Ö÷²¥´óÐã

If you love a good committee meeting with a Welsh angle - and which of us does not? - then get yourself down to Westminster this week.

In a committee-tastic 48 hours, MPs will discuss the future of S4C on the Welsh affairs select committee and probe the Welsh implications of the Chancellor's spending review (having had ample time to digest the latter since it was unveiled on October 20) in the Welsh grand committee.

What has been noticeable about the S4C saga is that we have heard more from commentators and outsiders than those directly responsible for either running or funding the channel.

UK Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt spoke publicly about S4C yesterday at Commons question time, possibly for the first time in public since the spending review.

Broadcasting isn't devolved but Ministers and members of the Welsh assembly have understandably wanted to have their say about the channel's future.

At Westminster, the committee which monitors broadcasting has yet to inquire into the S4C goings on.

The Welsh affairs committee has stepped in to fill the gap, despite S4C being arguably outside its terms of reference ("to examine matters within the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Wales (including relations with the National assembly for Wales)").

Wales Office Ministers have tried to avoid getting involved in the row, although they were said to be privately displeased by a call from Tory backbenchers for members of the S4C authority to resign.

This morning, the committee heard from Ofcom, the Welsh Language Society and the Welsh Language Board.

Ofcom suggested that recent events were outside their responsibility, the language society offered committee chair David Davies a membership form, and the language board complained that it hadn't been consulted about the proposed partnership with the Ö÷²¥´óÐã.

Its chair, Meri Huws, told the MPs: "The Ö÷²¥´óÐã is a British institution. We're talking here about S4C which has a central role in terms of language planning through the medium of Welsh. I think those two things will militate against each other. And we have to ensure that doesn't happen."

David Davies asked union witnesses whether they were impressed by the S4C authority's use of "the London Government" in press releases about a government department which sent the channel £100m a year.

Mr Davies: "Clearly, they're not the London government, they're the British Government. They are no more the London government than the Welsh assembly is the Cardiff government."

Meic Birtwhistle (NUJ): "I take that as shorthand - in Welsh you refer to San Steffan and then you refer to Bae Caerdydd. It's a shorthand way of speaking about the two governments. Maybe what you've got there is a translation from the Welsh."

Mr Davies: "Something's been lost in translation."

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In many ways the House of Lords has changed little over the centuries. There's more gold on display than in your average Premier League footballer's earlobe - and more ermine on display during state occasions than at your typical stoat farm.

But their lordships are changing. There will soon be as many former leaders of Plaid Cymru in the upper house as there are ex-leaders of the Conservative Party - and twice as many as there are retired Labour leaders. This, despite the fact that the Lords has less say over day-to-day issues in Wales than it has had for centuries.

With Jenny Randerson's elevation there will be also more Welsh Liberal Democrats there than in either the Welsh assembly or the House of Commons. The party that has consistently campaigned for an elected second chamber, or senate, has not been slow to turn down seats in the unelected one.

There are also more peers of all parties and none. More than fifty were announced last week, taking the total created since the general election to more than a hundred. There are, apparently, more on the way.

If the coalition government gets its way there will be fifty fewer elected MPs by the time of the general election but at this rate there will be considerably more unelected peers by then.

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It is April 2011. You are a national newspaper editor.

Do you choose to fill your pages with

a) The build-up to the royal wedding;

b) The build-up to the referendum on the alternative vote;

or

c) The devolved elections in Wales and Scotland?

If you answered b) or c) you probably won't last long in Fleet Street but there are that Prince William of Wales and Catherine Middleton's choice of wedding date may disrupt the political process.

Will street parties to celebrate the nuptials interrupt mass campaigning up and down Wales? The First Minister can probably expect an invite to the big day at Westminster Abbey, taking him out of Wales for a day.

may have dismissed the concerns but they are real enough. Media coverage of the death of Prince William's mother was one reason given by pro-devolution campaigners for the narrowness of the victory in the 1997 Welsh referendum.

You could argue that the Welsh and Scottish elections would be unlikely to feature that prominently in newspapers irrespective of royal events. A referendum on parliamentary voting systems is equally unlikely to shift many papers.

You could equally argue that newspapers are not as important as they once were. Back in 1979, the time of the first Welsh devolution referendum, the Western Mail sold 93,000 copies a day. Thirty years on its circulation is less than one third of that.

The internet may help close the gap but is unlikely to reach those with less than a committed interest in constitutional issues. If you're googling different types of voting system there's just a chance you should get out more.

The mood of national euphoria allegedly created by the royal wedding does not appear to have reached everyone. are among those who have complained about the cost of an extra day off for all.

Yet the April 29 bank holiday will save some money in the political world. It means the Welsh assembly will be dissolved one day earlier to allow for the necessary number of working days to elapse between dissolution and polling day.

Assembly members who have announced that they are standing down at the election will therefore lose a day's pay. Before you rush to organise a whip-round I'm told the resettlement grant for which they are eligible should help them keep the wolf from the door.

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Bad news for hacks hoping to quench their yuletide thirst at the Wales Office. The traditional Christmas party for MPs and media has been cancelled.

This is not down to Secretary of State Cheryl Gillan's Scrooge-like aversion to Christmas but due to the age of austerity we find ourselves in.

"The Secretary of State doesn't think it is appropriate to be spending money on Christmas receptions this year when we have taken a 25 per cent cut in our budget," said a spokesman.

"We are trying to make savings in non-staff related areas to keep as many jobs as possible."

On past form, cancelling the reception will save around £2,594 - the cost of the London Christmas reception in December 2007. A similar do in Cardiff cost £2,464 so having neither will save the taxpayer around £5,000.

The 50-60 staff who work at the department will still be allowed to celebrate Christmas, although not at the taxpayers' expense. I understand Cheryl Gillan and her deputy, David Jones, will be dipping into their own pockets to buy their staff drinks.

I should also point out, lest the party cancellation lead to "Scrooge" quips, that she has agreed to switch on her local Christmas lights in .

And before we hacks dust off our "snub to Wales" headlines, the Wales Office says there will be a reception to mark St David's Day, an event to be used to promote Welsh produce in London.

UPDATE: A colleague points out that the Welsh First Minister and his deputy, Carwyn Jones and Ieuan Wyn Jones, are pressing ahead with their media reception at a Cardiff Bay cafe bar on December 6. Guests aren't even asked to bring a bottle!

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The Speaker has been asked to intervene in a spat over "courtesy" between two Welsh MPs.

Kevin Brennan (Labour, Cardiff West) wanted to know why he wasn't invited to an event featuring many of his constituents held in the Commons last night.

Alun Cairns (Conservative, Vale of Glamorgan) did invite Mr Brennan, and other opposition MPs, but only at 6.29pm - one minute before the event began.

His e-mail, a copy of which has arrived in my inbox, points out that "the Secretary of State will be speaking at 7pm".

Mr Brennan sent his own reply by e-mail: "I was glad to be able to pop in after speaking in the House, but I have to say that to host an event like this without informing and inviting colleagues from Cardiff in advance, let alone Welsh colleagues in general, is a gross discourtesy.

"Your e-mail was sent one minute before the event began, and while I was speaking in the House. Like many colleagues I have hosted Welsh events over the years and always invited colleagues irrespective of Party well in advance where it is a non-party political matter. Why weren't we told before now?"

Mr Cairns has since apologised, although that did not stop Mr Brennan raising the matter with the Speaker today.

John Bercow told him there was nothing in Parliament's standing orders about this sort of thing but it was a matter of courtesy: "I am in favour of unfailing courtesy."

The Secretary of State, Cheryl Gillan, may have pulled out of a lecture tonight amid fears of a protest and heavy police costs, but she presumably felt safe enough in the Commons to attend last night's event, even if the Wales Office chose not to alert the media to her attendance or what she had to say.

UPDATE 1430 from the Wales Office: "The Cardiff Ambassadors event last night was a function in the House, not a press event. The SofS' speech covered a number of areas, including the links between London and Wales, the relationship between Whitehall and Cardiff Bay - the respect agenda, the CSR and its impact on Wales and economic growth."

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There was a time, not so long ago, when Welsh politicians were falling over themselves to highlight Ireland as a role model for smaller Celtic countries such as, ahem, Wales.

Take this from former First Minister Rhodri Morgan 10 years : "Ireland has earned the title of the Celtic Tiger for transforming its economy and Wales has a lot to learn from the Irish experience. I hope that in 10 years time a Welsh Celtic Tiger will be out there in the global economic jungle."

Wales may indeed have learned a lot from Ireland, although given current events presumably not in the way Mr Morgan hoped.

Plaid Cymru have often held Ireland up as an example of what can be achieved by a small independent company. Take this from Plaid's for the Welsh assembly elections in 2007: The evidence across Europe is overwhelming - the citizens
of small and medium sized independent countries such as Ireland and Sweden are wealthier and healthier. The people of Wales deserve such a future too."

I imagine Plaid's manifesto for the assembly elections next May will be phrased rather differently, although as recently as last May one of their parliamentary candidates was highlighting Ireland's state pensions policy as one that Wales could afford to follow.

But admiration for Ireland is not confined to Welsh politicians. Who said this in 2006? "Ireland stands as a shining example of the art of the possible in long-term economic policymaking, and that is why I am in Dublin: to listen and to learn."

He went on: "What has caused this Irish miracle, and how can we in Britain emulate it?"

was writing before the economic crash but as he is now Chancellor of the Exchequer it's a fair bet he won't be seeking to emulate the Irish "miracle" any time soon.

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They may not be elected themselves, but few things get members of the House of Lords steamed up more than elections.

The Lords staged a marathon two-day debate on plans to change the way MPs are elected - and to cut the size of the House of Commons.

No fewer than six retired Welsh MPs contributed to the debate on the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill. Lords Elystan-Morgan, Jones, Howarth of Newport, Anderson of Swansea, Touhig, and Roberts of Conwy spoke, at varying lengths, during the course of the two days.

Monday's debate didn't finish until gone midnight. Most Welsh contributions were on one side of the argument, criticising the proposed cut of 25 per cent in the number of MPs from Wales.

Lord Touhig: "It will weaken the voice of Wales in Parliament and it will weaken the union - something I and many others have fought against all our political life....Lloyd George must be turning in his grave."

Lord Howarth warned of the impact on Wales but spoke against the alternative vote system.

Lord Anderson of Swansea spoke of the two Swansea seats and neighbouring Gower: "If the electoral quota is to be 76,000 we will have two and a half seats and how one divides a proud city, composed of a series of villages held together by gossip, into two and a half constituencies I do not know."

Lord (Barry as was) Jones: "To debit 10 seats from Wales's parliamentary account is unjust.......we are talking of Wales's parliamentary birthright....this is not the time to denude Wales of Westminster champions."

Liberal Democrat Lord Roberts of Llandudno has more experience of fighting elections than most peers - without noticeably winning any of them. But he is a campaigner for electoral reform and told peers: "Can I speak for the 20-odd million people whose votes are not influential in electing a Member of Parliament?"

I think he was referring to those who vote in safe seats although as someone who isn't allowed to vote in parliamentary elections he may have been thinking of those sitting alongside him on the red leather benches.

You can read day one of the debate and day two .

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It's fair to say there's not been too much of an outcry over the lack of a departmental business plan from the Wales Office.

Most other Whitehall departments have plans setting out what they plan to do and when they hope to do it. You can read them on the Downing Street .

The Wales Office, along with other territorial departments, is conspicuous by its absence yet I have not heard even the murmur of "a snub to Wales" or "a slap in the face to Wales" from even the usual quarters.

The Wales Office does feature in the Cabinet Office plan - the WO is named as the lead department delivering the referendum on the Welsh assembly's powers next March.

But in the absence of a distinctive plan, and six months to the day since the change of government, let's have a look at the Wales Office record so far.

Secretary of State Cheryl Gillan has taken a fair amount of flak over various announcements affecting Wales - the scrapping of the defence training college at St Athan, cuts in the public sector, the severe downgrading of Newport's passport office, and cuts in S4C.

But how is she doing based on the Conservatives' own election and pre-election promises?

Manifesto pledge: "We will stop the practice of 'double-jobbing', whereby elected
representatives sit in both Westminster and Stormont and this change will also apply to
the Welsh Assembly."

The only Welsh MP "double-jobbing" is a Conservative, Alun Cairns, who remains - until next May - an AM. The Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson told the party conference last month: "We will end the practice of double jobbing 'by consent if possible, by law if necessary".

In opposition, Wales Office Minister David Jones to set up a committee of Welsh and English MPs to look at cross-border issues. Progress? "The Minister has spoken to a number of colleagues and bodies regarding cross-border issues. The Wales Office is exploring how we can put in place more formal arrangements."

Manifesto promise: "We support Crossrail and the electrification of the Great Western line to South Wales." Crossrail is going ahead; we're still waiting to hear whether electrification will.

Cheryl Gillan said she would answer questions from AMs in Cardiff Bay four times a year. Progress? "Cheryl has already addressed the Assembly once since taking office and we hope she will do so again (subject to discussions with the Assembly). We are also keen to ensure other ministers visit Wales regularly and have a productive relationship with the assembly and WAG."

"Productive" may not be the way WAG and the assembly see it but that is the Wales Office view.

In opposition, the Conservatives promised to hold more meetings of the Welsh Grand Committee in Wales. In government, just one meeting has been held - in Westminster. Wales Office response: "We are looking at holding further meetings, and examining the cost implications for doing so in Wales (given the state of the country's finances)."

Cheryl Gillan almost one year ago: "I want to ensure that in every department of state there is a minister responsible for Wales to look at each and every policy in a Welsh context so that Wales gets the most from any policy."

Six months on, we are still waiting to discover which Ministers will be looking after Welsh interests in the Foreign Office, Ö÷²¥´óÐã Office, Treasury and other departments of state, although I'm told that an announcement is due shortly.

Finally, let's not forget this promise from the Tories' manifesto for the last Welsh assembly elections in 2007: "Welsh Conservatives would seek to establish St. David's Day as a national holiday."

Bank holidays are decided at Westminster, not Cardiff Bay, but even though the Tories are in power don't hold your breath on that one.

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These are heady but challenging times for the Liberal Democrats; they may have the whiff of power in their nostrils but in government they are regularly forced to eat a three-course meal of their own words.

So the Lib Dem faithful will be re-assured by calm words from their former deputy leader, now Business Secretary, Vince Cable.

Interviewed in the , for its "Secrets of my Success" feature, he tells would-be politicians: "Tell the truth - even if some people don't like it.

"The public respect politicans who are straightforward and don't use evasive language, although it's more difficult if you're a Cabinet Minister because you speak for the Government as a whole."

In opposition, as an economic guru, Dr Cable told the truth as he saw it - and the Welsh Lib Dems didn't like it.

Back in September 2009, he scrapping the defence training college at St Athan in south Wales.

He wrote in a pamphlet: "The main proposals are.......Reducing the amount of waste in the defence procurement process, including scrapping........the Defence Training Review contract (£13bn over 25 years)".

Eight days of Lib Dem discomfort with Dr Cable's truth later, : "I didn't actually refer to it being scrapped at all."

That denial didn't convince the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats. told her party's conference in September: "Now, he may be a saint, but when Vince Cable, before the election, decided to commit our party to cutting the proposed military college at St Athan in South Wales, he soon learnt of my determination to fight for the best deal for Wales and the best defence for the UK.

"For that project has been identified by the MoD's strategic defence review as critical to our military capability."

Really? If she was right, and the project really was critical to Britain's military capability, then it seems strange that the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition Government have finally decided to scrap it.

Dr Cable has one other pertinent piece of advice for those hoping to succeed in the murky world of politics: "You've got to have a sense of humour".

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Date with destiny: The Welsh Parliamentary Party gets down to business

Sadly, the London Underground dispute kept me away from the first historic meeting of the WPP this century.

Fortunately, colleagues were there to keep me in the loop about a meeting held due to frustration that plans to cut the numbers of Welsh MPs from 40 to 30 have not had a greater airing.

Specifically, the Secretary of State for Wales, Cheryl Gillan, has rejected requests to hold a meeting of the Welsh Grand Committee to discuss the issue. So one committee - the WPP - met to demand a meeting of another - the WPP.

Few things annoy MPs more than a threat to their own job - or a perceived attempt to silence them.

Aberavon Labour MP Hywel Francis said that today's meeting was part of the same democratic process as the Chartists and Suffragettes: "Today we are standing of the shoulders of these people."

No-one, to my knowledge, has ever thrown themselves in front of a horse to secure a meeting of the Welsh Grand Committee but you can see why opposition MPs are angry.

Cardiff North MP Jonathan Evans was the only one of eight Welsh Tory MPs to turn up. Cheryl Gillan, as MP for Chesham and Amersham, is not a member, although her ears were probably burning throughout.

Former Wales Office Minister Wayne David said that since Cheryl Gillan became the Secretary of State for Wales "the voice of the Wales Office has not been strong enough, and that is very worrying indeed.....it is no longer regarded as a serious player in London."

The former Secretary of State, Peter Hain, said: "The Wales Office is the political voice for Wales in Westminster, and it saddens me that this is not happening."

Plaid Cymru's parliamentary leader, Elfyn Llwyd said: "the last time so little regard was given to the voice of Welsh Parliamentarians was before the drowning of the village of Capel Celyn."

The meeting agreed to write a letter to Cheryl Gillan asking her to work with them "to improve the scrutiny of issues of imporance for Wales......through established bodies such as the Welsh Grand Committee".

There was a similar tone to exchanges during Questions to the Secretary of State for Wales.

Peter Hain told his successor: "You failed to stand up for S4C, you failed to stand up for the defence training college, you failed to stand up for the Anglesey energy island, you
failed to stand up for the Severn barrage, you got a terrible deal for Wales out
of the comprehensive spending review.

"I'm sorry to say you are failing Wales abysmally. If you are not going to fight for Welsh jobs, you shouldn't be in your job."

The planned reduction in the number of Welsh MPs did crop up during Prime Minister's Question Time, when Chris Ruane, from the Vale of Clwyd, complained that any savings would be lost by the cost of creating more peers.

David Cameron pointed out that his constituency contains rather fewer voters than it will in future: "I'm just going to have to ask you to work a little harder."

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