Bethan Jenkins AC/AM Blog

This is the first and last time I will do a blog about that Labour website that was ‘launched’ today.  I agree with Glyn Davies on this- laugh it off, and get on with it. I was on the radio with Eluned Morgan today on Dau o’r Bae- the brains behind the revelation which is aneuringlyndwr.com supposedly (but not the voice on the video, despite it sounding scarily like her). She spent most of the interview trying to attribute the video to Labour ’students’ for its bad quality and poor production, but she was very excited about it all despite other members of the panel depicting it from being childish to desperate, to out of touch, to sad that Labour now has to stoop to this level to gain attention. Peter Hain must have far too much time on his hands, that’s all I’ll say.

It is quite intruiging that they have chosen to use Owain Glyndwr’s name in the title, I must say. Before we went on air, Eluned Morgan said to me ‘He’s ours now!’ That’s funny, because when Plaid councillors in Neath were deciding to call a community centre the Owain Glyndwr Centre, there was opposition from the Labour Councillors. Now it seems that they have changed their tune, and want to be associated with the ‘patriotism’ of Glyndwr. But we shouldn’t be surprised, because Eluned Morgan was behind Labour’s previous attempts to win over the Nationalist vote when they started to target West Walian seats a while ago when Rhodri Morgan mimicked Ieuan’s Wales Wide Walk. What happened to that initiative I wonder? 

If I truly thought this was a good website, that was starting to embrace the need for interaction with young people on the web, then I would say so sincerely, but I have failed to grasp how this website conforms to the rhetoric of creating a ‘porgressive left’ in Wales when the first blog they link to is Alaistair Campbell’s- aka the media machine behind New Labour, and his best friend Tony ‘ I took you in to an illegal war in Iraq and loved the market’ Blair. Very progressive indeed…

Anyway, the test will be in how the website is sustained and developed in my opinion- i.e whether there will be a continuous string of personal attacks on politicians and parties, or a serious attempt at discussing the real issues of the day.

It has already received a large amount of criticism from Labour voters from what I understand. Far from creating tension with other parties, which was obviously their stated aim, it has created internal division within the Labour party about the way in which to appeal to voters and to garner support. Well one thing’s for sure, I won’t listen to Delilah in the same way again. Poor Tom Jones.

I have been startled by reports today of the UK government’s proposals to snoop on social networking sites such as Bebo and Facebook and then store records of exchanges and profiles on a Home Office database. What’s more, it’s even being suggested that the Government will employ a private company to maintain such a database.

These proposals have rightly been branded as a government ‘snooping charter.’ Indeed, this is yet another example in a long series of New Labour’s infringement on people’s privacy and human rights. Last year I exposed the number of DNA samples held by police in Wales that belong to people under the age of 18 – I discovered a staggering 64,000 such samples were held.

We have of course become well aware of the government’s determination to detain terror suspects for lengthy periods without charges being brought against them. When we add to the equation the issue of compulsory ID cards – not just costly but surely absurdly ineffective – it reads as a startling narrative of the Labour government.

The past decade or so has clearly not been a good period in the history civil liberties in the UK.

The latest proposals are intrusive and mean that Whitehall bureaucrats will be snooping through personal information such as religious and political views and sexual orientation. I have written to the Justice Secretary Jack Straw calling for these plans to be ditched, but expect, as usual, the Labour government will steam-roller ahead.

And on the topic of steam-rolling, I will be joining pupils and parents from Ysgol Rhydfelen this evening as they try and prevent the council from imposing a name-change on that school. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, it was at Rhydfelen that I received my secondary education and I’m opposed to its renaming. The pupils don’t want a name-change, the parents don’t want a name-change. I cannot fathom why the council seem so intent on pushing this through.

I have been asked to point people in the direction of this EDM in relation to the death of Pat Finucane. He was a prominent criminal defence and civil rights lawyer who was shot dead by two masked men in front of his wife and three children at his home in Belfast, Northern Ireland on 12 February 1989.

The 12th February 2009 was the 20th anniversary of the murder of Pat Finucane, yet there has still been no independent inquiry into his death.

Jeremy Corbyn MP has tabled Early Day Motion 898 ‘ Inquiry into death of Pat Finucane’ which calls for a fully independent inquiry free from Government constraints.

Take just two minutes to ask your own MP to sign EDM 898 – visit www.justiceforpatfinucane.org

A relatively busy day at the Assembly today. The petitions committee took evidence from the campaigners that want to save the Vulcan pub in Cardiff, and also we heard from Cadw on their role in potentially listing the building, and thus going some way to retaining the building in its current form and location.

So far 5,000 have signed the petition to save the Vulcan including the likes of James Dean Bradfield, Neil Kinnock and the Rhondda author Rachel Trezise. The next stage is for us as a committee to carry out a site visit with the developer and the architect (if they are ready and willing), and to discuss how it could possibly be incorporated into the new St David’s 2 development. Cadw is also considering new evidence from the campaign group that could see them changing their mind on making it a listed building in the next few weeks. If it is listed, demolition seems a lot less likely. The campaign has been successful so far, and I wish them all the best with it. Let’s hope we make a site visit of an evening, but then again, I wouldn’t want to be accused again by the Western Mail of wasting public monies;-)

You may also be aware that tomorrow there will be a statement on student finance from the Education Minister Jane Hutt. Judging from the Universities UK report today which suggests University Vice Chancellors wish to lift the cap on fees and are floating the possibility of re introducing up front means tested fees, is this the appropriate time for Wales to be introducing top-up fees?

This is of course a Universities UK review, and not the independent review of the UK government which is set to take place later this year, however, it does not bode well for the future when Vice Chancellors are seemingly intent on further embedding the marketisation agenda in to Higher Education. If Wales drops the fee remission grant, where does it stop if England introduces higher fees?Universities like Cardiff who are in the Russell group of top UK Universities will surely be demanding to charge more fees in line with their English colleagues. Or will this not be the case, and will the Minister’s statement tomorrow be enough to please them? I don’t know, all will be revealed tomorrow.

Just to let you know that I won’t be blogging this week. I had a car crash over the weekend and so I won’t be in work this week. I’ll pick up when I’m back in work, and when I’m fighting fit again. x

Well its taken the best part of a week, but today Peter Hain finally wades into the debate on student funding. However, instead of commenting on whether or not the Tuition Fee Grant should be scrapped in Wales, Peter engages in some cheap political opportunism in his life mission to undermine and destabilise the Government of Wales.

If Peter was consistent in his argument then Peter Mandelson should hang, draw and quarter him for his criticism of the UK Government’s Royal Mail privatisation policy.

For some reason Peter also seems to think that the policy of introducing top up fees is contained in the One Wales Agreement. This is a blatant miss-representation of the agreement, one which is also unfortunately being peddled by WAG.

The reality is that top up fees go against the very spirit of One Wales where policy is supposed to be directed by progressive universalism. The policy that the Education Minister seems intent on pushing through is based on means testing, and equates to the further introduction of market forces into Higher Education. It is no surprise that the biggest supporters of the One Wales Agreement from within my party are the same people concerned about this policy. It is precisely because we feel that this policy is undermining the values at the heart of One Wales that we are willing to oppose the government we fought to set up after the 2007 election.

As Peter is a constituent of mine I don’t want to be too hard on him. However I won’t take any lessons from a man on political behaviour who, despite making his name on the back of the Anti Apartheid movement, willingly accepted cash from a former key supporter of the South African National Party – Sir Isaac Kaye – during his disastrous attempt for the Deputy Leadership of the Labour party.

Today I went to the launch of the new Street Football Wales season that took place at the Phoenix Centre in Townhill. Street Football Wales (SFW) provides social inclusion through football and aims to:

• Engage with people over the age of 16 who experience social exclusion through homelessness, mental ill health, long term unemployment, criminal justice issues, drug/alcohol issues etc.
• Use football to promote social inclusion and develop participant’s self esteem, self belief, motivation and physical and mental welbeing. SFW is particularly effective in helping people who have found it difficult to engage with support agencies.
• Provide football-training opportunities through existing Welsh Football Trust training courses for those that have demonstrated sufficient commitment, attitude and ability.
• Improve participants ability to manage personal relationships, social networks and relationships with support networks.
• Challenge perceptions of homelessness and socially excluded people and eliminate stigma whilst raising awareness of the barriers faced by participants in all aspects of their lives.

The project is looking to establish itself as a registered charity, and to employ one full time member of staff to administer the project, as currently it is all done on a voluntary basis although Trothwy housing are providing support for publications and events. I’m hoping to help them look for funding for a team to go out to Milan in the summer to take part in the Homeless World Cup, and if any companies are interested in sponsoring them then email me or streetfootballwales@hotmail.co.uk . I think this would be a great initiative for a Welsh company or organisation to support. Embarrassingly, the Indian football team last year was sponsored by a Welsh company, and the Welsh team couldn’t go as it didn’t have any formal backing. I’m going to try to make sure that this doesn’t happen again! I think its a great idea, and all the people I’ve met so far who are involved are passionate about making it work. The BBC Wales programme “Sport Wales” attended  the day, and filmed part of the launch this year as they are doing a piece on the project for the programme and hope to go to Milan with the team

I just wanted to comment briefly on this issue, with specific reference to Adam Price’s letter to Jane Hutt, the Education Minister. I think Adam’s letter is well thought out, and should be taken seriously. His actions are anything but grandstanding, as some commentators have suggested on the blogs. He is as passionate as I am about ensuring that we keep top-up fees out of Wales.

It is vitally important that to enable us to maintain the integrity of our Welsh democracy that the One Wales Government operates in a way which is open and transparent. From looking at Adam’s points in the letter, and from points that I have made in the Assembly chamber previously, it seems that the government and the Education Minister in particular, is open to accusations regarding its work practises in relation to this issue- specifically the timing of the consultaiton and the scope of the consultation, not withstanding the fact that it does not complement the spirit of the One Wales agreement.

Yes, we can all quote One Wales when it says that ‘ we will maintain the current level of resource throughout the four year term’, but nowhere does it say that after that period we will introduce top up fees.  I really don’t think Plaid at the time of negotiating One Wales would have signed up to that.

I think its clear now to all that I won’t be voting for the Minister’s proposals when it comes to the floor of the Assembly later this term. I would be much happier if other Plaid AMs were to join me and Leanne Wood AM in taking such a stance.

I entered politics from the student movement, so too did many other AMs and politicians, including Adam Price. I don’t view this as ‘civil war’ within the party as the Western Mail today described it in its article on the disagreement within the party. If there were no differences within the party, then we would be poorer for it. Nonetheless, there are obvious lessons to be learnt, and I am confident that we can move forward positively together.

Jane Hutt, who is in charge of this portfolio should be asking herself some serious questions about the way forward, and assessing the way in which decisions have been made on this issue under her watch. So too should Ben Gray of NUS Wales, who has failed in his role to scrutinise the government effectively on this issue on behalf of the student movement in Wales. Many individual Students Unions, I am told, are unhappy with this potential change in policy, so why is this not reflected by the leadership of the NUS in Wales? It is far too uncomfortably similair to the experience that I had of NUS Wales when I was president of Aberystwyth Guild of Students a few years ago, and I would urge Students Unions to be pro-active in this campaign as once it has been introduced, it will be more difficult to be overturned.