I travelled across to Flint Town Hall to mark the cross party agreement to mark today as "Hope not Hate" day in our Assembly campaign, and whatever out political differences, our common ground in condemning facism - and to protest at the appearance of the BNP on each list in Wales.
Here I am with Labour, Conservative and Lib Dem colleagues to mark "Hope not Hate" day.
6 comments:
Conservatve colleagues? See what I mean. Everybody has to work with someone they don't like at times. This time it was for taking a photograph, but the point remains. Just because you work with someone and act civil towards them doesn't mean that you always agree with them.
And I do find it strange that Labour are willing to label Iraq, Trident and Treasury and DWP decisions as "London issues". But you are also saying that Plaid Cymru are betraying their core vote by talking to the Conservatives - weren't the Tory decisions from the 1980s pre-devolution and therefore "London issues"?
Sunday was hope not hate day, and I decided to abide by the spirit of the day and acknowledge the common stance taken by the candidates presence.
More shocking is the absence of any Plaid Cymru candidate at the event. Now that the day has passed perhaps you can go on all the Plaid Cymru blogs and ask them where the hell where they ?
Talking of shocking - did anyone see Ieuan W Jones' performance on the politics show
How embarassing? Wont be long before he's kicked into touch.
His squirming over their proposed coalition was noticeable.
As indeed it was when faced with the faint praise Adam Price damned him with.
As was his rattled response to how Plaid would pay for all their increased spending pledges at a time they would cut business rates in half.
He simply replied they would change some of Labour's spending priorities.
Pointless me asking silent man himself Alun Ffred what these would be - Cymro can you tell us how your party would plug the £660m funding gap mentioned...
I think everybody thinks that - there is not one single Plaid member or politician who is thrilled with the thought of a coalition with the Tories (who would be?), and that includes Ieuan. But even New Labour have had to work with the Tories to push measures through, and recently at that.
As for how to afford the manifesto promises, first of all we need to renegotiate the Barnett formula to get a better deal for Wales. There is a general feeling that the Assembly wastes a lot on administration too - monitoring, measuring performance etc. Then there is the fact that funding is heavily weighted in favour of the M4 corridor. And lastly, the issue of asset-backed securities is being explored, which has been widely advertised.
So Plaid don't know what cuts they would make - or are you just keeping them quiet until after the election?
And you cant seriously be suggesting that the Welsh nationalist - who seek an independent Wales and claim that Wales can afford to stand on its own two feet - would seriously expect more money from England at the same time...!!!!
Now now Martin. Plaid are heavily involved in the anti-fascist movement in Wales, happily working alongside Labour, the other parties and the unions.
Making political capital about such issues is not on and I expect better from a Unison man like you.
Ian Titherington
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