Thursday 17 January 2008

Plaids identity Crisis

Dear oh dear Plaid dont seem to have got the hang of this being in government bit do they.

No sooner is the change to the budget for local government announced than we have Dai Lloyd on the floor singing the praises of his party in securing the change.

Plaid Cymru AM Dai Lloyd welcomed the final budget, saying, “Today’s announcement comes after weeks of intense activity by Plaid Cymru AMs and ministers. Ever since we realised that this year’s settlement would be tight, we’ve argued the case for a floor system that would ensure more funding for the worst affected councils.”

No mention of course of the lobbys led by Powys AMs involving councillors from Powys CC and similar from other councils badly affected.

But perhaps more cynically no mention that it was Plaid Ministers who were quite prepared to allow their government to submit the draft budget in the first place.

Where were Elin, Rhodri Glyn and Ieuan on the day the draft came before cabinet?

Why was it they were happy to let this it pass then and then scream about it later?

Yet most important of all when will Plaid finally realise that they are in government too?

The draft budget was theirs as much as Labours, was it only when they went back to their constituencies that they realised the price of some of their pet policies was their own councillors being short changed.

However what are they celebrating now

The extra £4.7m consists of £2.2m from reserves and £2.5m from elsewhere in the Social Justice and Local Government budget.
according to the Western Mail

So that is over half that was in the local government arena in the first place and the rest from a resource that wont be available next year.

But why worry about the 09-10 local government settlement Dai the only scheduled elections that year are the Euros and Rhodris replacement. :-)

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