Will Wylfa B ever be built?

      

The above chart comes from a report on Debt released yesterday by the management consultants McKinsey & Company - it shows that the UK is now the most indebted country in the world. Particularly frightening is the rapid acceleration of debt since around 2004 - well before Northern Rock and global economic crisis which followed that.

What does this mean for Anglesey? 

As we discussed yesterday, both Labour and the Conservative Party have resolved that any new nuclear power stations - such as Wylfa B - must not require any public subsidy. As the public cupboard is completely bare you might say that is just as well - except for one small problem: it seems increasingly likely that private companies such as Horizon Nuclear Power (the RWE npower/E.On UK nuclear joint venture which has purchased land around the existing Wylfa reactor in order to possibly construct Wylfa B) will not be able to build new nuclear installations without public subsidy. On January 22nd, 2010, the National Audit Office (NAO) released a report which stated that:

"EDF (which bought the UK Government's stake in British Energy) did not give the Government any 'binding commitment' that it would build the power stations or that taxpayers would not have to pick up the costs of cleaning up nuclear waste. 

'It [the Government] remains responsible for funding any shortfall in the future cost of decommissioning British Energy’s existing nuclear power stations"

That refers to new nuclear plants - but unfortunately, due to poor planning at the time, the Government is also liable for covering the costs for the decommissioning and disposal of nuclear waste from existing nuclear plants too. Some estimates put this cost at a staggering £90Bn! So before even one brick is laid at a new nuclear plant, an already completely broke government is liable for £90Bn (equivalent to three times the annual defence budget) just to clear up the mess from the old plants.

The Labour government has publicly committed itself through its Fiscal Responsibility Bill (fully supported by Albert Owen) to halving the public debt over the next four years. Can they really dramatically cut public debt whilst at the same time spending vast sums to clean up old plants and fund new plants such as Wylfa B at the same time?

Wylfa B is looking increasingly economically unlikely - and the Druid wonders whether Albert Owen - despite his bravado in the local press - knows this already..?

      

Plaid's Dylan Rees takes the Druid's advice...

  
Regular readers might recall that the Druid penned a profile of Plaid Cymru's PPC, Dylan Rees, a couple of weeks ago. In it I noted that:

Now at the top of his Plaid Cymru Candidates page he lists his three top pledges for Ynys Môn if elected as:

- Tackle the Island's law and order difficulties

- Make more homes available for local people

- Transform the island's economy

Its informative that he mentions the economy last - almost like an afterthought. And his 1st and 2nd pledges only ranked as the 7th and 13th most important issues to North Wales residents in the latest Wales YouGov poll. Rees might want to reconsider his priorities.

Just to prove I wasn't lying, here is a screen-grab of the relevant graphic on his homepage at the time of writing:

And this is what it looks like now:

Notice anything different?

As you're obviously reading the Druid's blog, Dylan, perhaps you might also like to reply to my questions about your stance on ID Cards, New Labour's slavish police targets, and North Wales Police's over-emphasis on turning normal motorists into criminals? Diolch.

      

P.S. In other news, the Tory candidate, Ridge-Newman, is also reading the Druid.
 

Wylfa: to B, or not to B?

    

Albert Owen MP pops up in the Letters Page of the Holyhead and Anglesey Mail this week to sling mud at the newly appointed Tory candidate, Anthony Ridge-Newman, and the Conservative Party's position on Wylfa B.

Albert thunders, "David Cameron’s closest energy advisor Zac Goldsmith clearly states that if the party sticks to its existing policy it would never allow the building of a new nuclear power station. Well that rules out Wylfa B under the Tories."

If Wylfa B is given the go-ahead it could provide up to 9,000 construction jobs and a further 1,000 to 1,200 highly-skilled, permanent and well paid nuclear jobs. Accordingly, on an island struggling with vast job losses, Wylfa B offers a path to some kind economic salvation - and the quarrel over whether the project will proceed or not will undoubtedly be the defining issue of the 2010 General Election on Anglesey. Albert Owen's letter to the Mail effectively signals the start of the general election campaign on Ynys Mon.

As this is such an important issue for Anglesey the Druid thinks Albert's letter represents the perfect opportunity to examine his claims and to compare and contrast where all the major parties stand on the issue of nuclear power and the building of Wylfa B.

Labour

Let's start with Labour itself. In his letter to the Mail, Albert Owen lauds the Labour party's "political leadership and vision on energy projects including Wylfa". 

Yet with most nuclear plants (including the current Wylfa reactor) and half of UK's coal plants due to close over the coming decade, the Department of Energy and Climate Change itself estimates that, of a total of around 75GW in generating capacity, 20GW will disappear by 2015. And as the current peak demand is around 65GW and growing, that means that the UK could be facing energy blackouts by as soon as 2015 - as shown in the excellent graphic below from the Economist:

But surely we can either extend the life of some of the existing reactors or quickly build some new ones to avoid blackouts, right? 

Wrong. Most nuclear plants are over 25 years old and far too ancient to carry on. Wylfa was granted a nine month life extension but after that point it simply will have to close. And, on top of that, even the most optimistic nuclear engineers don't beleive a new nuclear reactor could come online before 2017 - which will already be too late. Plus lets not forget that EU carbon trading regulations will pretty much prevent the building of any new coal-fired coal plants.

Suddenly Albert Owen's lauding of Labour's "vision" and "leadership" on Energy Policy looks very hollow indeed - if not downright deceitful.

As the Druid noted previously when writing about Anglesey Aluminium, the current government has failed to deal with one of the most fundamental requirements of a modern society - a secure and efficient electricity supply:

While it has been pratting around with its obsession with "renewable energy" ... pushing the proliferation of useless windmills across the land, it has taken its eye off the ball and let vitally needed supplies run down. This is nothing short of criminal negligence that will cost our economy – and us – dear.

Well, they may have screwed that all up, but at least the Labour leadership is 100% behind Wylfa B, right?

Wrong again. Jane Davidson, the Labour Assembly Member and Welsh Environment Minster has demanded a public inquiry "on the grounds of concern over the safety and security of the management of future nuclear waste". We are still waiting to hear whether Westminster will accede to her request or not.

Albert Owen is obviously keen to throw as much mud as possible at the Tories in order to divert Anglesey's electors away from his own Party's dismal record on Energy Policy and the mixed messages coming from the Labour top brass about the desirability of Wylfa B.

Conservatives

As noted above, Albert Owen slams Anthony Ridge-Newman's support for Wylfa B by saying "David Cameron’s closest energy advisor Zac Goldsmith clearly states that if the party sticks to its existing policy it would never allow the building of a new nuclear power station".  Its certainly true that Goldsmith said that - but what exactly is the Conservatives' 'existing policy'? Well, the Conservative Party website clarifies the issue like this:

Nuclear power will be part of the energy mix if it is economically viable, but new nuclear power stations should not leave taxpayers with liabilities for their running, decommissioning or waste. Nuclear is not an alternative to developing and expanding renewable forms of energy.

In other words: a Conservative government will only allow new nuclear reactors to be built as long as they do not require any public subsidy during any stage of their life. On Goldsmith's own blog he expands:

There should be zero subsidies (direct or indirect) for nuclear, and nuclear providers must demonstrate an ability to cover future costs of waste disposal and decommissioning. My view – shared by almost all the energy experts I’ve consulted - is that there can be no new nuclear power without government support. There never has been ... Subsidies should be for start up, immature technologies.

So its clear that the Conservatives do not oppose nuclear power per se, they oppose the need for public money to support what should be private enterprise. 


But hold on a moment - as recently as last week Philip Hunt, the Labour minister of state at the Department of Energy and Cimate Change, said that Labour's policy was:

"absolutely clear" that the cost of new nuclear power plants must be met in full by the commercial companies themselves, including the cost of decommissioning and waste management.

Which appears to be exactly identical to the Conservatives' position. So Albert Owen is effectively attacking the Conservative Party for having exactly the same policy as his own Party! What a twpsyn!


Anyway, we can conclude that the construction of Wylfa B will be supported by either a Labour OR Conservative government as long as the E.ON and RWE Npower joint venture (which has bought the land around the exisiting Wylfa reactor to develop Wylfa B) does not require any public subsidy.

Plaid Cymru

Plaid Cymru has a long tradition of opposition to nuclear power, as the following clips from various manifestos reveal:

• 1997 General Election Manifesto: "Nuclear energy is now a broken dream. The only safe way forward is to reduce the demand for energy and develop the use of renewables." 
• 1999 Assembly Election Manifesto: "We will operate on the basis of a presumption against further open cast mining and nuclear power stations."
• 2001 General Election Manifesto: "As our dependence on fossil fuels must be reduced and since nuclear energy is not an acceptable option, we shall press for very substantial growth in renewable energy."
• 2003 Assembly Election Manifesto: "We will call for the devolution of responsibility for large-scale energy projects to the Assembly. This will enable us to block any new nuclear energy stations."
• 2005 General Election Manifesto: "Plaid Cymru the Party of Wales does not support new nuclear power stations."
• 2007 Pre-manifesto, Change for the Better: "Plaid Cymru does not support nuclear power."

And here's the relevant snippet from their most recent Manifesto for the 2009 Euro Elections:

So underlined in big bold black letters they "reaffirm our total opposition to the construction of any new nuclear power stations in Wales". Notice the weasel word "new" however - which allows Ieuan Wyn Jones, Plaid Leader and AM for Anglesey, to simultaneously stand for both "no nuclear power" and for "nuclear power in Anglesey as it is not a new power station". 


Like the White Queen in Lewis Carroll's "Through The Looking Glass", Ieuan Wyn Jones has an uncanny ability to believe in as many as two impossible things before breakfast. No wonder he's into Unicorns too.

Lib Dems

Opposed. Nothing more to add.


Conclusions


Nuclear energy is an emotive subject and, as we have seen above, leads politicians to tie themselves up in knots so as to be on both sides of the argument at the same time (*cough* Ieuan Wyn Jones *cough*). However as the construction of new Nuclear Reactors is not a devolved matter, we can discount Plaid's wriggly, slippery behaviour. Likewise we can ignore the Lib Dems total opposition as they have no chance of forming the next Administration. That leaves us with Labour and the Conservatives.


As the Druid's investigations prove above, Albert Owen's letter to the Mail is misleading in many ways - the most outrageous being his attacking the Conservatives for having exactly the same nuclear policy as his own Labour party! However, that said, it would appear that neither the Labour Party (excepting Jane Davidson AM) nor the Conservative Party would oppose the construction of Wylfa B as long as E.ON and RWE Npower joint venture does not requite public subsidy.

Carving up Anglesey

       Current Anglesey Electoral Divisions

The Boundaries Commission for Wales revealed their draft proposals this week for adjusting the council electoral boundaries in Anglesey.

Anglesey currently has an electorate of 50,793 persons and is divided into 40 wards, all of which return a single Councillor to represent them - meaning that currently each Anglesey Councillor represents an average of 1,270 persons. However, the Assembly Local Government minister, Brain Gibbons, has directed that the ideal in Wales should be to have a councillor to electorate ratio of no less than 1;1750 - a criteria which currently only four Anglesey electoral divisions meet (Cwm Cadnant, Llaneilian, Llanfair-yn-Neubwll and Treaddur). In fact, some electoral divisions currently have considerably less than 1000 electors:

Holyhead Town                    646 electors Labour
Rhosneigr                             748 electors Independent
Cadnant (Menai Bridge) 819 electors     Menai
Moelfre 860 electors Anglesey Forward
Tudur (Llangefni) 898 electors Independent
London Road (Holyhead)        900 electors Labour
Parc a'r Mynydd (Holyhead)    915 electors Independent
Morawelon (Holyhead) 937 electors Labour
Amlwch Rural 978 electors Anglesey Forward
Kingsland (Holyhead)             995 electors Labour

What becomes immediately apparent is that Holyhead - currently returning a total of seven Councillors - is grossly over-represented compared to the majority of the rest of the Island. For example the ward of Llaneilan (Lib Dem, but sits with Original Independents) has one councillor representing over 1,800 people -- three times as many people as in the ward of Holyhead Town which also has one councillor (Labour). There is obviously something wrong here.

The Boundaries Commission has recognised these problems and have therefore proposed to:

• even out the councillor to electorate ratio throughout all wards on the island;
• reduce the total number of Councillors from 40 to 35 so as to achieve an average councillor to electorate ratio of 1,450:1

Accordingly to do this they have fiddled with the boundaries of most electoral divisions to add or remove various wards so as to achieve the above average councillor to electorate ratio. For the problem areas of Holyhead and Menai Bridge they have made more serious changes:

• The current electoral divisions of Holyhead Town, Porthyfelin and Parc a'r-Mynydd will be combined into a new electoral division called Holyhead Town containing 3,072 electors. This new division will be a be represented by two councillors.
• The current Morawelon, London Road, Kingsland and Maeshyfryd divisions will also be combined into one new electoral division called Morawelon. This new division will be represented by three councillors.
• The Braint and Cadnant wards will be combined to create one new electoral division called Braint. This new division will be represented by two councillors.
• You can see the full details of all changes here

Of course, several councillors are up in arms at the proposal to reduce their number down to 35. However when you consider that seven councillors (i.e. 20% of the total) were returned unopposed at the last local elections in 2008, it seems to the Druid that reducing the number of Councillors will improve rather than harm democracy on Anglesey. Plus, as per my previous post, the Isle of Anglesey's Councillors need a good kick up the backside to focus their attention on addressing the serious problems we are currently facing - the Boundary Commission's report delivered just such a well aimed blow to their collective fattened rear-ends.
     

Why I still disagree with Plaid Cymru's Pensions Pledge

    
Last week the Druid wrote a post on Plaid Cymru's election pledge to increase state pensions by 30%, saying that this was politics at its most cynical. In fact I went further and called it 'fraud' as Plaid Cymru knows perfectly well that they will never be in a position to implement it.

A number of people have commented on the post stating why they believe it is fair for Plaid Cymru to clarify what their MPs will fight for should they be elected to Westminster - and especially in the case of a hung election, they argue, such pledges would form the bargaining chips of their support.

These are fair points intelligently made - however I'm afraid that the Druid still does not agree. And for the reason, see this graph:

The Druid is above all else a democrat , i.e. he believes passionately that democracy is the best form of government and produces the best outcomes. However, for democracy to function the electorate has to be able to reasonably trust and believe that political parties will fulfil their pledges - otherwise it becomes impossible for them to make clear, informed choices when balloted. The above graphic shows the result of a poll held in PoliticsHome last week of 1,193 UK voters when asked how likely they believed each of the three main political parties were to fulfil their manifesto promises (unfortunately the didn't include Plaid Cymru in the survey). As you can see, the figures for Labour are appalling. Less than half of Labour's own 'natural supporters' believe that Labour will actually honour the election pledges they have made. Many commenters have stated that this is a disaster for the Labour Party - I disagree, this is a disaster for democracy.

I'm not just pointing the finger at Labour either - I  think that it is pretty poor than only 70% of people trust the Conservatives and Lib Dems' pledges too! When electors don't believe that political parties will fulfil their promises, they become disillusioned with politics, decide not to vote, and democracy eventually breaks down.

Plaid Cymru is not only damaging it own reputation by making such obviously unachievable pledges - it is also insidiously damaging the democratic system and the Druid will not stand for that.
    

What "Lettergate" tells us about Anglesey County Council

    

The background to David Bowles apocalyptic letter to all Ynys Môn councillors has now been widely reported (here for example) and the allegations can best be described as a storm in a teacup.


Of far more interest is the fact that Bowles' letter proves that Anglesey County Council is still actively at war with itself: Councillors against Officers. This comes just months after a damning Corporate Governance report by the Auditor General for Wales and severe warnings form Welsh Assembly local government minister, Dr Brian Gibbons, that unless things improve the council will be taken over and run from Cardiff.


David Bowles has been a controversial figure (there are questions regarding his departure as Chairman of the United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust for instance) but he also appears to be a man of great personal integrity. Whilst Bowles was Chief Executive of Lincolnshire County Council from 1999 to 2004 the then Leader of that Council, Jim Speechley was jailed for 18 months after being convicted of misconduct in public office. It was Bowles who called in the police when Speechley tried to influence the route of a new bypass in a bid to increase the value of the land he owned. For this Bowles was named Private Eye magazine's "2004 Man of Year" - but also effectively hounded out of office. We must also remember that he is an outsider who had never set foot in Anglesey before October last year - yet we are still seeing the same patterns of behaviour by certain Councillors which were first criticised by the Welsh Audit Office over a year ago in January 2009.


Its an absolute disgrace that at a time of absolute economic havoc on the island with over 3,000 jobs having been lost in a very short period of time and the decommissioning of the only other major private sector employer, Wylfa power station, only months away, some of Anglesey's Councillors are content to expend their time and energy pursuing pathetic little vendettas. Anglesey needs and deserves better than this.


There needs to be far greater scrutiny of our Councillors. They collectively control a budget of almost £170 million and are responsible for, among other things, the education of our children, health and social care issues, planning, leisure facilities, our island environment and so on.  However during the last local council elections in 2008 seven of the 40 Councillors (i.e. almost 20%) were returned to office unopposed. This is surely not good for democracy. 


Furthermore, with the exception of Labour and Plaid Cymru councillors, they do not divide along party political lines but instead sit in opaque factions with names such as:

• Original Independents (Annibynol Gwreiddiol)
• Menai
• Anglesey Forward
• and a couple of 'Unaffiliateds'

What policies each of these groups actually stand for is a mystery to virtually all voters - which makes the decision of who to vote for especially difficult.


The Council is in financial crisis having to find £2.1 million in cuts this year (necessitating a 2% cut in the critical Education budget causing the closure of several local schools) whilst at the same time raising Council Tax levels by 15% over three years. Yet some of our Councillors appear complacent and wholly engrossed in factional infighting - in other words they are fiddling whilst Môn burns. Come the next local council elections in May 2012 the Druid hopes that Anglesey residents will take the opportunity to permanently eject those Councillors who are clearly not taking their responsibilities seriously.


-----------------


For those who have the stomach to bear it, a timeline of the whole sorry affair is set out below:


Timeline of Crisis at Anglesey County Council


January 20, 2010: Anglesey County Council Managing Director, David Bowles, sends a letter to all councillors stating:

The council "has been bedevilled by personality driven, petty parochial vindictive factional infighting. This is a disgraceful example of an attempt to use an officer as the meat in the middle of the sandwich of personality driven infighting; even worse those involved see nothing wrong with dragging an officer's personal and private life into these matters … I did consider marking this letter Private and Confidential but decided against it on the basis that it would get leaked anyway. I regret having to write to all Members in these terms rather than just the few but that is a consequence of how the few conduct themselves … Those few who put their petty spiteful factional infighting above the interests of the island have no place on this council...".

It transpires certain councillors had been questioning his housing arrangement prompting the above furious reaction.


December 29, 2009: David Bowles reports "Significant progress has already been made in a number of areas which will help move the authority forward, improve relationships, self regulation and reputation." He eats these words one month later.


October 2009: David Bowles appointed new interim Managing Director of Anglesey County Council by Welsh Assembly Local Government Minister, Dr Brian Gibbons.


July 21, 2009:  Welsh Assembly Local Government Minister, Dr Brian Gibbons, meets with senior Anglesey County Council councillors and officials to discuss the damning Auditor General’s report.  He announces that a "Recovery Board" will now be set up to oversee the council’s operations and oversee the implement over 18 months of a seven-point plan drawn up by the Wales Audit Office. If this is not done he warns that the Welsh Assembly could impose sanctions including direct rule from Cardiff.


June 2009:  A corporate governance report on Anglesey County Council by Jeremy Colman, Auditor General for Wales, is released. In it he says the council has a history of “not being properly run” and was dogged by poor behaviour by a small number of councillors. It also adds all these issues had been left largely unaddressed since the council was established in 1996 – despite a number of previous external reviews.


June 20, 2009: Following a FOI request the contents of former Council Leader Phil Fowlie's letter of December 18, 2008, to the Welsh Auditor Office are revealed. This prompts nine members of the County Council corporate management team to respond with their own letter to executive members and the WAO's Mr Morris, describing the allegations as “demonstrably false”. Further they state that far from wanting the executive to fail, any failure of the executive would have been “our failure”. They say the executive had not let senior officers know their expectations. They deny claims the Human Resources department was failing over staff sickness and said the council had secured a substantial reduction in absences. Furthermore they absolutely deny the “Graigwen” allegations.


May 5, 2009: Former police superintendent, Cllr Clive McGregor, is appointed unopposed as the new Council Leader. He pledges to “steer a steady course through choppy waters” and said he hoped all 40 members could now work together to get the council through an investigation, adding “I don’t want Anglesey to continue to be disgraced in the media."


April 29, 2009: Anglesey Council Leader, Cllr Phil Fowlie, announces he is to step down on health grounds


April 8, 2009:  Council Chief Executive, Mr Derrick Jones, leaves his £120,000 a year position "by mutual consent".


March 25, 2009:  Council Opposition leader, John Chorlton, sends an open letter to all Anglesey county councillors claiming there is a "vendetta" to oust Chief Executive Derrick Jones. He claims Council Leader Phil Fowlie and Cllr Bob Parry told him they wanted to end Jones's contract at an upcoming extraordinary meeting of the full council. In his letter Chorlton says Derrick Jones is “the victim of a small group of councillors who are on a path of vendetta against those willing to stand up to them … This is my appeal to those councillors who are sitting on the fence and letting this happen. They have to use their vote now to stop this happening. I have spoken to them and they can give me no good reason why he should go.”


January 2009: The Welsh Audit Office "Annual Letter" on Anglesey County Council is published detailing an "erosion of trust" between executive members and ruling councillors. It said tensions between some executive members and corporate officers had seen a breakdown in communications at the top level:

Difficulties in relationships between some Executive Members and senior officers ... have prevented us from completing this work. This was partly because many councillors were unwilling to participate in planned workshops due to tensions between them and some senior officers. This has led us to the interim conclusion that the Council does not appear to have unified political and managerial leadership. We have come to this conclusion because:

• 
  

  the absence of unified leadership has the potential to cause reputational damage and deflect senior officer and member time away from providing the necessary corporate governance of the Council; and

• 
  

  there appears to have been an erosion of trust between some senior councillors and officers.

  This lack of unified leadership has become apparent during the preparation of this Annual Letter. During the drafting of the Letter the Appointed Auditor and Relationship Manager have had separate meetings with and comments from the Executive Members and the management team. The comments received from the Council Leader on behalf of the Executive Members are very critical of many of the actions of the corporate management team. This situation illustrates the erosion of trust and effective communication between some members and officers.
  

It further warns that the situation risked damaging the reputation of the local authority and recommended that the Auditor General, Jeremy Colman, should be brought in to inspect.


December 18, 2008: Council Leader Phil Fowlie sends a confidential letter to Alan Morris of the Welsh Audit Office alleging:

• Officers wanted some, if not all the executive to fail
• Officers dragged their heels over implementing the island’s school re-organisation programme
• Officers failed to offer “any assistance” to the executive on governing Anglesey council
• Officers failed to attempt to resolve a “serious issue with sickness” with council staff
• The corporate management team displayed a lack of “honesty” and “integrity”, in the manner in which they handled the “Graigwen” issue.

The contents of this letter only became public in June 2009 following a Freedom Of Information (FOI) request. The essence of the matter seems to be that Chief Executive Derrick Jones is seen as being closer to the Opposition than the ruling Original Independent and Plaid Cymru coalition.


December 2008: Cllr McGregor writes a stinging letter to managing director Derrick Jones suggesting officers were covering up issues on Graigwen. The letter states:

"Graigwen is one of several issues highlighted by Price Waterhouse Coopers, where this authority has serious corporate governance issues. As a new councillor and executive member I have been dismayed by the obvious distrust shown to us by senior officers. It pains me greatly but doesn't surprise me given that the issues surrounding Graigwen have eroded whatever trust and confidence there might be between the ruling administration and certain members of the corporate management team. It may be that we require a police investigation into the issue as offences of malfeasance in public office would appear to be made out. It is only then that confidence in the Isle of Anglesey County Council would be apparent."

May 2008: Cllr Phil Fowlie becomes Council Leader as head of a coalition of Original Independents and Plaid Cymru after the May 2008 local elections.


August 2007: The Graigwen property in Amlwch is purchased in auction for £300,000 by Anglesey County Council. Bidding against the council officers was Cllr Elwyn Schofield, now the authority’s property portfolio holder, who at the time had not attended council meetings for months due to a long term illness. Questions are immediately asked as to why it was bought as the Council already has access to its other property and because Graigwen is built on solid rock and therefore not developable.


July 2007: At an executive meeting, council officers were sanctioned to take part in an auction to purchase a property in Amlwch, called "Graigwen", in order to give the council access to its own land behind the house. However at a later date it transpires that this meeting was technically incorrect as the wrong councillor chaired the meeting:  The then Council Leader, Cllr Gareth Winston Roberts, declared an interest in the decision as Graigwen is in his constituency of Amwlch, and brought in council chairman Cllr WJ Williams to chair the meeting, instead of deputy leader Cllr John Meirion Davies. Cllr Gareth Winston Roberts later admits that the deputy leader should have chaired the meeting in his place, not the chairman, who was meant to be politically neutral and not part of discussions on the executive committee. The controversial decision of who chaired the meeting later was cleared by the auditors Price Waterhouse Coopers, as they decided the mistake not to pass the decision to the deputy leader was only a technical breach, and the decision would have been the same whoever had sat in the chair.


November 2006: Derrick Jones appointed Managing Director of Anglesey County Council.

      

Are you local?

     
Cambria Politico has taken newly appointed Ynys Môn Conservative Candidate, Anthony Ridge-Newman, to task:

ARE THE Tories committing political suicide in Anglesey?

And even if the party is not committing suicide on the island, their choice of a rank outsider who has probably hardly been to the island, or indeed to Wales, demands that the gent concerned must be politically neutered before he sets foot in parliament.

According to the way that the Commons is currently operating, any MP from Wales can help strike down law-making proposals produced by the democratically-elected Assembly in Cardiff.

Unless Mr  Anthony Ridge-Newman, the newly-selected Tory candidate from Surrey, can reveal that he knows a hell of a lot about Wales, he should take a string of cotton to the Commons when (more probably, if) he ever enters it.  With the aid of a needle, he should tightly sow his mouth shut so that he never has any effect on anything to be with the governance of this country.

Ridge-Newman replies here:

For many personal reasons, my family roots in Pontycymmer are very special to me and my late mother.  If I had been a girl (no jokes please!) my mother would have named me after my Grandma Rachel Williams who was born and grew up on Cuckoo Street, Pontycymmer.  My cousin (the first girl of my generation) got the honour instead. The last time I was there, was not long before my mother died. She wanted me to take her there for obvious reasons. Every time we go there, it becomes more like a ghost town.  This has saddened me and is what has inspired me to get involved in the future of Wales. 

So what have we learned by this spat? That the Tories might have selected a Rachel Ridge-Newman instead? Not particularly illuminating. The Druid wants to hear about something called P-O-L-I-C-I-E-S, or in layman's language: "How the bloody hell do any of the parties propose to get Ynys Môn out of this mess"?

Anyway, as this discussion of who comes from where will obviously run and run on the island, lets take a look at all the candidates:

- Albert Owen (Labour): Holyhead, Anglesey
- Dylan Rees (Plaid Cymru): Carmarthenshire, South Wales
- Anthony Ridge-Newman (Conservative): Worcestershire, England
- Matt Wood (lib Dem): St Asaph, North Wales
- Peter Rogers (Independent): Wrexham, North Wales  
And a bonus extra: Ieuan Wyn Jones (Plaid Cymru AM for Anglesey): Denbigh, North Wales

So actually only Albert Owen is really from Anglesey. Its certainly a worrying sign that the island has not been able to generate more than one home-grown candidate - what does this say for any of the Political party's engagement with Ynys Môn residents? 

Anyway, can we now move on to discussing policy please?