Monday 9 December 2013

The for-and-against party

A couple of weeks ago, Peter Black proudly announced that the Lib Dems were the first party to oppose the building of the M4 relief road.  I thought this a welcome step forward, and I think that he was right to say that the Lib Dems are the first party to reject the idea in principle.  It’s true, of course, as one of the comments on the piece suggested, that the One Wales Government decided not to proceed with the plan, but that was a decision taken purely on financial grounds at the time, leaving open the possibility of resurrecting the scheme at a later date - exactly as many of us feared at the time.
But hold on a moment – on Thursday of last week, the UK Government’s spending statement, produced by a government of which the Lib Dems are a part and announced by a Lib Dem minister, committed to working with the Welsh Government to build the self-same road.
In fairness, Peter Black did specifically refer to this being a policy of the ‘Welsh’ Lib Dems, so I suppose that leaves open the possibility that the UK Lib Dems will just ignore them (nothing new there) and carry on regardless, which is exactly what is happening here.  But if a policy of the Welsh party on a specifically Welsh issue, which is under the control of the Welsh Government can be over-ridden by the so-called ‘federal’ party, what is the point or status of such a policy?  A quick press release, I suppose, like so much of politics these days.
The idea that the use of borrowing powers to fund the M4 had anything to do with a response to the Silk Commission’s report is also rapidly evaporating.  The Treasury statement referred to an agreement that the Welsh government ‘can use’ – how nice of them to give permission – ‘their existing borrowing powers’ for the scheme.  And Eurfyl ap Gwilym (himself a member of the Silk Commission) referred to a short term “…agreement on limited borrowing powers to fund an M4 relief road”, with proper longer term borrowing powers a matter for the future.
The proposal for the M4 relief road seems to be developing an increasing cross-party momentum in favour of mortgaging the future of the whole of Wales to fund one short stretch of road in the bottom right hand corner, and it seems unlikely that any of our politicians are going to oppose it.  Once again, when push comes to shove, all the politicians' talk of sustainability is put to one side; the economy always trumps the environment.

There are two rays of light, however.  The first is the work done by Professor Stuart Cole to try and resurrect an alternative proposal which is much cheaper and less environmentally damaging.  The the second is the proposed court action by environmental groups challenging the validity of a consultation process which does not even allow the consideration of any alternatives.  All power to their elbow.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

You may have a better memory than I but I am fairly sure IWJ also cited environmental grounds.

Anonymous said...

Dissapointed in this post.

Firstly, credit where credit is due, Silk was only set up because of the Lib Dems and implementation of it is only happening because of them as well. Desptie eye brows being raised, it actually seems they played a bit of a blinder getting Randerson in the Wales Office afterall.

Secondly, it is the Welsh Govt who are exceptionally keen on the M4 plans (alongside the UK Govt). Surely it is OK for the WLDs to support borrowing powers being devolved, but against what the WG wants to do with them?



Anonymous said...

"if a policy of the Welsh party on a specifically Welsh issue, which is under the control of the Welsh Government can be over-ridden by the so-called ‘federal’ party, what is the point or status of such a policy?"

You could substitute "party" for the last word of that quote.

John Dixon said...

Lib Dem apologist @ 10:19:

"Silk was only set up because of the Lib Dems...". That looks like a sweeping claim to me; I'm not all sure that the evidence justifies it. But then, it's one of those claims which is unprovable either way.

"... it is the Welsh Govt who are exceptionally keen on the M4 plans (alongside the UK Govt)" - do the Lib Dems not bear just the tiniest responsibility for the bit in brackets? Or are they only responsible for the 'good' bits of the UK Government while it's the wicked Tories who are responsible for the rest?

"Surely it is OK for the WLDs to support borrowing powers being devolved, but against what the WG wants to do with them?" Of course; I could hardly disagree with that, since it is broadly my own position as well - I'm in favour of the Welsh Government having borrowing powers, but very wary of what they seem to want to do with them. But that isn't the whole story here. You are glossing over the fact, somewhat, that the Lib Dem minister concerned doesn't seem to be pushing for general borrowing powers for the Welsh Government to use as it sees fit; he seems, rather, to be pushing for limited borrowing powers to pursue one particular scheme - a scheme which the Welsh sub-branch of his party says it opposes. That's where the inconsistency lies.

Anonymous said...

Hi John, thanks for the response.

"That looks like a sweeping claim to me; I'm not all sure that the evidence justifies it. But then, it's one of those claims which is unprovable either way."

Oh come on, don't be petty, we all know Lib Dems pushed for it. As for the implementation, do you honestly think Wales would be getting these extra powers if it was just the Tories in change with David Jones as Secretary of State?!? Clegg even openly said in interviews that the Tories are trying to block Silk, but the Lib Dems are pushing for it.

"do the Lib Dems not bear just the tiniest responsibility for the bit in brackets? Or are they only responsible for the 'good' bits of the UK Government while it's the wicked Tories who are responsible for the rest?"

I guess you're right. But come on, be realistic, if the Tories want it to happen AND the Welsh Government, there is only so much power 5 (I think its 5) AMs can sway!

"That's where the inconsistency lies."

Well yes, it's certainly inconsistent, I won't argue with that!

I say fair play to the WLDs for deciding to take a line a policy that is clearly politically inconveniant! lol

I'm just quite impressed what the WLDs have achieved. It's not perfect, but still great stuff. It seems Alan Trench is the only one actually willing to state how well they have done against a clearly resistant Tory party.

Thanks,

James


John Dixon said...

You are, of course, perfectly entitled to be impressed with what the Welsh Lib Dems have achieved, although most of the "achievements" that you are referring to seem to have nothing to do with the Welsh branch of that party.

I actually agree with the stance taken by the Welsh Lib Dems over the M4, but it's an irrelevant stance when the government of which the Lib Dems are a part is pursuing the opposite policy.