Thursday 22 April 2010

Dylan Rees can't do basic arithmetic (yet has an economic recovery package for Ynys Môn)

        
With electoral pamphlets arriving from both Labour and Plaid Cymru this week, the Druid is spoilt for choice when it comes to fact checking the various claims being hurled at Anglesey voters (see my earlier post on Albert Owen's RAF Valley claims for instance).

Anyway, for Plaid Cymru the following claim on page 3 of Dylan Rees's 'Herald' pamphlet jumped out at me:

"Fair funding for Wales - Plaid will campaign for the implementation of the Holtham report which found that Wales is underfunded by £300 million a year (that's a loss of £2,900 per person on Anglesey!)"

Its true that Jerry Holtham calculated that Wales is relatively underfunded by £300 million pounds a year - but Dylan Rees's calculation that this represents a loss of £2,900 per person on Anglesey is complete nonsense.

According to the latest 2008 estimate, the population of Wales is 3,004,600. This means that the £300 million underfunding represents a loss of £99.85 for every person in Wales.

Even if the £300 million underfunding was only related to Anglesey - which is obviously absurd - then with a population of 69,000 people, the figure would be a loss of £4,347 per person on Anglesey, not the £2,900 claimed by Rees.

Conclusion: Dylan Rees can't add up. Yet on the front page of the Herald he boasts that he has an Economic Recovery Plan for Ynys Môn... 

...Frankly I wouldn't give up the day job, Dylan.
      

13 comments:

seren y mor said...

He may not be able to add up and deal with the nitty gritty of matters temporal but I guess he'll be up to speed on matters spiritual.

Go along to the Anglesey Church Hustings (which I believe will be held in Holyhead) and you will no doubt get to hear about Mr Rees's strongly held views on capital punishment, gays, lesbians, abortion and xenotransplantation, civil partnerships and other such matters.

For the bread and butter and immediate issues of economy and the like, forget it.

Paul Williams said...

Seren - are there Church hustings too? I must have missed that one. Do you know when they are?

Anonymous said...

Picking up from an earlier post...A Question !
What exactly is Dylan Rees`s connection with John Arthur Jones....the electorate have the right to know ???

Paul Williams said...

Anon - is there a link? John Arthur Jones stood as an Independent Councillor and eventually lost his seat to a Plaid Cymru councillor. Dylan Rees is also Plaid Cymru. If you have any more info, do let me know...

Anonymous said...

Druid...lets put that intriguing question to Bonc Trodyn, who, according to his post earlier (Assassination etc), seems to know ??

Dylan said...

"Go along to the Anglesey Church Hustings (which I believe will be held in Holyhead) and you will no doubt get to hear about Mr Rees's strongly held views on capital punishment, gays, lesbians, abortion and xenotransplantation, civil partnerships and other such matters."

What are his views on such things?

Anonymous said...

So, once more for luck: WHERE and WHEN are the Anglesey Church Hustings? And what are they anyway?
Thanks.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Paul Williams said...

Anon - sorry, I have had to delete your post as you mention one allegation which cannot be substantiated. I will copy and paste the rest of your comment with that part redacted here:

"Many simply do not understand how or why Plaid Cymru have selected Dylan Rees to stand as a candidate for Plaid in this election. Have they not looked into this man's past at all? Dylan Rees is one of the laziest, most incompetent and cowardly individuals I and many others have had the misfortune to have had to work with whilst he was a serving Police Officer in North Wales Police. I see from his web site that one of his pledges is to tackle law and order on Ynys Mon? He was at best totally ineffective and at worst completely incompetent when he was a Police Inspector at Holyhead when he was in a position to really make a difference and where it mattered. For Dylan Rees to say he intends tackling law and order on Ynys Mon is a farce and a complete misrepresentation. His previous track record and lack of ability is pretty clear for all to see. This candidate is a fraud and he is in this election just for the £65K salary he will get. He lacks ability or integrity and Plaid may well have shot themselves in the foot by selecting him. Dylan Rees couldn't hack it as a Police Officer when he had a real opportunity to clear up Holyhead and deal with real criminal behaviour which is why he resigned. He really is NOT a credible, competent candidate for any political party in a general election least of all Plaid Cymru. I am a Plaid supporter but will not be able to bring myself to vote for this man who is surely of the very poorest calibre of political candidate both personally and in terms of any actual ability. I suspect the people of Ynys Mon, especially those who have personal experience of Mr Rees, are far wiser in terms of their political acumen than Plaid Cymru give them credit for and I suspect they have far more sense than to vote for this Plaid Cymru lame duck. [REDACTED] - is this the kind of person the people of Ynys Mon REALLY want as their constuency MP? One can only hope not... I thought the whole idea was to clean up politics in this country not promote totally unsuitable candidates like Mr Rees which only serves to make confidence in our members of parliament much worse.... Plaid have really messed up with this candidate and are likely to pay a heavy price for selecting him. More's the pity..."

Anonymous said...

Ieaun has just been interviewed by Jeremy.

PC should have done their homework - Gordon Brown announced in his Budget the introduction of 100% Capital Allowances for certain business assets.

Anonymous said...

Hi,
I've just been directed to this, site and have read some of the blogs/comments- quite funny!

But have to say I think what the Plaid man is saying, is that the funding should be based on "needs" so the money Anglesey would get would be substantially higher than somewhere such as inner Cardiff or Monmouth. So I THINK what they're saying is based on needs it wouldn't be £300m shared with 3m. I THINK he's applying the formula in terms of what Anglesey would get i.e much higher than other counties of Wales.

Just a thought!?

BTW- any polls out for Ynys Mon? what's the feeling on the ground will it be a Labour win or Plaid? i.e will Peter Rogers steal Plaid/Con's vote??

BTW2- why won't Conservatives just let Peter run under their name- they'd be sure to win this seat then? or is the bad blood so strong that they can't overcome this?

Thanks/keep up the good work!

Anonymous said...

Re Comment about Dylan Rees, I too don't understand why he was selected as a candidate, also what happened to Conservatives original candidate? the local lad- seemed alright.
Ynys Mon candidates all seem quite odd!

One things for sure if Daf Wigley was given the Plaid candidacy for Ynys Mon, I would 100% vote for them- he would be brilliant for this county, one of the best (Welsh) politicians in his day.

Paul Williams said...

Anon 14:22

For polls, click on the 'polls' link the tags on the left.

I believe the original Conservative candidate was made redundant towards the end of last year and felt he couldn't continue to be a PPC with a young family without devoting himself to finding work.

Why won't the conservatives let Peter Rogers run under their name? I think you have already guessed the reason.

And yes, Dafydd Wigley is a true gent. He's an absolute credit to Plaid Cymru.