Camer Chameleon

Beneath the shiny exterior, honed and buffed up by the slickest PR machine money can buy, the true colours of the modern Tory party have been exposed. During the course of an interview by Jeremy Paxman, David Cameron let his guard slip by admitting he would make deeper cuts where public spending is higher, referring to Northern Ireland and the North East of England.

He said:

"In Northern Ireland it is quite clear – and almost every party accepts this –that the size of the state has got too big.

"We need a bigger private sector. There are other parts of the country, including in the north-east. The aim has got to be to get the private sector, to get the commercial sector going.”

We can only imagine what will happen to our public services should the Tories take power given they have signalled a crack-down in areas of need. Tens of thousands of jobs are likely to go, all in the name of ‘efficiency savings,’ with little regard for the social consequences.

What is frightening is that the Tory cuts are inevitably going to be even bigger than those implemented by Labour should they somehow cling onto power. Research carried out by Eurfyl ap Gwilym, and the prospective parliamentary candidate for Carmarthen East, Jonathan Edwards, suggests 45,000 public sector jobs will be lost in Wales based on the latest statements made by the Labour Party. This is the equivalent of 50 Bosch factories closing. Horrific.

Four independent reports have concluded that under the current funding system, Wales receives at least £300 million less every year than we should be getting. Without reform of this system - which is not on the agenda of the Tory, Liberal or Labour's agendas. A slash and burn approach to the public sector will be a double whammy for Wales.

Those of us of a certain age can't help remembering Thatcher and the swingeing cuts that devastated too may many communities, particularly here in the valleys. The only difference between now and then is that Thatcher didn't try and dress up her elitist brand of capitalism as something it wasn’t. Yes, she was heartless, but she did little to disguise it.

Cameron, on the other hand, could be argued to be a more dangerous beast. For all his talk of a ‘big society’ and ‘protecting the NHS,’ things will be very different should he gain power. George Osbourne, who has remained tight-lipped on his talk of an “age of austerity” after it proved to be unpalatable with the electorate last autumn, has already prepared the ground for an abrupt change of direction. In what is certain to be welcomed by his party’s non-dom paymasters, Osbourne has stated he would be calling an emergency budget 60 days after moving into number 11 Downing Street. This will allow him to sweep aside all the pre-election party promises with a simple ‘ah, but we didn’t know how bad the position was until we saw the books.’ It is so predictable.

I only hope those who value public services and believe jobs should be protected, can see the political chameleon that is the modern day Tory party, and are not blinded by the air-brush. Plaid Cymru has pledged to ensure that the most vulnerable do not bear the brunt of the cuts. If Wales had fairer funding we’d be getting at least £300million extra per year and that would safeguard up to 9,000 jobs in the public sector. It wouldn't be enough to close the gap, but it would help.

There is consensus between the big thee parties that cuts will be made to the welfare state. All will deliver severe cuts in health and education and to public sector jobs. Our MPs, in their Celtic bloc with the SNP, could hold the crucial balance of power in the event of a hung or balanced parliament, which is looking increasingly likely by the day. In this scenario, we would make sure the best possible deal for Wales is put on the table before reaching any agreement. What other political party can be trusted to do that?

Plaid Cymru 1 Paxman 0

Ron Davies for Plaid

This is the full text of Ron Davies’s speech in the Plaid election rally to support Penri James to be the next MP for Ceredigion, in Aberystwyth on Saturday. With thanks to Alun Williams.

“Thank you very much. I was tempted to say, “Good Morning. And it is a very good morning in Aberystwyth".

“I am not going to try to attempt to speak with the degree of hwyl and local conviction that we’ve just had from my very good friend Dafydd Iwan. But the message I bring to you is no less heartfelt. I’m here today to support Penri.

“I hope that people throughout the length and breadth of Wales will think very seriously about the way that they will cast their vote on May 6th. We have not been well served by our governments in Westminster. We have had 40 years of political consensus which has put the interests of London at the heart of all of our decision- making. And that political consensus is shared between those people that Dafydd described as 'those three men'.

“The Conservative Party, unfortunately the Labour Party, and the Lib Dems have shared that political consensus, that what matters in Britain is the future and prosperity of that square mile in the city of London. And when you have a political consensus without any real challenge to the priorities you have a country descending into the country that we see today.

“We’ve had the worst economic collapse that any of us have seen. Following from that we have political corruption on an appalling scale in London. We've seen a growth of inequality right throughout the length of Britain. And we’ve seen the British people led by a British government into overseas military adventures when we’re killing innocent men, women and children in the name of the British state and in the name of the Americans.

“Now that is the consequence of having a political consensus. Like me, you’ll have watched some of the debate on television. And they talk about change - “We are the party of change”. The only difference is the colour of their ties. They shouldn’t call themselves parties. They should say, “The Blue Tie Party”, or, “The Red Tie party”, or, “The Orange Tie Party”. They don’t offer any difference.

“This election offers us in Wales the chance to send a very clear message. Every vote which is cast in this election for Plaid Cymru is a vote cast on behalf of the people of Wales. Every vote cast for Plaid Cymru candidates will be noted in London. In terms of politics, in terms of what we offer, it is now only Plaid Cymru which can challenge that political consensus.

“If you want to affect those issues that are concerning us, if you want to change the structure of politics, if you want to change the quality of democracy, if you want to bring equality, if you want to make sure that communities know where they stand and have secure futures, there’s only one thing to do on May 6th. And that is to support your Plaid Cymru candidate.

“Penri, I’m delighted to be here. I wish you every success. I have no doubt at all that you and many, many other Plaid Cymru candidates are going to be successful on May 6th. And Wales will be better for it.

Happy St George's Day to friends in England

The wider implications of Iceland's volcanic eruption

The volcanic eruption in Iceland has caused travel chaos over the past week. The unprecedented disruption to flights has left many thousands of Welsh holiday makers stranded abroad, unable to return to their homes and jobs. Now, amid recrimination and blame, the restrictions on flights have been lifted. Lessons need to be learned, but its worth thinking about the wider implications of the flight ban.

The Guardian reported this week that farmers in Kenya had to throw away 50 to 60 tonnes of broccoli, sugar snap peas, runner beans and other fruit and vegetables because of the flights that would normally transport them to the UK were grounded. That huge amount of food was ditched by last Friday alone, at the beginning of the six-day period of disruption. Imagine the many hundreds of tonnes of food that will have been lost in Kenya by the time flights are running as normal.

As regular readers of this blog will know, I have raised concerns about future food security before. We do not grow enough of our own food and therefore rely on too many imports. It is wrong, from an environmental perspective, for Scotland to export potato seeds to Egypt, so that farmers can grow them there and then import the finished, grown product back to Scotland. Similarly, why do we buy large amounts of New Zealand lamb when we have fantastic, world-renowned lamb on our doorstep here in Wales?

The UK's reliance on food imports leaves these islands vulnerable and susceptible to a food crisis sometime in the future, which has been predicted by many with terrifying consequences. The notion and implications of peak oil have to be taken seriously.

Food prices are closely linked to fuel prices. The number of air and road miles most of our food has undertaken before it has reached the supermarket shelves means the price largely reflects fuel costs. With petrol prices looking likely to only increase in the coming years, it is crucial that food price-hikes and shortages are planned and prepared for.

People will need food growing skills we have lost from past generations. There are plenty of people keen and willing to learn and try food growing, and the growth in demand for allotments in recent years shows this. But provision does not meet this demand, as the Assembly's Environment and Sustainability Committee heard yesterday. Government at all levels must do all that can be done to provide greater access to allotments, as well as think about other ways in which we can plan to avoid a worse case peak-oil scenario.

Best of a bad bunch

In last night's leadership debate the consensus is that Nick Clegg outperformed Brown and Cameron. If you want to judge a potential Prime Minister on their body language and presentation, then Clegg probably emerged as the winner. Being the party with the least to lose, it was predictable that the Lib Dems would gain from these debates, but I was not impressed by what Clegg had to say.

He implied that the Lib Dems would do away with Trident. Yet their manifesto says they will

'rule out the like-for-like replacement of the Trident nuclear weapons system. At a cost of £100 billion over a lifetime it's unaffordable and Britain's security would be better served by alternatives. We support multilateral nuclear disarmament and will ensure the UK plays a proactive role in the arms reduction talks starting later this year.'

Which means that they will continue with nuclear arms, and so won't save £100 billion. Clegg was playing the part of honest broker, yet their line on Trident is not honest.

Plaid says money should be spent on protecting the vulnerable and those on low incomes, rather than on weapons of mass destruction.

Furthermore, Clegg's views on monitoring immigration were, at best, complete nonsense and, at worst, sinister. Limiting immigrants to a certain region is not only impractical and impossible to administer but also abhorrent. He said it happens in other countries. Where? South Africa under apartheid?

Then we have the omission of any mention of Wales, Scotland or Ireland during the debate, let alone recognition of the changed political landscape outside Westminster. Brown, Cameron and Clegg had nothing to say about Wales and nothing to say to the people of Wales about devolved matters like health and education. We are of no concern to the Big Three. In Plaid we saw this coming and that's why we campaigned so hard, along with the SNP, to be included in these debates. The publicly-funded and publicly-obligated BBC chose to ignore our legitimate complaint, stifling the discussion and thereby potentially misleading voters.

So apart from Cameron showing himself to be lacking not only in substance, but also style without his baying Commons mob behind him, the other losers were all of the people living outside of England. Policies like health and education were discussed with the 'this doesn't apply in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland' disclaimer, but these three British politicians were answering to the people in the three and a half countries that make up Britan, without acknowledging that they were only talking about England.

In recent weeks, too many people have said of politicians 'they're all the same'. They all looked the same last night. I hope on May 6th people will 'think different'.

Plaid Manifesto 2010

I attended the successful Plaid Cymru manifesto launch at the Wales Millennium Centre this week, where we outlined the principles our party stands for in our bid to re-elect a record number of MPs to Parliament.

The trio of Elfyn Llwyd, Adam Price and Hywel Williams has garnered a reputation among political commentators with no axe to grind for punching above their weight. The Celtic bloc with the SNP, could place Plaid Cymru in a position to secure major concessions for Wales if the election result is balanced, as many of the polls are predicting.

One of the core principles underpinning many of our seven priorities is our call to protect the most vulnerable in society against the coming cuts. Plaid believes that people on the lowest incomes should not be made to pay for the mistakes of the banking elite, who are largely to blame for putting the UK’s finances in the red by their greed for profits.

We have called for frontline health and education budgets to be protected and the unfair Barnett funding formula, which short changes Wales by over £300 million every single year, to be reformed.

We have also called for a living pension to be introduced so that pensioners are not forced to choose between heating and eating. Starting with the over 80s, we have costed the raising of a single person’s pension to £130 a week and a couple’s pension to £202 a week.

The Environmental Action Plan aims to tackle and prepare for the effects of climate change, an issue which must be at the fore for any responsible government. We want to stimulate a green revolution in our economy which will ensure much-needed investment in community-based farming and small scale manufacturing.

Having been unjustly sidelined by the BBC during the scheduling of the televised election debates, I was glad to see good attendance from the various media outlets, both national and UK-wide. Early signs are that the London-based media is devoting more time to political issues in Wales and while the coverage is not as extensive as it should be, it is a step in the right direction. With many people in Wales relying upon London-based papers or news bulletins for their election information, this enhanced coverage is crucial. Without it, people risk being misinformed. Debates about health or education policy at a UK level rarely have any relevance here in Wales, but people are given the impression that they can vote on those issues in this election, when in Wales and Scotland they can't.

There is an alternative to the cuts agenda of the three main UK political parties and Plaid’s parliamentary candidates are prepared to fight for the interests of the working class - even if it means taking on big business and greedy bankers.