Welsh Government: devolve corporation tax to Wales as well as Northern Ireland.

Next Tuesday in the Assembly, the First Minister will set out what his government’s stance will be on which financial powers should be transferred to Wales. We’ll have to wait for the full detail, but it’s now clear that in one significant area – corporation tax –  Carwyn Jones has shifted position. In today’s Belfast [...]

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Plaid Cymru: leadership and Labour.

Plaid Cymru has today set out some of what it wants from Carwyn Jones if he wants the party’s support in avoiding stalemate in the Assembly. AMs Elin Jones and Simon Thomas said Plaid wants the First Minister to publish a programme of government for the entire five-year term; an early indication of his likely [...]

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Election XIII – the Funding Gap

As political interventions go, this is one of the most intellectual: one of the UK’s leading scientists, backed by 60 other senior academics criticising all four political parties. What worries  Sir John Cadogan is that he says none of the parties in this election campaign is addressing concerns about the funding gap between our universities [...]

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Election X – Welsh Labour manifesto

Three down. Today it was Welsh Labour’s turn to publish its manifesto.  Called ‘Standing Up for Wales’ you can read the full manifesto here. It’s a big document – coming in at 109 pages compared with Plaid’s 53 and the Liberal Democrats’ 66. And Labour, particularly the manifesto’s author Andrew Davies, reckon that in this [...]

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Election IX – pictures from Welsh Labour

  This marvellous photo (marvellous because of its quality not because my bonce is centre frame) is one of many taken by Natasha Hirst, a photographer who’s documenting Welsh Labour’s campaign. I was at one of the party’s press briefings at its Cardiff HQ, Transport House in Cardiff this morning. That’s BBC Wales’ Political Editor [...]

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Sharp End 17/03/11

For tonight’s Sharp End, I’ve interviewed the Shadow Welsh Secretary Peter Hain about Labour’s Assembly election hopes. First though I wanted to know about his relationship with the First Minister, Carwyn Jones. You may remember from last week the behind-the-scenes row over Mr Hain’s criticism of the Deputy First Minister, Plaid Cymru’s Ieuan Wyn Jones. [...]

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Labour’s coalition split

It’s a war of words that gets to the heart of the way the two parties which form the One Wales coalition government distinguish themselves after four years of working together. I’m told there’s real anger and very red faces amongst Labour leaders in Cardiff Bay and some backbench AMs in Cardiff Bay following Peter [...]

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Labour in Llandudno Day 2

It’s been a hectic day at Welsh Labour’s annual conference here in Llandudno. I’m not claiming this blogpost as comprehensive coverage of it, but it should give you a flavour of what it’s been like here. By the way, Twitter comes into its own at occasions like this and that’s certainly been true today. Take [...]

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Labour’s Llandudno launchpad.

I’m writing this as I sit in the bay window of my hotel in Llandudno. I’m here for Welsh Labour’s annual conference which it’s fair to say is an important one for the party at a UK level as well as here in Wales. As a sign of just how important, UK leader, Ed Miliband, [...]

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Assembly terms to last longer?

It’s just six months until we vote in the next Assembly election, but today I can bring you some news about the election after that, scheduled for 2015. The UK government says it’ll give the Assembly – if it wants – the power to delay elections in future to avoid clashing with parliamentary elections. You may [...]

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