Condemn the Con/Dems

Countless times we have been warned here in Wales that the Comprehensive Spending Review will affect us disproportionately when compared to the rest of the UK. The latest warning comes from the PricewaterhouseCoopers who estimate that 52,000 jobs could be lost in Wales by 2015. That would be devastating.

While we brace ourselves for the details of deep cuts to our frontline services, the Con/Dem coalition government in Westminster has underlined what they think of Wales and its people with the proposal to close the Identity and Passport Office in Newport.

This news is a bitter blow. We will be the only European country without a proper passport office. It will also see the loss of 300 jobs in an area that can not afford it and will mean a poorer service for the majority of people in Wales. It also raises question marks over the ability of the passport office to provide a service in Welsh.

Given we are in a consultation process on this closure, it is vital that a campaign is orchestrated that underlines the worth of the passport office in Newport and informs those in their ivory towers at Westminster that Wales is not happy with this decision. We also need to bring local companies on board as cuts of this magnitude cannot help but impact on the private sector.

The mooted closure of the passport office has overshadowed news this week of the likely privatisation of the Royal Mint. The Treasury-owned mint in Llantrisant employs 868 people according to the latest annual report produced by the Royal Mint Trading Fund Group. Privatisation invariably means jobs losses, excused in the name of efficiency savings.

Even when their MPs are combined, the Tories and the Liberal Democrats do not have a mandate in Wales. Are we an easy target for the cuts as most of the core support for both parties couldn’t give a damn what happened this side of Offa’s Dyke?

People in Wales must consistently make our voices heard, sending a message to David Cameron and his band of millionaires that they cannot keep treating us with impunity. A good place to start would be the march and rally taking place this Saturday in Newport to protest at the axing of the city’s Identity and Passport office. The march begins at 11am outside the historic Westgate hotel and finishes in John Frost square where the rally will be held.

Please join us if you can.

Sacking them on the cheap

Last week it transpired that the UK government intends to cut the redundancy package currently available to civil servants. Cynics think it may have something to do with plans to sell off government assets like the Royal Mint, Llantrisant. The Mint is will be more attractive to potential buyers if they can lay off people 'on-the-cheap'. This is from last weeks Record of Proceedings:

Leanne Wood: The UK Government seeks to make changes to the civil service compensation scheme that governs redundancy and early retirement payments to employees of all devolved and non-devolved Government departments as well as those of many other public bodies. Those changes will rob thousands of hard-working employees of a third of the value of the redundancy payment that they thought that they could expect as a right. Even though Tessa Jowell agreed with the unions in September that talks with officials should be reopened to secure a mutually acceptable outcome, that has not happened. A slightly improved set of proposals were circulated to all civil servants by permanent secretaries as a fait accompli on Friday 4 December, with no prior consultation with the trade unions. Given the implications for the staff of the Welsh Assembly Government, the National Assembly for Wales and Assembly Government sponsored bodies, will the Assembly Government make representations to the Cabinet Office for the resumption of negotiations in good faith as a matter of urgency? Furthermore, will the Leader of the House make time available for this issue to be discussed in Plenary as soon as possible in the new year?

Carwyn Jones: On the civil service compensation scheme, it is important that all channels are kept open to make sure that there is a satisfactory solution, particularly for those who may be affected by the scheme. I will ensure that I investigate the situation, and if there is a need to offer a view on behalf of the Government, that will be done. At the moment, it is a matter for negotiation between the unions and the UK Government. I hope that it is something that will be resolved satisfactorily in the future.

Budget disaster for Wales

£416 million will be cut from the Assembly's budget next year. New Labour are calling the cuts "efficiency savings". Adam Price said yesterday:

"When taking these and other already announced cuts into account, public services in Wales will be around one billion pounds per year worse off by 2013-14."

This is disasterous news for Welsh public services. Swathing cuts to frontline services are inevitable. Its difficult to see how these cuts can be implemented without job cuts. Jobs are already at risk at the Mint.

The public sector should be providing jobs now, not cutting them. Great opportunities have been missed to invest in a Green New Deal - something that could have provided thousands of jobs and training opportunities well as helping us to prepare the way for the effects of climate change and peak oil.

Why didn't the chancellor scrap the plans to introduce ID cards and replace the TRIDENT nuclear missile system? Billions could have been saved in two simple moves. Instead, the poorest - those who make most use of public services and who don't have the luxury of being able to afford alternatives will bear the brunt of these cuts.

Breaking News: Royal Mint to be Privatised

I have learnt ahead of the official announcement that the UK Government will be privatising the Royal Mint at Llantrisant.

The Mint made a profit of £10m last year and according to Rhodri Morgan is due to take on additional staff as a result of winning the contract to produce medals for the Olympics. The PCS Union is deeply concerned about the effect this will have on jobs.

Plaid Cymru has consistently opposed the privatisation of the Mint. The Welsh Government is against it, the workers are against it and the local communities are against it.

The Mint was brought to Llantrisant in 1967 as part of a "regional economic strategy" to redistribute jobs throughout the UK.

Labour MP Huw Irranca-Davies recently said:

"Look at some of the benefits we've had over the years in terms of public sector jobs...in Llantrisant we've had the Royal Mint, relocated by Jim Callaghan."

"If Plaid Cymru, Adam Price or anbody else want to enter the debate about what independence would mean for Wales, they have to explain how those jobs would be defended."

How can the UK Government argue that they are defending Welsh jobs now?