :26:35. | :26:41. | |
first we have ensured that the rights are worked through, all that | :26:41. | :26:46. | |
we do as a government and during the course of the debate on the | :26:46. | :26:48. | |
report of the programme for government there will be an | :26:49. | :26:56. | |
opportunity to question us on our progress. First Minister, I know | :26:56. | :27:00. | |
that many families many my constituency are benefiting from | :27:00. | :27:06. | |
flying start and I do welcome the additional �55 million investment | :27:06. | :27:11. | |
to support its expansion. That is going to help deliver better | :27:11. | :27:17. | |
outcome for children living in poverty. I was pleased to visit the | :27:17. | :27:22. | |
family centre and this is a community-based service, which | :27:22. | :27:25. | |
offers a range of family support services and advice to children, | :27:26. | :27:31. | |
parents and carers. Would you join with me in commending the work of | :27:31. | :27:36. | |
the centre and agree by investing in those early years of a child's | :27:36. | :27:41. | |
life that this an investment in their future? That is why we are | :27:41. | :27:45. | |
looking to double the number of family 40 can get the support of | :27:45. | :27:53. | |
programme. We know very well in addition to the new duties impose | :27:53. | :27:58. | |
on us by the measure, regarding children and young people, that | :27:58. | :28:03. | |
taken together this will be a significant step forward for young | :28:03. | :28:10. | |
people in Wales. Thank you. First Minister, your programme for | :28:10. | :28:14. | |
Government pledged to review what entrepreneural support is needed by | :28:14. | :28:18. | |
small firms to thrive and grow. We know that the independent review | :28:18. | :28:23. | |
panel into the impact of business rate relief will report later this | :28:23. | :28:27. | |
month. If that panel does recommend that there should be a reduction in | :28:28. | :28:31. | |
business rates, for businesses in Wales, will you give those | :28:31. | :28:35. | |
businesses an assurance that you will implement that recommendation? | :28:35. | :28:44. | |
We will await any recommendations before commenting. Thank you. 30 | :28:44. | :28:52. | |
months ago, the healthy eating measure received royal consent. | :28:52. | :28:57. | |
That measure has not been commenced. Will do you intend to commerce the | :28:57. | :29:02. | |
measure? We had to wait for appetite for life to finish as a | :29:02. | :29:06. | |
programme to provide the evidence we needed. For primary schools it | :29:06. | :29:14. | |
will come into force in September this year. Will you outline your | :29:14. | :29:23. | |
priorities for the area. Yes the require priorities are to deliver | :29:23. | :29:27. | |
on our programme for government. This is one area that will suffer | :29:27. | :29:34. | |
if the coalition presses ahead and imposes regional pay on Wales. Can | :29:34. | :29:38. | |
you outline what steps the Welsh Government has taken to put the | :29:38. | :29:42. | |
argument against regional pay 5 what contacts it has with | :29:42. | :29:47. | |
Government and what steps are taken to mitigate the argument that is | :29:47. | :29:53. | |
being put forward for regional pay? Well we can't to -- continue to | :29:53. | :30:00. | |
make the case that we think regional pay is inappropriate. | :30:00. | :30:05. | |
Thank you. First Minister, one of the areas that has been let down by | :30:05. | :30:09. | |
Welsh government programmes, objective one and convergence | :30:09. | :30:14. | |
funding is Rhonda, sadly the outcomes have not been as desired | :30:14. | :30:18. | |
and figures are very disappointing. Given that the commissioner nor | :30:18. | :30:23. | |
regional policy from the EU was never last week and talked of | :30:23. | :30:27. | |
results in the next round of funding, what goal are you going to | :30:27. | :30:31. | |
set for your government to make sure that the last two | :30:31. | :30:34. | |
opportunities the previous governments have missed will not be | :30:34. | :30:44. | |
:30:44. | :30:46. | ||
another missed opportunities when We will continue. We do need the UK | :30:46. | :30:50. | |
government to do its bit and reverse its disastrous you can at - | :30:50. | :30:57. | |
- economic policies. Unemployment is a big problem in Rhondda Cynon | :30:57. | :31:03. | |
Taff. Jobs we can ill afford to lose our lot rest in Rhondda Cynon | :31:03. | :31:13. | |
:31:13. | :31:14. | ||
Taff and other parts of Wales. With the clock ticking Against the | :31:14. | :31:18. | |
threat and Remploy factories, what is your government doing to secured | :31:18. | :31:24. | |
their future? Have you push the idea of devolving the Remploy | :31:24. | :31:34. | |
:31:34. | :31:35. | ||
budget to Wales? The Minister has visited all of the Remploy | :31:35. | :31:40. | |
factories. We have written to the UK government asking for the | :31:40. | :31:43. | |
devolution of the budget for Remploy. But has been refused. You | :31:43. | :31:51. | |
looking at other options. Perhaps we could help by seeing it saved | :31:51. | :31:56. | |
through social enterprises. They have a full order books. We will | :31:56. | :32:00. | |
continue to work and fight for those workers that have been let | :32:00. | :32:09. | |
down by the UK government. Rhondda Cynon Taff Council have been | :32:09. | :32:19. | |
:32:19. | :32:28. | ||
spending money developing the centre of. Decreed. -- Pontypridd. | :32:29. | :32:32. | |
First Minister, local residents do not want the new development in | :32:32. | :32:37. | |
Talbot Green. It cuts against the evidence this Assembly has seen on | :32:37. | :32:42. | |
town-centre regeneration. It is not for me to call for it to be | :32:42. | :32:48. | |
reviewed. The Welsh government has a role in terms of whether they are | :32:48. | :32:54. | |
called in or not. Rhondda Cynon Taff have a good record in | :32:54. | :33:03. | |
developing the beard and environment. -- be urban | :33:03. | :33:11. | |
environment. The tobacco control action plan | :33:11. | :33:16. | |
aims to turn down smoking prevalence records by 2013. Could | :33:16. | :33:20. | |
you outline how the Government is to tackle the alarming increase in | :33:21. | :33:29. | |
smoking she Show. Recent research has suggested a smoker inhales over | :33:30. | :33:36. | |
100 full-strength cigarettes. It is currently unregulated. | :33:36. | :33:40. | |
I have to say there have been no specific discussions. But I will | :33:40. | :33:48. | |
raise the matter would be cheap -- Chief Medical Officer. I have seen | :33:49. | :33:56. | |
outside a premises, particularly in London. There are a number of | :33:56. | :33:59. | |
establishments that offer these pipes. I will take it up with the | :33:59. | :34:07. | |
Chief Medical Officer. Following his visit by young | :34:08. | :34:10. | |
ambassadors to the Assembly last week urging Assembly Members to | :34:10. | :34:14. | |
take part in the UK wide consultation on plain packaging | :34:14. | :34:19. | |
Fawcett -- cigarettes, what specific proposals are the First | :34:19. | :34:23. | |
Minister have to help young people that they have started smoking? To | :34:23. | :34:29. | |
help them stop smoking. There is support for young people aged | :34:29. | :34:35. | |
between 12 and 17. They are classified as smokers. Beset Shezad | :34:36. | :34:44. | |
-- sessions are delivered on a one- to-one basis. The service also | :34:44. | :34:51. | |
offers brief intervention to ensure they are aware of the support but | :34:51. | :34:59. | |
is available. -- that is available. Smoking in | :34:59. | :35:05. | |
cars is very damaging to the health of children. Why then will you not | :35:05. | :35:12. | |
start a process now legislating to ban smoking in cars? What we have | :35:12. | :35:15. | |
said is there is a campaign on going at the moment to reduce the | :35:16. | :35:20. | |
number of smokers smoking in cars when children are present. If that | :35:20. | :35:28. | |
does not work, we will legislate. Will the First Minister please | :35:28. | :35:32. | |
outline his plans to develop the Welsh tourism industry? | :35:32. | :35:38. | |
programme for government sets out our proposals. Thank you for that | :35:38. | :35:42. | |
answer. Last week, I have the opportunity to attend a conference | :35:42. | :35:47. | |
on sustainable tourism, during which the important matter of | :35:47. | :35:53. | |
overseas marketing of Wales as a destination was a topic of concern. | :35:53. | :35:57. | |
One of the concerns ranged was that your government has in recent times | :35:57. | :36:02. | |
drastically reduced the Budget and privatisation given to the | :36:02. | :36:12. | |
:36:12. | :36:12. | ||
marketing of Wales. -- raised. We make a statement as to whether | :36:12. | :36:22. | |
:36:22. | :36:23. | ||
these concerns are well-founded? -- Visit Wales has been allocated a | :36:23. | :36:29. | |
budget of �15.3 million for 2012. Eight by �6 million has been | :36:29. | :36:37. | |
earmarked for campaigns. -- �8.6 million. I spent some time talking | :36:37. | :36:42. | |
to tourism operators in America and India to see what will work in | :36:42. | :36:46. | |
terms of promoting Wales in those markets. Some of the ideas they | :36:46. | :36:51. | |
give us will be implemented. That was first must -- Minister's | :36:51. | :36:56. | |
questions from yesterday afternoon. We are now talking about tomorrow's | :36:56. | :37:01. | |
local elections. But before we do that, for the local health boards | :37:01. | :37:04. | |
would not have broken even this year without an emergency cash | :37:04. | :37:08. | |
injection of more than 12 bn-Pounds from the was government. The | :37:08. | :37:16. | |
Government describes it as a remarkable achievement. A | :37:16. | :37:20. | |
remarkable achievement to break- even? It is a remarkable statement, | :37:20. | :37:26. | |
to say that that the boards have broken even after handing over �12 | :37:26. | :37:34. | |
million. I hate there something wrong with the arithmetic. -- I | :37:34. | :37:44. | |
:37:44. | :37:44. | ||
think there is something wrong. �150 million was given to the | :37:44. | :37:47. | |
boards to try and get them through this difficult period. Three of | :37:47. | :37:55. | |
them have failed. Questions need to be asked about that. There are | :37:55. | :37:58. | |
strains and stresses but there is no point going round the place | :37:58. | :38:02. | |
saying they have broken even just because they have been handed �12.5 | :38:02. | :38:07. | |
million. It is a remarkable statement. Economical with the | :38:07. | :38:15. | |
truth. I'd Roberts, do you agree it is a remarkable achievement? -- | :38:15. | :38:23. | |
Aled Roberts. We need a degree of honesty. The spin-doctors have a | :38:23. | :38:29. | |
run away with the story to a certain degree. There is an | :38:29. | :38:35. | |
election tomorrow, of course. there was no need. The Health | :38:35. | :38:38. | |
Minister indicated quite clearly there was no extra money and get 12 | :38:38. | :38:48. | |
:38:48. | :38:49. | ||
million has been given. -- yet. What is more worrying is the part | :38:49. | :38:53. | |
of the state the same that �12 million will be taken out of the | :38:53. | :39:01. | |
budgets for this coming year -- statement saying. What we need from | :39:01. | :39:05. | |
the Health Minister is a degree of honesty. I do not think this does | :39:05. | :39:12. | |
her any credit whatsoever. We will get some response some Labour now | :39:12. | :39:20. | |
actually. We will come to that in a minute. | :39:20. | :39:29. | |
All -- first of all, your party has made a big issue of the UK | :39:29. | :39:35. | |
government in this campaign. But the UK government has not run Welsh | :39:35. | :39:43. | |
councils. In part, a referendum. But it did think that actions are | :39:43. | :39:47. | |
held in splendid isolation. This will be in part a UK government | :39:47. | :39:56. | |
referendum. On the ground, it will be a judgment on local councils. | :39:56. | :40:04. | |
You have not put out any national manifesto. The other parties are | :40:04. | :40:11. | |
said where they stand. We have stayed true to our principles. Our | :40:11. | :40:16. | |
opponents have sold out. What is important for local councils is | :40:16. | :40:19. | |
people know what local parties are going to be doing on that the | :40:19. | :40:21. | |
ground at to make sure they are most responsive to what is | :40:21. | :40:28. | |
happening in their street, not to some national party. Are you | :40:29. | :40:34. | |
confirm that will have happened? Yes, I am. A lot of people get | :40:34. | :40:40. | |
their information from the media. It is important the message is | :40:40. | :40:44. | |
unique to every local area. It is important. We would not expect | :40:44. | :40:50. | |
anything to be top-heavy. I know the Tories have done it differently. | :40:50. | :40:55. | |
Their campaign has been London's centralised. We have local messages | :40:55. | :41:04. | |
going out across Wales. Give us an example of these local messages. | :41:04. | :41:11. | |
my area, one that is strong is transport. That is really important. | :41:11. | :41:17. | |
It chimes with a lot of people. They are struggling at the moment. | :41:18. | :41:21. | |
What are you going to do to ease that problem? We are looking to | :41:21. | :41:25. | |
make sure that more children can get to schools where at the moment | :41:25. | :41:30. | |
the schools are having to pay for transport. In Llangollen, we are | :41:30. | :41:34. | |
looking at ways to make sure puts - - children can go to school without | :41:34. | :41:37. | |
the burden falling on schools. That is a really local issue but it is | :41:38. | :41:47. | |
incredibly important. In terms of the party's campaign, | :41:47. | :41:51. | |
in Cardiff, you are talking about freezing Council Tax. That is | :41:51. | :41:54. | |
something the Tories are very big on. Why not make that a pledge | :41:54. | :42:03. | |
everywhere? So absurd -- subsidiarity. Decisions on a cut | :42:03. | :42:13. | |
:42:13. | :42:19. | ||
local government. -- are made by. There are decisions made by people | :42:19. | :42:26. | |
that are taken into account at local level. All councils are going | :42:26. | :42:30. | |
to have different issues that they need to address. They need to | :42:30. | :42:37. | |
address it in line with spending commitments. Let's look at business. | :42:37. | :42:42. | |
What about this has added local council level? At the moment, we | :42:42. | :42:49. | |
have a local Lib Dem Lead coalition. They did not set up to the mark. We | :42:49. | :42:56. | |
are now looking at if Labour can form a majority in Wrexham after | :42:56. | :43:00. | |
Thursday and we will be looking more proactively at promoting | :43:00. | :43:08. | |
Wrexham as an innovation centre... What would be a good result over or | :43:08. | :43:14. | |
in Wales? I am not looking at figures. On Friday, we will be one | :43:14. | :43:24. | |
:43:24. | :43:26. | ||
be closer to the UK coalition government's demise. -- one day. | :43:26. | :43:34. | |
What about this breaking story on the health boards. The Minister | :43:34. | :43:38. | |
said she would be tough with them. Many people will think the | :43:38. | :43:42. | |
Government looks a bit lame. The Minister is going to be looking | :43:42. | :43:46. | |
into this and as I understand, there will be an external financial | :43:46. | :43:52. | |
review. People in the NHS are working incredibly hard. The public | :43:52. | :43:56. | |
sector is working incredibly hard and they are not being credit but | :43:56. | :44:06. | |
:44:06. | :44:09. | ||
the desert by the UK government in these tough times. -- they deserve. | :44:09. | :44:13. | |
Yoga and is trying to spin a failure as a success. -- your | :44:13. | :44:19. | |
government. It is about being responsive. | :44:19. | :44:23. | |
None of these are in the areas that I represent. So I do not know. But | :44:23. | :44:31. | |
it is important that the Minister's continues to keep an eye on it. | :44:31. | :44:35. | |
Local elections more than any other election are historically a forum | :44:35. | :44:41. | |
for independent councillors to do very well. | :44:41. | :44:50. | |
But what do they offer? Competition on Welsh high streets | :44:50. | :44:54. | |
is fierce. In a crowded marketplace, it can be tough for independent | :44:54. | :44:58. | |
resellers to make their mark and as the council election draws to we | :44:58. | :45:01. | |
close, independent candidates are trying to make sure their voices | :45:01. | :45:06. | |
are here. But in local politics, voters in Wales often go for local | :45:06. | :45:13. | |
produce. They avoid the big brand names. This independent | :45:13. | :45:23. | |
greengrocers says been distinctive his key. -- being. We sell so many | :45:23. | :45:29. | |
different items at the moment ranging from Asian, Caribbean, run | :45:29. | :45:35. | |
of female British fooled. We are catering for a wide range at the | :45:35. | :45:42. | |
moment. -- run of the Mini does run moment. -- run of the Mini does run | :45:42. | :45:45. | |
moment. -- run of the Mini does run moment. -- run of the Mini does run | :45:45. | :45:53. | |
People have connected local politics because traditional | :45:53. | :45:58. | |
parties have not been in charge. It gives you freedom of | :45:58. | :46:03. | |
independence to deal with issues that are front facing to the public | :46:03. | :46:07. | |
and the committees that you represent. It is dealing with | :46:07. | :46:12. | |
people rather than with party politics. 200 and centre nine | :46:13. | :46:22. | |
:46:23. | :46:23. | ||
independent councillors were returned last time out. -- 279. | :46:23. | :46:28. | |
There has been a general long-term trend in Britain and right across | :46:28. | :46:31. | |
the democratic world of declining senses of support and loyalty | :46:31. | :46:36. | |
towards major political parties. That does creates an opportunity | :46:36. | :46:46. | |
:46:46. | :46:47. | ||
for people not attached to political parties. In 2003, John | :46:47. | :46:51. | |
Marek warning came as a victory for an independent candidate when he | :46:51. | :47:01. | |
:47:01. | :47:02. | ||
became an interest -- Assembly Member. I'd personally prefer them | :47:02. | :47:08. | |
to be of a party. To be honest, they have too many independents in | :47:08. | :47:14. | |
Pembrokeshire County Council. the man my vote for every time. It | :47:14. | :47:19. | |
is the person of the top. The person that does the work, not the | :47:19. | :47:26. | |
party. Many voters last time out bought the Independent's campaign. | :47:26. | :47:30. | |
They will have to convince them they have delivered on the quality | :47:30. | :47:40. | |
:47:40. | :47:42. | ||
produce they promise last time Now ore erover to Mark. I'm joined | :47:42. | :47:48. | |
by Darren Hill. Let's look at the parties. Labour first, they seem to | :47:48. | :47:52. | |
be putting great store by the idea if they point out the failings of | :47:52. | :47:56. | |
the UK government that will be enough to win here? I seemed to | :47:56. | :48:01. | |
work at the Assembly elections, so I don't blame them for trying the | :48:01. | :48:07. | |
same tactics. They're coming from a low base, 20 year ago they were in | :48:07. | :48:10. | |
control of 14 local authorities. Last time they won two outright. | :48:10. | :48:16. | |
The only way is up for them. In some authorities, that is quite a | :48:16. | :48:21. | |
slog N Cardiff they're coming from 14 seats and would need to get up | :48:21. | :48:27. | |
to late 30s to take control that. Would be a massive swing. But in | :48:27. | :48:34. | |
other authorities, Newport, Swansea, perhaps others the climate may not | :48:34. | :48:38. | |
be as great to deliver a significant return. | :48:38. | :48:41. | |
Conservatives are emphasising they're on the side of the Council | :48:42. | :48:48. | |
Tax payer who does not want to pay more. That could be a popular idea? | :48:48. | :48:55. | |
I don't think the Conservatives can do too badly. In the last local Lex | :48:55. | :49:01. | |
elections they did well and the Liberal Democrats took the brunt of | :49:01. | :49:04. | |
the unpopularity. The Conservatives have had a sticky few weeks with | :49:04. | :49:09. | |
David Cameron not being the asset he has been. They will probably | :49:09. | :49:14. | |
take a knock, but I think they will hold on to Monmouth and some other | :49:14. | :49:19. | |
authorities they may emerge in that position in terms of leading | :49:19. | :49:23. | |
councils after Thursday. They're in power, or hold the balance in | :49:23. | :49:28. | |
Newport that is the kind of area they may have more of a fight on? | :49:28. | :49:31. | |
think Newport is an interesting one, the Conservatives and Liberal | :49:31. | :49:38. | |
Democrats are running the authority together, it is the only one where | :49:38. | :49:44. | |
the UK government is replicated and the fight is being fought on UK | :49:44. | :49:50. | |
terms. Plied have a new leader and seem to be down playing | :49:50. | :49:54. | |
pectionations as if they -- expectations as if they don't want | :49:54. | :49:59. | |
anything to go wrong. Well she has only be in position six week and | :49:59. | :50:05. | |
won't have had a Hans to transform the party. But she has energised | :50:05. | :50:11. | |
the party and been visiting member and that will do them good. They | :50:11. | :50:17. | |
had a good election in 2008. Can they hold on to their seat sths | :50:17. | :50:22. | |
will be the key. We must mention the Liberal Democrats. They have | :50:22. | :50:25. | |
punched above their weight in the past and have been running Cardiff | :50:25. | :50:29. | |
and Wrexham. They may face difficulty? I think they will have | :50:29. | :50:36. | |
a difficult night. I can't see them having the amount of sway they had | :50:36. | :50:42. | |
come Friday morning. So many variables, can independents and | :50:42. | :50:49. | |
others, but for now, thank you. A fitting round of applause for Mark | :50:49. | :50:53. | |
there. The local elections aren't the only event, today the First | :50:53. | :51:02. | |
Minister's been launching Gemau Cymru, for young people. Mark was | :51:02. | :51:06. | |
there for the launch and spoke to two of the people who will be | :51:06. | :51:12. | |
involved. To talk about this exciting event I'm joined by the | :51:12. | :51:22. | |
:51:22. | :51:24. | ||
Chief Executive and Dr Hugh Jones. Gemau Cymru, what is it? It is a | :51:24. | :51:28. | |
mini-Olympics for young people and in July all around Cardiff young | :51:28. | :51:32. | |
people will be competing with each other to reach the top of their | :51:32. | :51:38. | |
sport. What events are we looking at? All sorts. 12 different sports | :51:38. | :51:45. | |
from rugby, disabled sports, netball and a wide variety and | :51:45. | :51:52. | |
rowing for the first time. And there will an athletes village to | :51:52. | :51:57. | |
get a true experience. That is crucial, that our athletes are used | :51:57. | :52:04. | |
to hopefully the kinds of events they may compete in later in their | :52:04. | :52:10. | |
careers? Snee yes the om multi- sports -- Yes the only murt sports | :52:10. | :52:16. | |
are the Olympics and this provides an early experience of living in | :52:16. | :52:20. | |
that athlete environment and prepare themselves and getting to | :52:20. | :52:24. | |
their events and performing at the highest standards. How old are the | :52:24. | :52:33. | |
young people we're talking about? It will vary, depending on the | :52:33. | :52:41. | |
sportings u but most are between 14 Athletic 17 or 18. -- between 14 | :52:41. | :52:49. | |
and 17 or 18. It is an opportunity to ensure that those that do have | :52:49. | :52:53. | |
talent will be able to perform at the best for Wales in the years to | :52:53. | :52:58. | |
come. How do young people get involved? Are we talking about | :52:58. | :53:06. | |
people who are already well known? Yes there are varying structure and | :53:06. | :53:10. | |
this will fit into the varying structures of sport and it is meant | :53:10. | :53:15. | |
to be top level and a centre of excellence for young people and to | :53:15. | :53:20. | |
be something for their to aspire to. We make no apology for that. It | :53:20. | :53:26. | |
will be the best young athletes competing. It is being launched | :53:26. | :53:33. | |
here today by the First Minister himself. What role have the Welsh | :53:34. | :53:37. | |
government had? They have been crucial in pulling together the | :53:37. | :53:44. | |
partners who will be staging this event. We are pleased to have | :53:44. | :53:50. | |
Olympic sponsors this year non-lip sponsors without their co-operation, | :53:50. | :53:53. | |
this couldn't happen. It is a partnership between the Coll untri, | :53:53. | :54:00. | |
the public and the private sector and hopefully will be a legacy. | :54:00. | :54:10. | |
:54:10. | :54:12. | ||
what extents can see see this as people are asking, where is the | :54:13. | :54:15. | |
Welsh legacy from the Olympics, this is part of that? Yes We want | :54:15. | :54:19. | |
to see more people taking part in sport. Whether they are children or | :54:19. | :54:24. | |
young people. We want to ensure we have a structure to deliver talent. | :54:24. | :54:28. | |
This ehaven't will be part of that second activity. Making sure that | :54:28. | :54:33. | |
we have a talent identification structure. The other week we | :54:34. | :54:37. | |
launched our community strategy and next month we will launch an | :54:37. | :54:46. | |
initiative with the earth. Now we have spoken to everyone about the | :54:46. | :54:52. | |
local elections. We had almost a prophet of doom, Darren Hill saying | :54:52. | :54:57. | |
that you would lose out. Counter that Well the reality is we have | :54:57. | :55:01. | |
kept the message local and gone out in the areas where we have been in | :55:01. | :55:05. | |
control or running coalitions and have said to people, listen this is | :55:05. | :55:12. | |
our track record. I think if you look at the record compared to | :55:12. | :55:15. | |
previous administrations, you have well well run council who have kept | :55:15. | :55:19. | |
Council Tax low and people have seen an improvement. That is a | :55:19. | :55:23. | |
message that people will actually resonate with and we will see what | :55:23. | :55:27. | |
the results are tomorrow. You don't want to talk about being in | :55:27. | :55:30. | |
coalition in Westminster? We have done it because these are local | :55:30. | :55:36. | |
elections and it is important that people know who will be responsible | :55:36. | :55:41. | |
for their local service. I was interested in the comments from Ken, | :55:41. | :55:48. | |
if he checks with his business minister, Wrexham did put an | :55:48. | :55:55. | |
enterprise zone application in that, was turned down by the Labour Party. | :55:55. | :56:01. | |
Now Alun Ffred Jones I was going call you Plaid Cymru's election | :56:01. | :56:04. | |
supremo, but we will have to wait for the results. What do you say | :56:04. | :56:13. | |
about people who are not sure they will vote for Plaid Cymru. | :56:13. | :56:19. | |
councils we have controlled and are in partnership with, we have a fine | :56:19. | :56:23. | |
track record and kept the message we expect our councils to be | :56:23. | :56:27. | |
leaders within the communities and to go the extra mile, because I | :56:27. | :56:32. | |
think people expect that and should expect that. But in over all terms | :56:33. | :56:38. | |
we have a good record in term of economic development with good | :56:38. | :56:44. | |
schemes, where we have created 350 onjobs in one areament. And the | :56:44. | :56:51. | |
same in Cardiff with the excellent fund which has created 600 jobs and | :56:51. | :56:57. | |
Caerphilly with an apprenticeship scheme. Sound financial control and | :56:57. | :57:01. | |
good democratic management, in working alongside other partners | :57:01. | :57:09. | |
and this is what Labour fail to do very often. I was interested Peter | :57:09. | :57:15. | |
Hain called the independents Quaye si Tories, but Labour are in | :57:15. | :57:22. | |
partnership with the quasiTories. So all in all, I think I agree with | :57:22. | :57:28. | |
my colleague, that these are local election and especially in the west | :57:28. | :57:33. | |
and the north, and perhaps in some of the urban areas, local issues | :57:33. | :57:40. | |
will prevail and people will look and vote for the person rather than | :57:40. | :57:44. | |
some fancy ideology, if there is such a thing in local elections. It | :57:45. | :57:48. | |
is about the people who you can trust in these difficult times, who | :57:48. | :57:53. | |
are the people you can trust to make these difficult decisions at a | :57:53. | :57:59. | |
local level? And that is why they are unpredictable. No one likes | :57:59. | :58:03. | |
making preDixs, do you, will you still be holding the councils you | :58:03. | :58:09. | |
hold now? The response has been more positive than the political | :58:09. | :58:13. | |
pun dills would have you believe and I think it will turn on | :58:13. | :58:19. | |
personalities and the fact that there is a good track record in | :58:19. | :58:25. | |
those areas. Will you hold as many councils It depends on a few seats. | :58:25. | :58:32. |