General News

When there is a downturn or recession the thoughts of treasury officials turn quickly to ways of finding extra money – and there is always a danger that they will come up with the bright idea of selling off the family jewels.

It is interesting to note what ‘turns people on’ in terms of lobbying their Member of Parliament. The biggest group of lobbying messages that I have received in recent weeks is 179 messages from people concerned about the impact climate change is having on water supply and it is by far the biggest issue I have been lobbied on in quite a while.

There is often a big difference between perception and reality. Indeed people often take decisions on the basis of ‘facts’ that have nothing to do with reality. That is one of the problems we face in Wales at the present time. Some of the media work on the basis that they ‘know’ that MPs and AMs can’t work together, there is a great deal of animosity between the two groups, and they are constantly fighting each other.

I am bewildered by the failure of the media in Wales to understand and describe the success of a major Welsh innovation - the Legislative Competence Order process. So far most of the orders have been proposed by the Welsh Assembly Government, and every single on has been approved quickly by the scrutiny processes of Parliament. . However last week that Welsh Affairs Select Committee discussed the ‘Housing (Fire Sprinkler) LCO’ which has been proposed by my friend Ann Jones as a back-bench Assembly member. She was the first individual assembly to come forward with a proposal under the new process.

Every week I table oral questions on issues of concern, I generally submit at least three or four questions a week, questions then go into what we call ‘the shuffle’ and sometimes one of my questions will be amongst the twenty or so that are chosen for answer by a minister at the start of each day’s sitting.

The bear-pit that everybody dislikes - Prime Minister’s Questions - still grabs attention. Several constituents have tell me they are pleased that I asked the PM to treasure the British canal network and not sell it off. He answered positively about investing in waterways.

The world of politics and political activity can seems remote to the world of young people today – but it isn’t!

Here are some questions about political activity…. • When is political activity not party political? Answer: when there is a consensus on an issue. • When does a political issue get big media coverage? Answer: when there is not a consensus on an issue. • Does building a consensus “work” in terms of achieving political change – or does a big controversy do more to drive change? Answer: it depends!

The main preoccupation for MPs on the first day back in Parliament was different to that of the Media. For many of us the big issue was how to protect our children from being lured into smoking – and as the Health Bill came back before the House of Commons for its Report Stage, we had the chance to act. By the end of the night we had voted to ban cigarettes from being displayed in shops and to ban the use of vending machines for selling cigarettes.

It came as no surprise - everybody knew that the big decision in Welsh politics was imminent - but Rhodri Morgan’s decision to stand down as First Minister still commanded all the Welsh headlines last week. I was pleased to pay a personal tribute to Rhodri during Welsh Night at the Labour Party Conference because we have been friends for many years.