Suspension of Island Democracy finally debated in the Senedd

Last Wednesday the suspension of local democracy in Ynys Môn was debated in the Senedd for the first time since Welsh Local Government Minister, Carl Sargeant, announced by diktat in January that local elections on Ynys Môn would be postponed until 2012 — one year after every other county in Wales goes to the polls. The debate was prompted by the Lib Dems tabling a motion to annul the Minister's decision.

The elections were postponed following the following recommendations by the Auditor General for Wales following his March 2011 re-inspection of Anglesey County Council:

"I also recommend that the Welsh Ministers direct the authority to develop and implement a strategy that promotes democratic renewal, and that Welsh Ministers provide assistance to the authority under section 28 of the Measure in pursuit of that renewal. In so doing, I also recommend that Welsh Ministers request the Local Government Boundary Commission for Wales to review its proposals published in 2010 to ensure that the changes proposed adequately address the need for democratic renewal in Anglesey in terms of the number of councillors and the introduction of multi-member wards. If it is not possible to complete and implement this review by May 2012, I recommend that the Ministers consider using powers under section 87 of the Local Government Act 2000 to delay the Council’s elections until 2013."

Whatever you may think of the postponement of elections on Ynys Môn in order to ensure that the next election is conducted under an entirely new electoral system, it is surely not right for such a major decision to have been taken on the recommendation of just one man, the Auditor General for Wales — who is, after all, unelected. I would even go further and say that Huw Vaughan Thomas, the Auditor General and former Chief Executive of Gwynedd and Denbighshire councils, went beyond his remit in:

• recommending changes to the electoral arrangements which will result in Ynys Môn having uniquely different arrangements to every other county in Wales;
• recommending postponing elections in order to facilitate these electoral changes.

Either way, to my mind it is surely entirely proper that these dramatic and far reaching decisions should be subject to proper examination and some degree of democratic accountability through the means of a debate in the Senedd. Well done therefore to the Lib Dems in tabling the motion!

This is not however a view shared by our own AM, Ieuan Wyn Jones, who told the chamber:

"I am disappointed that the Liberal Democrats have decided to bring up this issue."

...before going on to say...

"The auditor is independent, and we need to be very clear in our reasons for going against the truly independent views that he has expressed. If the auditor believes, in his advice to the Minister, that democratic renewal can best be achieved by ensuring that multi-member wards are created, the best thing that we can do is allow time for that to happen."

So, according to Ieuan Wyn Jones, there is no need to even debate or discuss a recommendation made by the Auditor General. In which case, why do we need politicians like him? Its also worth remembering that Ieuan Wyn's own Plaid Cymru councillors in Ynys Môn were unanimous in opposing the delay of elections. The Lib Dem, Peter Black, succinctly explained why Ieuan was wrong:

"I refer to the comments from the Member for Ynys Môn, Ieuan Wyn Jones, when he said that he was disappointed that this motion was being brought forward. I believe that, on principle, if we are going to defer elections, then at the very least, Assembly Members should vote on the matter. I think that that is responsible and is absolutely right.  The situation in Anglesey is unique, which is why we need to tread carefully and ensure that we do not forego the democratic principles, which is what we are doing by proceeding with this Order. The auditor general, who, by the way, is unelected, wants democratic renewal—that is precisely what we suggest and what we propose here as part of this motion."

Here are some other highlights from the debate.

Antoinette Sandbach AM (Conservative):

"People have a regular democratic right to give their verdict on their council at the ballot box, and this mandate has been removed from the voters of Ynys Môn. Meanwhile, the Welsh Government and Ynys Môn County Council have made decisions that will have a huge impact on the residents of Anglesey, and which those residents are powerless to do anything about this year because they have been denied the right to judge the council at the ballot box. 

If there was an election in May, would the council have imposed the biggest council tax hike in the whole of the United Kingdom, at 4.5%? I do not think so. Would it have decided just days after this announcement to advertise four brand new senior management posts with a combined salary of more than £400,000 a year? I do not think so. Who is footing the bill for all of this? The answer, of course, is the council tax payers—the voters of Anglesey. Clearly, there are problems in Ynys Môn, but is the democratic process one of those problems? At the last council election, 25% of the council seats changed hands. The council was refreshed by the voters, so it is not as if the electorate did not use their democratic right to give their verdict on the conduct of the council at the ballot box. The people of Anglesey have the right to ask why its council is the only one in Wales to have multi-member wards imposed on it by the Welsh Government. Does this make the system more democratic, or do multi-member wards serve to widen the gap between the councillor and the constituent? Does this make political campaigning prohibitively expensive for independent candidates? Is the imposition of multi-member wards by the Minister really happening because the Minister does not like the results of the election in Anglesey? Postponing the election does not solve any of the problems; all it does is to remove the democratic right of the electorate."

Peter Black AM (Lib Dem):

"Democracy is about empowerment and not about diktats from the centre. The question is: what do we mean by 'democratic renewal’? In my view, it means a democratic election in which voters can judge matters for themselves. Yet the residents of Ynys Môn are being denied that, which is why we believe that this Order has to be overturned. We have supported the intervention and the auditor general’s judgment on this issue, but it is argued that we cannot allow this issue to continue without elections. If elections took place, it would not mean the end of the intervention board, as the Minister indicated, but would give the board the opportunity to work with councillors with a fresh mandate and those councillors could demonstrate the support of the electorate. Decisions are being taken that would not have been considered if there were elections this year. That cannot be right and we believe that if we are to restore any credence to the democratic process, we have to have elections in Anglesey along with the other 21 councils on 3 May."

Mark Isherwood AM (Conservative):

"The Isle of Anglesey council has been dogged by scandal since its formation in 1996. Serious allegations relate mainly to planning and to grants, and specifically to the council’s senior management and corporate governance. However, only in his statement last month did this Minister finally acknowledge that these areas need radical reform. Until now, the rhetoric from Welsh Government has all been about democratic renewal to tackle 'chronic political infighting and misbehaviour’. Three weeks ago, the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales dropped a case against Anglesey councillor Elwyn Schofield on the grounds that the evidence was contradictory and largely uncorroborated. This case was brought by the former interim managing director, who also obliged council group leaders to sign terms of engagement that forced them to publicly and robustly condemn this councillor and other named councillors. That ultimately led to the appointment of commissioners, the postponement of local elections and drastic local boundary changes. Last March, the Minister announced that he was replacing the elected executive with commissioners paid £500 a day. The first two commissioners he announced were a Flintshire Labour colleague, criticised for presiding over a series of scandals at Flintshire County Council—all documented by independent reports—and the man who was chief executive of the then Labour Cardiff County Council when it was rocked by a multi-million pound scandal over unlawful expenses. When I met leading Anglesey councillors last December, they told me that
'the problem was always corporate governance in an Officer led Council, not members with horns on their heads’.
They said:
'Councils in the rest of Wales are being allowed four years to change their electoral boundaries, but Anglesey was only being given 4 weeks just before Christmas’."

Aled Roberts AM (Lib Dem):

"Our reason for bringing forward this motion is that it is our judgment that the boundaries are not the reason for the political challenges facing the county. Many county councils that consist entirely of single member wards do not face the same political difficulties that led to the imposition of commissioners. Similarly, there are multi-member ward councils that do not operate effectively.The council has just had to pass a budget recommended to it by the commissioners. Given the situation, and the fact that the council is under heavy supervision from the Government, in reality it would have been impossible for the council to reject the budget. This has led to an increase of 4.5% in council tax next year, which is the highest of any council in England and Wales. If there are no elections this year, and the commissioners remain in place, an additional budget will be passed next year by the council based on representations made by the commissioners. We believe that this denies the people of Anglesey an opportunity to vote for an administration of their choice to take the island forward for the next few years. Furthermore, there is little evidence in the council’s internal minutes to suggest any real action taken with regard to efforts of democratic renewal with the current councillors. Therefore, the position will be that, if democratic elections are held next year and the same councillors are returned, to all intents and purposes, no real effort will have been made to change behaviours that have, quite clearly, been in place in that county for a number of years.A delay of a year before elections are held on the island is unacceptable. If any council is in need of democratic renewal, it is Ynys Môn, and the best way of ensuring democratic renewal is through holding elections."

The motion was defeated 33 votes to 17.

Squeezed: the connection between Ynys Môn farm incomes and wind turbines

This post is intended as a short addition to my last post, a critique Ynys Môn's Energy Island strategy. In it I mentioned that a squeeze in farm profitability was pushing farmers towards various farm diversification schemes, including — controversially — the erection of wind turbines. Figures just released by Aberystwyth University's annual Farm Business Wales Survey show just how steeply farm incomes (with the exception of dairy, of which there is relatively little on Ynys Môn) have dropped over the past 12 months:

"Upland cattle and sheep farms recorded a decrease in the value of outputs of almost 1 per cent between 2009-2010 and 2010-2011, while inputs rose by 7 per cent – resulting in an income decrease of 18 per cent. 

"The value of outputs on lowland cattle and sheep farms in the identical sample rose by 3 per cent, while inputs increased by just over 12 per cent, leading to a similar 18 per cent fall back."

After a difficult decade including the Foot and Mouth disaster and continued government dithering over tackling Bovine TB, and now with such a considerable reduction in farm profitability due to the rising outgoing costs of feed and fertiliser, there is little wonder that additional income from the currently massively over-generous Feed In Tarifs are becoming so attractive.

The pressure on farmers is unlikely to ease up anytime soon. The Eurozone crisis adds huge amounts of uncertainty as both livestock prices and CAP payments are very sensitive to the Sterling-Euro exchange rate. CAP reform will see income support payments reduced whilst also requiring farmers to be be "greener", meaning they will need to protect "habitat" and take land out of production further squeezing income. Furthermore farmers in Less Favoured Areas (LFAs; roughly half of Ynys Môn is classified as LFA) will no longer receive higher levels of support. The list goes on and on.

Accordingly, with all this going on and its controversial side-effects on our landscape, it is both ironic and inexplicable that the Welsh Government decided to do away with a Rural Affairs Minister at cabinet level and downgrade and split its rural affairs department.

For those interested, the relevant sections comparing upland and lowland farm incomes over the past twelve months are below. Farm Survey

Decision time for Ieuan Wyn Jones

At an Extraordinary Meeting of Ynys Môn council this morning councillors unanimously agreed to resist both the proposed boundary changes and mooted postponement of next year's local elections on the Island. Significantly the two Labour councillors present, J Arwel Roberts and Raymond Jones, went against both Senedd colleague Carl Sargeant and their (absent) Labour leader on the Council, John Chorlton, in supporting the motion to reject the proposals.

Most importantly however for Carl Sargeant's chances of pushing his measure through the Senedd, Plaid Cymru's Ynys Môn Leader Bob Parry, and members of his group, also spoke passionately against the Welsh Government's proposals. Ieuan Wyn Jones told the Daily Post today in response to the news that both the Welsh Conservatives and Lib Dems will oppose the move, that he was "in discussions with Plaid councillors on Anglesey to consider a response". Now that his local councillors have clearly shown on which side they are on, will Ieuan Wyn Jones listen? And if so will he join the Welsh Conservatives and Lib-dems in blocking these proposals in the Senedd?

So, to help Ieuan Wyn Jones make up his mind, here is a ready reckoner of who is now for and against Carl Sargeant's proposals:

Against:

• The Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA)
• The Welsh Conservative Party
• The Welsh Liberal Democrats
• All Independent councillors on Ynys Môn council
• All Plaid Cymru councillors on Ynys Môn council
• At least two of the five Labour councillors on Ynys Môn council
• A clear majority of Ynys Môn's town and community councils
• The former Plaid Cymru National Chair, John Dixon

For:

• Carl Sargeant
• The Welsh Labour Party (presumably, though Labour members in the WLGA unanimously voted against the proposals, as did at least two Labour councillors on Ynys Môn)
• Holyhead Town Council

Those who apparently can't make up their mind even three weeks after Carl Sargeant made his announcement:

• Ieuan Wyn Jones

Crushed: Ynys Môn and Carl Sargeant

Carl Sargeant crushes local democracy on Ynys Môn

Welsh Local Government Minister, Carl Sargeant, will be in Ynys Môn tomorrow to meet with his Commissioners — no doubt to "consult" with them on whether he should do what he has already decided to do anyway, i.e. postpone the Island's local elections for 12 months. This will allow him to ensure that when Ynys Môn residents are finally entrusted to once again exercise their right to vote — a full year after everyone else in Wales — they will vote within rushed through but entirely new boundaries and according to an electoral system which uniquely throughout Wales will be made up of only multi member wards. You see, Mr Sargeant does not like who Anglesey residents have been voting for in the past, therefore his solution for "democratic renewal" is to simply rig the electoral system on Ynys Môn so as to make it exponentially more difficult for those he doesn't like, the Independents, to get elected.

Some defend Mr Sargeant's questionable methods by arguing that it is a price worth paying to get rid of the "rot", forgetting that there are some hard-working, excellent Independent Councillors on one side and some awful Party-affiliated Councillors on the other. Unfortunately the new system will see the former punished and the latter prosper. Mr Sargeant's defenders also forget that the Island's political problems were exponentially exacerbated by the Welsh Government's previous attempt at intervention through the forced appointment of 'local government troubleshooter' David Bowles, who unfortunately did far more harm than good — indeed his highly-paid two year reign as Interim MD led directly to the appointment of the Commissioners themselves. Though to be fair to Mr Bowles at least he only said that the Commissioners should stay until 2012:

"I recommended commissioners should be appointed until elections in 2012, together with investment in democratic renewal."                                                                                     — David Bowles in March, 2011

Accordingly, the genius idea of pursuing "democratic renewal" through (a) postponing actual elections, and (b) reducing the pool of people who will find it possible to get elected is Mr Sargeant's alone. 

In the meantime, between now and when we are eventually allowed to vote again, too many important and irreversible decisions affecting everyone on Anglesey will be made by Commissioners with no democratic legitimacy or accountability. For example, successive administrations on the Island, mindful that Ynys Môn is the poorest region in the UK, have successfully managed to keep Anglesey's council tax amongst the lowest in Wales — now we discover that the Commissioners want to impose a 5% rise in our Council tax next year, quite likely the largest rise in all of Wales. Similarly, Anglesey residents will have no democratic say in what services will be cut next year, or on controversial plans to erect a rash of wind turbines across the Island, and so on and so on until May 2013.

Is this really a price worth paying in order to achieve a sham "democratic renewal" achieved through the dubious means of purposefully manipulating the Island's electoral system?

A curious form of 'Democratic Renewal' (updated)

The Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) has come out against Carl Sargeant's proposed postponement of Ynys Môn's local elections in May next year. Despite the specific circumstances of the Welsh Government's intervention in Anglesey County Council, the 22 Welsh local authority leaders who attended the WLGA's Co-ordinating Committee last Friday felt it vital that ALL electors throughout Wales, without exception, should have the right to exercise their right to vote. The WLGA will be writing to the Minister accordingly.

Quite right too — it is a curious form of 'democratic renewal' which denies people the right to vote in a timely and normal manner.

UPDATE: Apparently even the Labour group within the WLGA voted against postponing the poll on Ynys Môn  — which is fairly substantial vote of no confidence in Carl Sargeant's actions from within his own Party.

UPDATE 2: The WLGA's letter to Carl Sargeant AM opposing the postponement of local elections on Ynys Môn:
WLGA letter to Carl Sargeant

What Plaid's Assembly opening boycott stunt really shows us.

The boycotting of yesterday's official opening of the Assembly by a rump of Plaid AMs has provoked a great deal of media comment. As far as I'm concerned the most interesting aspect of the whole affair is that it highlights the extraordinary disjoint between what Plaid Cymru claims it stands for – and what it actually does. Here is my contribution to the debate as per my letter in today's Daily Post:

On Tuesday four Plaid Cymru AMs boycotted the official opening of the Welsh Assembly on the grounds that their desire for an independent republic of Wales was incompatible with attending a ceremony presided over by the Queen. Strangely this idealism hasn't prevented any of the four from taking the oath of alleigence to the same Queen — a pre-requisite to taking up their positions (and, more importantly I suspect, their taxpayer-funded salaries); neither has it prevented Senior Plaid Cymru politicians such as Baron Wigley of Caernarfon or Lord Elis-Thomas from accepting life peerages from the Crown (in fact Dafydd Elis-Thomas is even a member of the Privy Council, a body which directly advises the Monarch herself). 

So is Plaid Cymru really, truly for an independent Wales or not? Their latest manifesto doesn't mention the 'I' word except in relation to the 'operational independence' of S4C. Furthermore many of the party's stated policies actually make Welsh Independence less rather than more attainable. A party which was serious about seeking further devolution from the UK (as exemplified by the SNP in Scotland) would surely seek to pragmatically boost the private sector whist at the same time creating a lean, mean Welsh public sector which could be adequately funded with taxation raised within Wales's borders alone. Instead Plaid Cymru advocates ever more regulation of the struggling Welsh private sector whilst at the same time building an ever larger Welsh public sector, all funded by ever larger block grants from Westminster.  

Isn't the truth that Plaid Cymru has become nothing more than a party well to the left of Labour which wraps itself in the Ddraig Goch for electoral advantage? The boycotting of the official Assembly opening is a publicity stunt designed to reassure activists and traditional supporters that Plaid Cymru really does believe in Welsh Independence, even though their every action makes it less rather than more likely. 

As to Ieuan Wyn Jones's no-show on the grounds that he was "on holiday", it reminds me greatly of the contortions Gordon Brown wrapped himself in when he decided not to attend the official signing ceremony of the EU Lisbon treaty (because he didn't want to be seen to be too pro-Europe) but then did so several hours later by himself. IWJ seems to want the nationalist kudos for not attending, whilst at the same time avoiding the jeers.

UPDATE: Betsan Powys has some more on IWJ's French holiday here.

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Try it for yourself.

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"Even more effective"

Despite quite a bullish podium speech following his election a week ago today, this afternoon Ieuan Wyn Jones announced the inevitable, i.e. that he is to step down as leader of Plaid Cymru "sometime within the first half of this Assembly term". This is actually good news for Ynys Môn as it means that, when he does relinquish the leadership sometime over the next 2.5 years, he will be able to devote 100% of his time and energy to actually representing Ynys Môn rather than to running a political party — a fact he himself tacitly admits by pledging at the end of today's announcement to "being an even more effective" Assembly Member for the Island.

About time.

P.S. To my readers from the early 19th century, this post is also available in semaphore here.

“They're more interested in making the backs of the buildings look nice for the ferries”

The Daily Post backs Enterprise Zone status for Holyhead

I was in Holyhead on Monday with Wales Office Minister, David Jones MP, to meet with local small business and shop owners to discuss the economic problems facing the town. The general consensus was that despite the millions which have been ploughed into Holyhead over the years, due to a lack of consultation with local residents and businesses (“they just do what they want to do”), and due to a lack of vision and direction in both WAG and the County Council, the economic fortunes of the town have declined rather than improved. This is certainly borne out by the fact that Holyhead now has the highest jobseekers to vacancy ratio in all of Wales. There was also great dissatisfaction that more had not been done to help two of the town’s largest employers, Anglesey Aluminium and Eaton Electric, which both closed within months of each other in 2009 losing 700 jobs between them – the eleventh hour offer of a £48m loan to Anglesey Aluminium was “too little, too late”.  In terms of attracting new businesses to replace them the feeling was that too much money and effort was being spent on brushing up the appearance of the place (“they're more interested in making the backs of the buildings look nice for the ferries”) but not enough was being done to proactively support the existing small businesses or attract new enterprises which should provide the beating heart of any town. Unsurprisingly the Council and many of its members came in for severe criticism.

There are of course no silver bullets for the economic problems being faced in Holyhead or, indeed, all over Ynys Môn. But one thing is certain: you cannot continue to do the same things and expect different outcomes. The time has come to try something radically different and that is why I have been pushing for Holyhead to become the first Enterprise Zone in Wales. Announced in last month’s Budget, 21 Enterprise Zones will be set up in England, with the closest one to us being in Wirral Waters, Birkenhead. As Economic Development is devolved in Wales, WAG has now received £65m as the ‘Barnett consequential’ of this policy and it will be up to the new Welsh Government to decide post May 5th how to use this money. I sincerely hope that WAG will give serious thought to introducing a similar Enterprise Zone policy here in Wales due to their terrific potential to help revive some of our most economically struggling areas – and to this end,  I’m delighted that the Daily Post has also come out in support of my calls for Holyhead to become Wales’ first Enterprise Zone (see image above).

In terms of the specifics of Enterprise Zones, the Welsh Conservatives would push for the following:

• tax breaks for both existing and new businesses – including the lifting of business rates and discussions with Westminster on the possibility of also obtaining corporation tax reductions
• simplified planning rules to assist businesses setting up or expanding
• the roll out of super-fast broadband

It is also important to note that the benefits of having an Enterprise Zone in Holyhead would not be just confined to Holyhead. As Ynys Môn’s largest town, it is in the interests of the Island as a whole to have a thriving, profitable and growing economy in Holyhead. Enterprise Zones have their critics, but quite frankly, its time to try something new and radical in Holyhead: to simply carry on tinkering around the edges will not change anything.

Changing Allegiances? (updated)

In his statement to the Senedd on Wednesday, Carl Sargeant made a great deal of how Commissioners were necessary because Anglesey Council was unstable due to Councillors changing groups in order to support the latest plots. His exact words were:

 "...the membership of political groups changes on a whim, as members back or oppose the latest plot.  In the last 18 months, around a third of all councillors have changed their allegiance between various groups at least once, with scarcely any attempt to justify their actions to those they represent.  Imagine the uproar if 20 AMs or 215 MPs did so."  

Today's Western Mail unquestioningly repeats this 'fact' in painting the antics at Anglesey Council as the "ugliest example of cynical politics". However the truth is that a third of councillors (i.e. 13 members) have not changed allegiance – and not a single one has done so more than once as claimed by Sargeant. Furthermore the single largest change of allegiance came about in June 2010 when WAG appointee David Bowles himself engineered the split of the Original Independents by encouraging Clive McGregor to form his four man Llais i Fôn group.

Since then Llais i Fôn was bolstered by one more member following the Rhosneigr by-election – but that surely doesn't count as a member changing allegiance.

More recently another member of the Original Independents was coaxed to leave the Independents by both David Bowles and Clive McGregor, though its unclear whether he is now a member of Llais i Fôn or just unaffiliated left of his own free will to become an unaffiliated councillor due to disillusionment with the direction taken by the group [Updated 19 Mar @22:15 following contact from the Councillor in question]

One member of the Menai Group left to become unaffiliated several months ago. That was certainly not in order to support any "plot".

And finally the three members of Anglesey Forward/Môn Ymlaen joined the Original Independents at the beginning of this year.

That makes a total of just nine 'changes of allegiance', the majority of which were instigated by and supported by WAG appointee David Bowles. Why does WAG feel it needs to embellish the truth in order to justify suspending local democracy and sending in the Commissioners?

Carl Sargeant's Statement on Ynys Môn in full

Mr Llywydd, I would like to make a statement about the future of the Isle of Anglesey County Council, and about the actions I am taking following the Auditor General’s re-inspection of it, which he reported today.

Last month I made a written statement to the Assembly which described the situation within the Council following Brian Gibbons’ intervention in 2009.  That intervention tried to help the Council help itself, with the support of a high-calibre Recovery Board and a Managing Director with a strong track record in corporate recovery.

That yielded some progress.  But the basic problem remains.  There are too many Anglesey councillors who are more concerned with pursuing their own advantage than with delivering for the island.  The pervasive political culture puts making and breaking political deals ahead of the needs of Anglesey’s citizens.

That makes the Council critically unstable.  As soon as any administration takes office, its rivals start plotting to undermine or supplant it.  There is and can be no trust, no consistency and no stability.  And that means the people of Anglesey can have no confidence in their elected representatives, or hold them effectively to account.

As a result, the membership of political groups changes on a whim, as members back or oppose the latest plot.  In the last 18 months, around a third of all councillors have changed their allegiance between various groups at least once, with scarcely any attempt to justify their actions to those they represent.  Imagine the uproar if 20 AMs or 215 MPs did so.

To compound the problem, a high proportion of councillors are not opposed at election time: they are repeatedly returned by default, because no-one stands against them.  That might be testament to their local influence, but it is not democratic.  It means the members concerned feel immune from challenge and can behave as they please.  They do not need to be accountable to those who elected them, because no-one elected them.  It also means that Anglesey has one of the worst gender imbalances anywhere – only 2 out of 40 councillors are women.

I accept that in politics different allegiances are often formed, usually in order to bring stability to an elected body.

But this persistent instability, shifting loyalties in pursuit of personal advantage and neglect of the public good cannot continue.   It is not democracy – it is the politics of the playground.

It would be wrong to tar all councillors with the same brush.  I know that some are fully committed to change and recovery, and have tried to take a stand.  But they are too few, and their approach does not seem to have any chance of prevailing.  Equally, there may be many who would prefer things to change but feel unable to act.  As my Recovery Board put it, if there is a silent majority which supports recovery, it is still largely silent.  That is not good enough.

The people of Anglesey will know better than me that the island faces some severe challenges.  It is one of the most isolated parts of Wales, with high levels of deprivation in both urban and rural areas.  It has suffered from very significant job losses in recent years as major employers have collapsed or left the island.   The population is ageing and declining, causing serious over-capacity in some of the Council’s services. The current financial climate will present a huge challenge in protecting the frontline services residents need. I will require responsible and decisive action from the council.

 The potential development of Wylfa B may offer an opportunity to address some of these problems, but it is an opportunity that needs to be pursued sensibly and strategically.  This has been very difficult given the large number of changes within the executive.  The constant changes in portfolio holders  responsible for driving this forward in the last few years and presents a damaging impression of the council’s credibility in leading this major inward investment.

Enough is enough.  I have been more than patient in giving the Council a chance to sort things out itself.  I have been more than generous in providing them with the support to do so.  But it is clear that these councillors are unwilling to accept the responsibilities that their public office requires and instead wish to continue acting in a way which is destructive and dangerous to the future of Anglesey and its citizens.
I am not prepared to continue in this way.  I will therefore be bringing our current intervention to an end that sought in vain to support the Council to resolve its own problems.  Despite that, I would like to thank my Recovery Board for the very considerable efforts they have made.  They have been instrumental in the progress the Council has made over the past 18 months and it is with the greatest regret that I have to conclude that their current role is largely over. It is unfortunate that even the valuable advice, commitment and dedication of seven very high-calibre individuals has not moved the Council forward in key areas, which underlines the need for a stronger intervention.   I am very pleased that the Board has agreed to lend its very considerable knowledge and expertise to help us move to that new intervention.

I am therefore giving a further and much more stringent direction to the Council, effective immediately.  It will bring stability to the council’s politics, ensure consistency in strategic decision-making and protect front-line services.   The main terms of that direction will be as follows.

Firstly, I accept the Auditor General’s recommendation that I should appoint Commissioners to run the Council.  They will assume all of the functions of the Council’s executive.  The Commissioners will be scrutinised by the Council and its committees in the same way as the executive is now.

I am pleased to announce that I have appointed 2 commissioners to exercise the Council’s executive functions on my behalf. They are:

◦ Mr Byron Davies - former Chief Executive of Cardiff County Council;
◦ Mr Alex Aldridge – former Leader of Flintshire County Council and the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA)

I intend to appoint Mr Mick Giannasi - current Chief Constable of Gwent Police after his retirement from the Police Service at the end of the month.  I also plan to appoint a further two commissioners shortly, and will announce their names as soon as possible.

Secondly, last month I commended the Council’s staff for continuing to provide services in the most difficult of circumstances.  That has to continue, and the existing delegations to the Council’s officers will remain in place.

Thirdly, I will retain the power to appoint the Council’s chief executive.  I will also withdraw from the Council the power to appoint other statutory officers concerned with corporate governance – the monitoring officer and the chief finance officer.  It is vital that these posts are occupied by high-calibre individuals who are immune from attack by members.  It is equally vital that the council pays heed to their advice.  So I am also directing that any decision of the Council or its committees which goes against the advice of statutory officers must be referred to the Commissioners for confirmation or overruling.
The Auditor General also recommended that I should consider instigate a review of electoral boundaries on the island As an alternative, he suggested that I should direct the Council to hold a referendum on an elected Mayor, and that I should consider directing the Council to develop and implement a strategy that promotes democratic renewal.

I will be immediately instructing the Local Government Boundary Commission to undertake a review of the electoral boundaries of the Authority and will be considering what action can be taken to support democratic renewal.

  
I also agree fully with the Auditor General and with my Recovery Board that a wider programme of democratic renewal is absolutely essential on the island.  More people need to stand for election, and Council politics needs a much greater focus on delivering for citizens. I will be writing to the Electoral Commission to ask them to be involved in this work.

In light of the reduced role of councillors within the Authority which will be brought about by my directions, I will be asking the Independent Remuneration Panel to conduct a review of the allowances of councillors in the Authority with a view to them reflecting their diminished roles.   I will be writing to them immediately to ask them to undertake this work.

The actions I am outlining today are not decisions that any Minister can take lightly.  Indeed, they are decisions that I can only take with a profound sense of sadness.  I would much prefer to trust local authorities and their members to discharge their considerable public responsibilities effectively, accountably and conscientiously.   Virtually all of them do.  But where they do not, we have no alternative but to act.

When I addressed the Council a year ago I said that I didn’t want to be there under those terms.  I didn’t want to be intervening in their affairs.  And I didn’t want to be spending large sums of public money on helping them to recover.  I offered them a simple challenge: sort yourselves out, act responsibly for the people you represent and we will leave you alone.   It is a challenge that they have clearly failed to meet.
Mr Llywydd, the actions and attitudes of too many of Anglesey’s councillors have indeed left me with no alternative.   They have demonstrated that they care more about their personal standing than about securing recovery.  They have spurned the chance to help themselves which Brian Gibbons gave to them with his original intervention, and the intensive support which they have received as a result.  Most importantly, they have betrayed those who elected them, and those that they are supposed to serve.
The direction I am making today will help restore effective governance; it will ensure better strategic leadership; and it will protect vital services from the damage that continued petty political bickering causes.   I intend that it will continue at least until the next local elections.   But it is clearly not a long-term solution.   That can only lie in the sort of democratic renewal that the Auditor General and my Recovery Board have advocated.  So if Anglesey Council has a future, it is in the hands of the people of the island.  All I have done today is to protect them for now from the harmful influence of those who have unfortunately consistently let them down.   The people of Angelsey deserve better and this action intends to see that they get it.

An important day for Ynys Môn

Today will be an important day for Ynys Môn as WAG Local Government Minister, Carl Sargeant, will be releasing a written statement revealing the results of the recent emergency audit of Anglesey County Council and what steps he intends to take in consequence.

In the meantime its worth noting that the WAG Local Government Measure which will give WAG power to forcibly merge up to three Local Authorities — widely interpreted  as being an instrument designed to merge Ynys Môn and Gwynedd councils — was passed in the Senedd yesterday on the strength of Labour and Plaid Cymru votes. Both the Welsh Conservatives and Lib Dems voted against it.

As I noted last week, if Ieuan Wyn Jones is as opposed to a merger between Ynys Môn and Gwynedd as he claims, then the real test of his resolve would be whether he would instruct his AMs to vote against this enabling measure. He did not. Furthermore, he was not even in the chamber for the debate...

IWJ: Words versus Deeds

Tucked away on page 20 of yesterday's Daily Post was a (somewhat long) Op Ed by Ieuan Wyn Jones setting out his position on the future of Anglesey County Council. I welcome that in response to some prodding in the press he has finally come out and explained his position, the essence if it being that although he feels "further intervention in the workings of the council is ... inevitable", he does not believe that "we have yet reached the position that the best interests of the council or the people of Anglesey would be served by the complete withdrawal of powers from elected councillors and the appointment of commissioners". However most importantly Ieuan Wyn Jones unequivocally states that he does "oppose a merger between Ynys Môn and Gwynedd, since it would not be in the best interests of either council". He has been very clear in words, but lets see if he will also follow through with action.

As it happens the new report on Anglesey Council by the Auditor General will be completed shortly and passed to WAG Local Government minister, Carl Sargeant. We don't know what it will say, but its possible that it could recommend that the problems at Ynys Môn are so intractable that a merger with a neighbouring authority should be looked into. That would be convenient for Sargeant as just next week the WAG Local Government Measure -- which currently includes the controversial powers to forcefully amalgamate local authorities -- will be debated by AMs again. An independent report from the Auditor General recommending the merging of Ynys Môn and Gwynedd would be useful ammunition for Carl Sargeant. The Conservatives and Lib Dems however are pledged to oppose the powers which would allow WAG to force council mergers -- therefore Carl Sargeant will only be able to get it passed if Plaid Cymru AMs support it.

If Ieuan Wyn Jones truly believes that Ynys Môn and Gwynedd should not be merged, will he instruct his AMs not to support this part of the Measure? That will be the true test of his commitment to preserve Ynys Môn.

Why I will be voting 'Yes' on March 3rd.

As it is St David's Day, today its a pretty good opportunity to explain how I will be voting at the Extra Powers for Wales referendum this Thursday, March 3rd, and why.

I will be voting 'yes' for four main reasons:

1. No matter which party (or parties) are in power in Westminster, UK-wide one-size-fits-all legislation will by definition not be equally optimum for all parts of the United Kingdom. Accordingly the Welsh Assembly is the ideal vehicle for developing and implementing differentiated policies which are specific to the needs of Wales alone. The referendum on March 3rd merely allows for the Assembly to be able to pass laws in the areas it already has competence quicker.
2. I fully subscribe to the principle that laws which exclusively apply to one region should be decided exclusively within that region. During the previous Labour administration in Westminster we all became accustomed to the sight of legislation which exclusively affected England (and in some cases England and Wales) only being passed due to the support of Scottish Labour MPs representing constituencies which would be entirely unaffected by said legislation. Known as the West Lothian Question, it remains a constitutional abomination. Although the situation whereby Measures passed in the Assembly are scrutinised by MPs and Peers in Westminster is not a direct parallel to the West Lothian Question, the principle of those unaffected by the law in question being removed entirely from the lawmaking process is sound.
3. A yes vote on Thursday will merely put Wales on almost equal footing with the other devolved governments in Scotland and Northern Ireland, which already do not need to have their laws scrutinised by Westminster. As a proud Welshman I personally have never seen any good reason why Wales should be treated any differently from Scotland or Northern Ireland.
4. I instinctively believe in Localism. Political decisions which affect us all, should be taken as closely as possible to us -- not by some overlarge central top-down bureaucracy. This, for example, is why I am so keen to preserve the integrity of Anglesey County Council and not see it submerged within a Greater Gwynedd.

As a final footnote: I personally don't believe that the current Plaid Cymru and Labour coalition in Cardiff Bay has done a particularly good job. Indeed in crucial areas -- Education and Economic Development being just two -- they have failed abysmally and let Wales down. However none of this undermines the case for the Welsh Assembly itself -- it merely underlines the lack of competence and vision of the current crop of AMs from the ruling parties. I fully believe that the nation of Wales' future economic and social success rests entirely upon the Welsh Assembly developing unique and radical policies which differentiate Wales positively from the rest of the UK as both a place to live, work and invest.

An Open Letter to Ieuan Wyn Jones AM

Below is a copy of an open letter from myself to Ieuan Wyn Jones AM which was published in yesterday's Daily Post. Considering the continuing political problems at Anglesey County Council some people may think that forcing a merger with Gwynedd Council is a possible solution. I disagree. Due to the diligence and hard work of the staff Anglesey County Council's services are very good -- therefore Anglesey is by no means a failing council. To force a full merger of two independent Local Authorities -- with all the attendant turmoil that will cause -- for the sake of dealing with just a handful of troublesome councillors in one of them is, in my opinion, a massive overreaction. In the below letter I ask Ieuan Wyn Jones AM to rule out this option unless such a course of action is endorsed by a majority of residents in both counties.

"Following WAG’s decision to ask the Auditor General to re-inspect Anglesey County Council, we can justifiably conclude that Labour-Plaid’s vastly expensive intervention into the council has failed.

As Labour and Plaid Cymru AMs are currently forcing through legislation which will allow the Welsh Assembly Government to amalgamate councils with little or no public consultation, a new audit of the Council could simply provide cover for WAG to proceed with an unwanted merger of Ynys Môn and Gwynedd local authorities.

Although nobody objects to more cooperation between councils to cut costs, I believe that the majority of Anglesey residents are opposed to a full merger for the following reasons:

Firstly, Gwynedd needs to find £28.8 million in savings over the next four years compared to just £10 million in Anglesey - sharing this burden could result in more Anglesey services being cut. 

Secondly, council tax rates are on average £160 higher in Gwynedd meaning big rate hikes for Anglesey residents if they are harmonised. 

Thirdly, a full merger will place the jobs of many local authority staff in danger.

For these reasons I completely oppose any merger with Gwynedd Council and ask Ieuan Wyn Jones AM to answer following two questions:

1. Does he agree with his AMs that local authorities should be forcefully amalgamated without the consent of those effected?

2. Will he give an unequivocal statement that he will oppose a merger between Ynys Môn and Gwynedd unless it is endorsed by a majority of Anglesey residents?

Paul Williams

Welsh Conservative Assembly Candidate for Ynys Môn"

IWJ and Sargeant: no communication, no trust

Anglesey County Council Leader, Clive McGregor, has released the below statement setting out in considerable detail his side of the story.

Much of it is familiar, but for me the most striking revelation is how little Ieuan Wyn Jones and his WAG coalition partner Carl Sargeant must communicate with or trust each other. According to Clive's document both Ieuan Wyn Jones and Albert Owen sanctioned the new 30 member coalition (comprising of Labour, Plaid, Original Independents, and Menai Group -- and excluding Clive's Llais i Fôn group) which was announced last week. However it was the very formation of this coalition which was the impetus for Carl Sargeant to call for an immediate and emergency audit by the Wales Audit Office.

Is there no communication whatsoever between Ieuan Wyn Jones and Carl Sargeant? It is farcical for the WAG Deputy First Minister to "approve" a coalition and then for the WAG Local Government Minister to immediately veto it. Utter shambles.

Read the whole document below:
Clive McGregor Press Release1

Ynys Môn: the 1% Island

Llandudno conference reading matter

As the Welsh Labour Party conference kicks off in Llandudno today I prepared a little gift for delegates in the shape of the front page story of today's Daily Post.

A Freedom of Information request I made reveals that WAG business support funding has been overwhelmingly funnelled to South Wales firms at the expense of those in the North. Out of a total of £48m in business grants offered since last July (when Ieuan Wyn Jones' flagship Economic Renewal Programme was introduced) just £7m has been received by North Wales firms. Furthermore Ynys Môn -- the poorest place in the whole United Kingdom and struggling with over 2,000 job losses  -- has received just 1% of that total.

This is how the figures break down regionally when we correct for relative populations:

Total business grants per region per head of population

Whereas North- and Mid-Wales has received on average around £10 per person, South Wales has received much more - in the case of South West Wales two and a half times more. Here is how it breaks down by each local authority:

Total business grants received by each local authority per head of population
Click to enlarge.

Anglesey received just £7.05 per head -- less than half the average of £16 per head across Wales. Indeed had Ynys Môn received just the average amount of funding, we should have received another £630,000 pounds over this period -- money businesses on this Island desperately need. And I'm sure our friends at Plaid Wrecsam will have something to say about their home town having only received WAG support equivalent to 68p per head, compared to £70 per head in Newport, South Wales.

Ieuan Wyn Jones is the WAG Minister for the Economy -- the man with his hands on the levers -- why isn't he ensuring that his own constituency is getting a fair share of this vital WAG business support money? As for the Welsh Labour party: they should amend their conference slogan from "Standing up for Wales" to "Standing up for (South) Wales".

You can see the actual FoI request replies here and here, and the spend table released as part of the second FoI request is below.
FoI Response

++ WAG makes urgent statement on Anglesey Council ++ (updated)

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UPDATE: David Bowles' press release concerning Carl Sargeant's statement is below:

MINISTER CONSIDERS MORE STRINGENT INTERVENTION

The Minister for Social Justice and Local Government, Carl Sargeant, in
a written statement issued today, whilst praising staff, says that
Anglesey County Council’s political problems have not gone away.

He has now instructed the Auditor General to conduct an urgent
re-inspection of the Authority to help him consider ‘a new and more
stringent form of intervention’.

Anglesey’s Interim Managing Director, David Bowles, said “I agree
entirely with the Minister’s assessment of the County Council’s
current political predicament.  This is fundamentally an issue about the
personal values, conduct and behaviours of individual members entrusted
with £150m of public money.  Unfortunately in spite of very extensive
development, support and very blunt advice the majority continue to let
the people of Anglesey down.”

“The Minister has himself pointed to hollow assurances given by some
members to the Recovery Board. Unfortunately, this has been my
experience of how some councillors operate in Anglesey with no less than
five reneging on their own signatures on written undertakings and
agreement. I was appalled at the latest so called new alliances in order
to allegedly take this Authority ‘forward’. This formation has
completely ignored advice that I have given and goes against the
principles of good governance, as demanded by the Minister. It is no
more than a desperate attempt to try to prevent something more dramatic
happening rather than face up to and solve the Council’s long standing
political problems. Shifting the deck chairs on the Titanic is no
solution.”

Mr Bowles continued, “How can inward investors, other Councils or
partners have any confidence in dealing with a Council dominated by a
number of unprincipled politicians who have a reputation for hollow
promises. There are some members here who have had the moral courage to
make a difference.  One hopes that there is a silent majority who at
some time will stand up to be counted and join them but I fear time has
run out.

“The population of Anglesey and its 3,000 strong workforce are
entitled to expect better of their elected representatives, who cost the
taxpayer in excess of £800,000 a year. Staff here genuinely feel that
they are the ones who will pay the price for political turmoil and
political failure by loss of jobs as a result of a possible merger with
Gwynedd and that clearly is not acceptable. It is the councillors who
should seriously consider their positions.”

“I’m very mindful, however, that in spite of everything they
endure Anglesey’s staff continue to provide good services. This was
recognised in a recent Wales Audit Office report, which praised the
commitment and dedication of a workforce which has been let down by its
elected representatives.  I hope the public recognise and praise our
staff who deliver good services day in and day out.”

David Bowles concluded, “Members have lost the trust of our staff;
they clearly have a long way to go to regain the confidence of the
Minister.”

Five months of inaction.

Amid much fanfare last July the WAG Minister for the Economy and our AM, Ieuan Wyn Jones launched his flagship "Economic Renewal Programme" (ERP), a fundamental rethink of WAG's economic development policies which, according to the bumf, aimed to make Wales "one of the best places to in the world to live and work".

The ERP is predicated upon moving away from a system of grants to one of repayable loans - something which I approve of. To do this the ERP superseded the Single Investment Fund (WAG's then central funding 'pot' for business support grants) which was then closed to new applicants on the same day that the ERP was announced.

Recently I made a Freedom of Information request to discover how many repayable loans had been made via the Economic Renewal Programme since its launch in July 2010.

Would anyone care to make a guess?

The answer is zero. Not a single repayable loan has been offered to a Welsh company in the seven months since the introduction of the ERP. Companies which were at an 'advanced stage' of their Single Investment Fund application were allowed further time to submit their applications by 31 August 2010 -- but since that date there has been no new business support funds available from WAG to any Welsh companies.

In other words despite the precariousness of the economic recovery, the Department for the Economy and Transport has effectively been a 'closed shop' for five months whilst it rearranges the deck chairs in setting up the sector panels which will eventually begin awarding repayable loans.

Remember that next time a Welsh company is in trouble and the Labour-Plaid coalition in Cardiff Bay points its finger at the Westminster government.

Of nuts and sledgehammers.

Expensive.

I hadn't realised this previously but in 2003 the Welsh Assembly narrowly approved a measure which would allow local authorities to pay existing councillors up to £20,000 to step down and not seek re-election. The idea at the time was to encourage older councillors to retire thus making way for new and younger people with fresh ways of thinking. Councillors would be eligible for a payout of £1000 per year of service up to a maximum of £20,000.

I'm not for a moment suggesting that this is what Anglesey Country Council should do, but it does occur to me that, as distasteful as it seems, financially inducing a small number councillors to step down might have been a faster and ultimately more cost-effective way of solving Anglesey's problems. Instead the Welsh Assembly Government, through appointing a £160K a year MD and a recovery board stuffed with quangocrats (cost unknown), have taken a very expensive sledge hammer to crack a nut -- yet a year and a half later the 'nut' appears to be very much still intact!