Huw Lewis

PCH Saved, new hospital confirmed!

2008-07-21T02:19:00.000-07:00

As a politician, there are few Government announcements that you think will be applauded almost universally by those affected. However, Mansel Aylward’s report into health services in the Merthyr Tydfil area published today* is a rare exception to this rule.

The content of Mansel's report really does justify the wait. I’m delighted that we’ve got what we’ve been fighting for – we’ve got what I’ve always argued that our area needs. Not only is the future of Prince Charles Hospital secure, as a regional hospital it can expect to retain all the crucial services – and look forward to significant investment in the future.

The proposals for the town centre hospital sound equally exciting, really cutting edge stuff – the like’s of which we haven’t yet seen anywhere in Wales. And before any political opportunists try to pick a fight over this fantastic new facility, I have been told by the Health Minister Edwina Hart that it will definitely be designated a hospital. It has taken a long time to get here, but finally we’re going to have a health service, serving local people and ready for the future.

As local people will know, I was deeply worried about the way the reorganisation process started up, and today’s news vindicates my decision to walk away from those initial discussions. Having suggested Mansel Aylward to the Health Minister as the best man to take this report forward, I’m absolutely delighted that he’s come up with a set of proposals that doesn’t just protect the status quo – but which will help transform healthcare in the area.

I am also keen that due credit goes to the Health Minister, Edwina Hart, who took at face value my concerns about the way the initial consultation was handled – and has now signalled her acceptance of Mansel Aylward’s report. She has shown commendable leadership throughout the process, and I am delighted that she has accepted Mansel's bold vision for healthcare in our area.

As always, there are a lot of complex issues surrounding service provision and new techniques in the health sector, but I always believed that you need to cut through the jargon and put the resources where they’re needed most. A variety of factors means that health issues in Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney are much more acute than in other areas of Wales – therefore we need the best hospitals, the best services. Mansel has clearly adopted the same no-nonsense approach, and this will benefit the people of the borough for generations to come.

Over 7,000 people signed my petition to keep services at Prince Charles Hospital – I’m delighted that I can report back to them with such positive news. Those who signed the petition should be rightly proud of what they have achieved - an NHS in Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney that will serve local people to the highest standard for years to come.

*With apologies - this post was written last week - problems with my Blogger profile have delayed publication.

Playing to type

2008-07-16T03:33:00.000-07:00

Apologies for being a bit slow off the mark with this post, but I have simply not had the time – or the energy – to read or blog on much over the past few days!

However, in between nappy changes and feeds, I have been keeping up to date with goings on in the Assembly mainly through regional television news. As a result, while an essay I wrote about the All Wales Convention for BBC Online was mentioned briefly in a news package a few days ago, I was unaware until today (thanks to the best efforts of my staff to give me a few days break with our newest arrival) of the online discussion surrounding my contribution.

While the BBC coverage was fair and balanced, and most discussion good natured and substantive, I was actually astounded by Bethan Jenkins’ rant here. I can only assume that she either has not read my piece and is taking pot-shots in the dark, or has read it and still chosen to wilfully and mendaciously misrepresent my position.

In my article, I make it abundantly clear that I am in no way opposed to more powers for the Assembly here in Cardiff Bay. I also talk at length about the huge opportunities that the Convention affords the people of Wales, as long as the engagement is real and vibrant. As I was asked to, I also outline some of the real and genuinely held concerns of some people - both in my Party and outside - that the quest for further powers is perhaps a tad hasty, as those powers devolved under the Government of Wales Act are yet to fully bed down.

Now people may agree, people may disagree - that is the purpose of the piece, the purpose of political debate, and of course the essential purpose of the Convention itself. However, Bethan's ill-judged, personally vindictive and poorly thought out remarks are just the sort of thing that alienate people and detract away from the hugely important issues that are meant to be under discussion here.

For someone who purports to be such a passionate devolutionist (and, at the risk of sounding like a boring uncle, I was campaigning for devolution here in Wales before Bethan was born), Bethan has displayed a worrying reluctance to engage in debate and regrettable willingness to name-call instead. The future of our country, and its devolved settlement, is being decided here. It's a shame that she has decided to kick the debate off in such a grubby fashion.

It's a boy!

2008-07-14T06:31:00.000-07:00

As some of you may already know, Lynne and I became parents for the second time on Saturday with the birth of our second son. A very healthy 7 lb 10, both he and mum are doing very well.

Thanks to those who have sent messages of congratulations. I will let you know his name as soon as we have picked one!

Dads Dancing at the Disco

2008-07-03T08:35:00.000-07:00

I have today (latterly and a bit reluctantly), joined the Facebook revolution.

I've been a little bit nervous about joining this sprawling networking site. Unlike blogging, which I think really helps liven political debate here in Wales, Facebook did seem like a younger man's game - and I fear that some politicians forays (or that of their staff) end up looking like the embarrassing dad dancing at disco who generally makes all the young cool kids feel awkward.

However, the more I've looked into it - particularly as a vehicle for single issue campaigns, and as an awareness tool - properly used, the site can offer a great deal to the politically aware. It may take a little time to compile a list of friends to rival Barack Obama (now over a million), but I hope it will provide another way to interact with people who care about Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney - and other, broader issues that I've been campaigning on since way back in the analogue days...

They stood proud for what they did

2008-06-30T05:48:00.000-07:00

To Abertysswg last Friday and the unveiling of the community-inspired memorial to the men and boys of the Maclaren Colliery, which was cause for the existence of the village.

In lashing wind and rain (in late June!) the memorial stone was dedicated and then we were off to the new community centre for a celebration led by the Rhymney Silurian choir.

With contributions by local schoolchildren and former miners it was a moving tribute. The inscription on the stone was composed by two Abertysswg children. It reads :

They stood proud for what they did
To make our history for us

Such a wonderful use of language and so apt – every one of us that hails from a pit village, no matter where, is aware of the indelible mark that the culture of the miners and their families has left on us.

Congratulations are due to Cllr John Bevan, Cllr Richard Pugh and Gina Bevan, Communities First Chair for Abertysswg for helping to make this happen.

Adam Price's Kind Offer

2008-06-27T06:29:00.000-07:00

I'm sure it is just a slip of the finger that led to Adam Price mis-spelling "comrade" at the end of his latest polemic. However, the slip is rather indicative and neatly sums up his clumsy courtship of doubters inside Welsh Labour in his guise of friendly counsel.

In this latest piece, Adam offers "advice" to Welsh Labour as to the way forward in difficult times. This amounts to suggesting we declare UDI from the rest of the Labour movement and fall into the embrace of alliance with Plaid Cymru "for a generation", this should - he says - save Labour from it's otherwise inescapable decline.

In case any of my Labour Party comrades should begin to ponder this proposal as a realistic way forward, let me remind them of the bleeding obvious – Adam Price has the same degree of concern for Labour’s wellbeing that a dog has for a lamp post.

Perhaps it is because his frequent pronouncements to the media - which are seldom run past his Plaid colleagues, including his leader Elfyn Llwyd - have become a source of such increasing annoyance inside his own party, that he has decided to spend some time and thought on Welsh Labour.

If you can be bothered to scratch the surface of his blog you uncover quite quickly some political assumptions that are - at best - an attempt at smoke and mirrors.

Let's look at this insistence that Welsh labour members can be divided into ‘National wing’ sheep and ‘Unionist wing’ goats.

He must think we were born yesterday.

As an attempt to shift the minds of Welsh Labour members away from what constitutes progressive politics in a devolved Wales – which is our core mission, after all - and onto the shifting sands of his identity politics, it’s a crude enough effort, but it must be answered. If guff like this goes unchallenged, then it can - surprisingly quickly - become malignant.

Price can only say this stuff by ignoring reality. That reality consisting of the central political stance of Welsh Labour – we are a progressive pro-devolution Party. We see the future of Wales as being a devolved partner within Britain, in common with the vast majority of Welsh people.

The circle he’s trying to square, you see, is that his party is not (pro-devolution, I mean). The central political aim of his party is to see devolution, and Britain, wound up as soon as possible.

The trouble is – he can’t sell it, despite this frankly risibile "party-within-a-party" idea floated this week. Hence the smoke and mirrors, and the attempted mind games with Welsh Labour members.

Argument and debate about the future shape of devolution, and how Welsh Labour works within it, are vital and must be worked through. But "advice" from malicious bystanders like Adam Price is not relevant to that debate. He encourages us to split ourselves into warring families, as if we were the Sharks and the Jets and we were all in a production of ‘West Side Story’!

Thanks for the offer Adam, but no thanks.

Opening of Bryn Awel primary school

2008-06-26T07:21:00.000-07:00

This morning I attended the official opening of the new Bryn Awel primary school – which replaces the old Lower Rhymney school. Although the school has been open for business for a year, the opening had been delayed because of the sad loss over the last year of two of Rhymney’s finest citizens.

The late Councillor Selwyn Lewis, and John Smith who was chair of governors at the school, worked unstintingly for Rhymney for many years. I was privileged to know them. Both John and Selwyn were instrumental in delivering this fantastic new learning environment for Rhymney’s children – it is so sad they were not able to see the event today.

The plaque unveiling was ably undertaken by Rhodri Morgan and we were entertained by the school choir.

John and Selwyn were Labour through and through. They represented a generation whose selflessness marked them out. They also knew that whatever the opinion polls at any given point might say, measures like the massive school buildings programme currently underway across Wales are possible only because of a Labour government – in Westminster and Cardiff. This is the fourth new build school to be opened in my constituency since I was first elected – and three more are imminent.

In fact the last time there was anything like this sort of investment in schools, I was a primary school pupil myself, and I can still remember chatting to the man who came to unveil the plaque at my new school that day in 1968 - one Harold Wilson.

In the dark days of the 80’s not one school was rebuilt in my constituency – and the ones we had were allowed to decay.

John and Selwyn knew that. I know it. More people should remember it.

People's History Museum - the fight goes on

2008-06-25T09:35:00.000-07:00

Rhodri Glyn Thomas, as I discovered when I hosted a visit of his to Merthyr to discuss Arts provision, is an affable and able politician who seems prepared to listen.

His announcement today, however, of WAG’s proposed "People’s Collection" shows that however willing he might be to lend and ear, wider WAG priorities will not allow delivery on the original ‘People’s History Museum’ proposal.

In a pamphlet on the subject, published some two years ago now, backed by trade unionists in particular, I called for a new departure by the National Museums and Galleries for Wales – namely the establishment of a new museum, telling the story of the working people of Wales. I argued, and still contend, that there is a huge gap in our interpretation of the People’s Story. Where do we learn about working class people’s contribution to our social landscape through the movements they built? Where is the showcase for the chartists, the Suffragists, the Trade Unionists and the Co-operators?

I had hoped, back then, that by now we would be launching our new museum’s exhibition on the birth of the NHS 60 years ago. Socialised health care, though midwived by Bevan, was born in the social struggles of thousands, as far back as a century before his NHS bill came into being.

Rhodri Glyn’s proposal is a positive move – but as a web-based ‘portal’ only, it is a pale shadow of the original demand, which has of course received cross-party support in the Assembly.

The history of the working people of Wales has a great unifying theme – no one ever gave them anything – they had to fight for it all. It seems that even the dignified public re-telling of their incredible story will need to be fought for.

Open for business!

2008-06-24T04:10:00.001-07:00

While top-flight bloggers like my colleague Peter Black have always put me to shame with their frequent blog postings, over the past month I have been irregular even by my standards. This has been due to a combination of waiting for clarification on the status of Assembly Member blogs (more of which here and here) and - more importantly - the imminent arrival of the newest addition to the Lewis family!

Though the weeks ahead will no doubt be even more hectic than usual, I have every intention of keeping the posts regular and, hopefully, interesting. In a nut shell, the blog is officially "open for business" again!

Making Sense of Merthyr's Maladies

2008-05-19T06:24:00.000-07:00

I await tonight’s Panorama with a mixture of interest and dread. The programme will be turning a spotlight on the jobs and benefits nexus, with Merthyr as the focus for their ‘investigation’. We have been down this route before in the broadcast media, and often we are presented with a programme which merely rehearses those same myths which the Bevan Foundation so rightly exploded in its report last week. I hope therefore that Panorama’s investigative journalism will be more incisive than some of the stereotype-ridden rubbish we’ve been exposed to before about my home town.

That said, everyone other than those in terminal denial knows that there is a serious problem here which remains to be addressed. The people of Merthyr and the wider Valleys most of all. The idea that Labour has done nothing to combat this problem over the last ten years is wrong, the idea that we could be doing much more is surely right however – and I will come on to that.

Benefit reform is coming. There is no alternative. The shift from benefits to work for thousands of people, particularly in the Northern Valleys area is the aim of that reform and that should be welcomed. The other side of the coin will be ‘Jobmatch’ and similar programmes, aiming to enable people to make the transition through personalised support.

These changes must come, but they must be properly introduced. To have this shift badly managed will only exacerbate the problem and fuel public cynicism.

There exists amongst some people who are seriously unwell or disabled a fear that the Government is “coming after them” – sometimes understandable given some poor experiences people have encountered in making genuine claims. These fears must be addressed at every turn, and it must be made clear that by getting those who can work into work, we can afford to better support those people with the most severe disabilities and challenges.

The Assembly Government must also dig deep to turn around the fortunes of those on benefits, their families and the wider community. We need to create an environment which suggests success – and not stagnation.

That means urgent commitments on strategic projects like the University Town promise for Merthyr (key to boosting the skills profile of the area). We need the dualling of the Heads of the Valleys Road to be timetabled and properly funded – we still await the recently promised announcement on this. We need a primary care hospital and mental health provision fit for the 21st century. We have been waiting 8 years for these promises to be fulfilled.

And there are other solutions too, which go right to the heart of the problems being identified by Panorama – cognitive behavioural therapy – or “talking therapies” must to be available to all who want it – not just the few.

“From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs” – now Marx isn’t often quoted by politicians these days, but this is exactly the philosophy that must guide us through this difficult process. We must remember that this is about people, not numbers. But those at the sharp end must also realise that the community deserves a contribution from them, concomitant with their ability to work.

Change must come – for sure we cannot go on like this. Finger pointing by the media cures nothing. But neither does the ‘I feel your pain’ hand wringing of those who would let the situation lie.

The Assembly Government has miles to go in following up on its promises for this area; it is to be hoped that these changes to the benefit system act as a spur for those commitments to be realised.

Blog Standard

2008-05-13T08:50:00.000-07:00

A strange email arrived in my in-box this morning out of the blue, entitled "GUIDANCE FOR MEMBERS ON WEBSITES FUNDED THROUGH THE OFFICE COSTS ALLOWANCE".

As far as I can tell, this is an attempt to shut down AM’s blogs like this one. I assume that even by writing this I am breaking these new and bizarre and unnecessary ‘guidelines’.

I understand that this edict flows from the Assembly Commission (I had to ask, because no one explained) and as far as I am aware, not one of my Assembly colleagues, of any party, was consulted on this change. As such this decision has by-passed the democratic process.

The idea that a politician’s blog or website should be apolitical is fundamentally absurd. Apart from anything else, the Assembly produces, twice a week, a taxpayer funded ‘Record’ of plenary business which is loaded with party political debate. If this decision is allowed to stand we will be in the ludicrous position of having comments by AMs banned in blog form, while they are freely available on the Assembly’s own website.

In my view, if a comment is allowable in plenary – it should be allowable in blog form. Perhaps we should be consistent in our logic and rule ‘political’ comments in the chamber out of order! No doubt we could engage the nation with fascinating discussions of the weather or the sports results instead.

This is also an unworkable proposal. What would happen, for instance to internet ‘links’? If I linked to a comment piece in the Guardian, or another politician’s speech – would that be banned?

What happens if a constituent of mine leaves a politically minded ‘comment’ on the blog? Do I erase it?

To reduce the web presence of AMs to a list of surgery dates and smiley photo opps – would not just make our websites boring (and faintly sinister, in a comment free, Eastern Bloc sanitised sort of way) it would damage the shot in the arm that blogging has given the Welsh body politic.

The commission must withdraw this proposal now and consult with the people who were elected to this place to speak out – not sit mute.

Devo-sceptic?

2008-04-21T07:52:00.000-07:00

As a politician you get used to being called some strange things, but I was surprised to be described as a "devo-sceptic" in this week's Wales on Sunday. It is a tag which I have challenged the paper to justify given that: I actively campaigned for devolution in Wales and Scotland; chose to stand in successive Assembly elections – and have recently started a campaign to bring more powers on public transport to Wales through my Legislative Competence Order.

Added to this, I am committed to a future referendum on further powers, which is the right and proper way to develop the devolution settlement.

Frankly, I think I pass the test as a pro-devolutionist better than most! Indeed, the first leaflet I remember delivering was for the "yes" campaign in 1979. With that evidence in mind, you might say I'm devo-sceptic, the same way as the pope is agnostic.

I'm sure journalists and commentators come up with these labels like "devo-sceptic" or "Brownite" to help their readers, but just as often they confuse and distort.

Myfanwy Theatre Launch

2008-04-17T06:58:00.000-07:00

I spent yesterday evening at the gala opening of Merthyr College’s new ‘Myfanwy Theatre’. £750,000 from the Assembly has created a state of the art 200 seat theatre primarily for the use of Merthyr students, as well as being a great asset for the town as a whole. The performance last night was just the beginning of what I am certain will be a long series of great events showcasing the talent of our young people in particular.

But we have to regard this development as just that – a beginning. Merthyr has been starved of Arts investment pretty much ever since there has been such a thing. This valuable step forward must be followed by others – most importantly the much discussed Arts Centre promised to the town. I know that Dai Smith, the Arts Council Chair, has given his full backing, but to get the best possible provision for performance and visual arts, as well as space for arts and culture based businesses we need to plan this well. It is essential that the University of Glamorgan, Arts Council and Merthyr Council work as one to deliver the best.

Even then we will have barely scratched the surface of what is possible. There is a huge reservoir of untapped potential for the arts in our community – whether you’re talking about artists and performers themselves, the technicians that will make it all happen – or the rest of us – a huge potential audience which has been denied local access to a night out at the theatre since the closure of the Theatre Royal.

Ah, yes – the Theatre Royal- I haven’t forgotten about that one, either. This gem of a building (if you’ve ever been inside you’ll know how beautiful this could be if restored) has only 2 possible futures – we can watch it slowly fall to bits, or we can invest in it and care for it as part of our heritage.

My suggestion would be to hand it over to the student body of the new University campus coming to Merthyr – to run, manage, train and perform in. It could also be a regular venue for the WNO, NOW, the new English Language Theatre company for Wales, as well as popular nights out (panto, anyone?).

If Merthyr is to become the regional capital of the heads of the Valleys, we have to act like it – providing quality entertainment venues is an essential part of that.

In lobbying for all these developments over the last 8 years I have hit at every turn the ‘yes, but it’ll never work in Merthyr’ brigade. They are closely allied to the ‘OK let’s have a small investment, but nothing too ambitious – it’s only Merthyr’ clan.

Sod them all, I say.

If we build these things, Merthyr people will respond. Valleys people will respond. They are the victims of underinvestment over decades, not the cause of it. We can set free their talent. Just ask the drama students at the Myfanwy Theatre.

Reversing the Decline

2008-03-27T06:28:00.000-07:00

The Office for National statistics have just released the latest overview on Wales’s population statistics showing a steady growth in the national population – we should be breaking through the 3 million mark some time in the middle of this year.

Drilling down into the statistics gives us a crude but useful look at how the various parts of Wales are doing in the prosperity league. The population is growing fast in Cardiff, the Vale and Newport, while attractive rural areas like Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire show the same trend. It’s no surprise, then, that the least prosperous local authority areas (the Valleys plus Flintshire) show a pretty static picture with Merthyr and Blaenau Gwent showing an actual drop in population between 2001 and 2006 (by 1.3% and 1.0% respectively).

While this is a slow down in population decline for Merthyr (and in actual numbers, shows a loss of about 700 people from 2001-06), it is not, of course, good news. The truth is that if Torfaen, RCT and Caerphilly can turn decline into growth, then so should Merthyr.

I’m sure there would be as many prescriptions for halting this decline as there are bloggers on the internet, but this is my blog, so here are mine:

The economic regeneration measures Labour is taking forward are having an effect. They must be continued. Programmes like Want2Work are crucial. So is the Heads of the Valleys Programme – although the resources allocated to the HoV team should be boosted.

Infrastructure projects must go ahead unhindered and as quickly as possible. The prevarication over the dualling of the A465 must be properly exposed and ended. The ½ hourly train service from Cardiff to Merthyr must be introduced within the next few months. We’ve committed the cash – the engineering is almost done – it waits only for the go ahead from the Transport Minister.

Quality of life measures like the new sports centre will positively impact on confidence in the area, as well as people’s civic pride. The promised new Arts Centre must be completed, and be of sufficient scale to signal a turning point. Over to you, Rhodri Glyn Thomas.

The appalling skills level in the community, as well as the ‘leakage’ of the 16-24 age group must be pushed back further. Welsh Labour’s commitment to make Merthyr and Ebbw Vale ‘University Towns’ should be fast tracked as urgent WAG priorities.

Our promised new primary care hospital, which will make inroads into Merthyr’s chronic ill-health statistics, must be opened within 18 months to 2 years.

Community based programmes must be allowed to run their course with sufficient resources – Communities Next must be given its head and Credit Unions must grow.

All these things are in the pipeline and can be delivered in this Assembly term. The only thing required is the political will.

Masses against the classes?

2008-03-20T06:11:00.000-07:00

It’s rare to hear a politician of any party use the term ‘working class’ these days. Why is that? Is it true that ‘we’re all middle class now’ or is there something else going on?

My grandfather, a miner, would unhesitatingly have described himself so. So would my dad, despite being a white-collar engineer. And even though my lifestyle has next to nothing in common with the daily struggle faced by my granddad George, raising a family in the 30’s and 40’s – so, strangely enough, would I.

In my case, I’d still use the term to describe my outlook and values – a lifelong mindset learned in childhood, and relearned with new perspective through encountering the ‘real’ middle class at University and thereafter through my working life. I represent a constituency that is almost homogenously ‘working class’ and I am acutely aware of the distinctiveness of that cultural outlook, as well as the virtues it endows on a community. There is also no getting away from the restrictions that identity imposes – not through the limitations of the people of Merthyr & Rhymney, but because of the pigeon hole they are stuffed into by the stereotyping of others.

Given that, according to the Guardian, 53% of British people still regard themselves as ‘working class’ – and that that total must be considerably higher in Wales – why is, in particular, Welsh Labour so shy of using the term, and appealing to the values that identity engenders?

Well the conventional wisdom is, of course, that Labour must break out of any ‘core’ base in order to win a coalition of voters big enough to win and election. Now this is of course true, and is something that didn’t just dawn on the party on the election of Tony Blair – Keir Hardie was doing this stuff, too. Building an alliance of progressive people regardless of social background is what the Labour Party always fights for – even if sometimes we have lost our way a little (like back in the dark days of the 80’s).

What give me deep cause for concern, however is the still (largely unaddressed) message being sent to Welsh Labour by the electorate at last May’s Assembly election – where we lost votes all over Wales - but nowhere nearly so badly as in the ‘core’ areas of the Valleys. With local elections on May 1st, traditional Labour supporters will be assailed everywhere by press hysteria on immigration, questions over our integrity on equality (re. taxing the super-rich) and in some areas by BNP hate-mongers. This, coupled with Lib Dem and Nationalist opportunism, ‘People’s Voice’ jibber-jabber and Tory resurgence will make these elections a door-by-door trench war.

But the real cause, to my mind, of core-vote disillusionment is delivery. Those hospitals still on track – but taking too long to refurbish or build, likewise school improvements, road building and train service re-vamping, action on child poverty, upskilling our workforce, low pay and agency workers rights. It’s all happening, alright. It will all be delivered by British and Welsh Labour – but the voters have told us clearly – it’s not enough and its too slowly done.

Labour is the party for progressive people, whether or not they think of themselves as ‘working class’. But one thing we should never forget – part, perhaps the larger part, of our ‘core’ purpose is to deliver for core communities, because to do so is inherently progressive, and to fail to do so is to walk away from the biggest, most consistent (and most patient) social force for progress Wales and Britain have ever seen. The working class. Lose permission from the electorate to deliver in the Rhondda or Rhyl, and you lose it everywhere.

Well done, Darling!

2008-03-17T09:56:00.000-07:00

With the welter of press coverage of Alistair Darling’s first budget beginning to wane, now is a good time to take a cool-headed look at what he delivered. The media consensus, as near as one could define such a thing, seems to have settled on this being a ‘dull’ budget. I am not sure what this means, unless commentators are suggesting that politicians are meant to somehow be entertaining, as well as competent in their brief. Well I’m going to ignore that – in the sincere belief that if you want entertainment, you should tune into the ‘X Factor', not the budget coverage.

The measures that stood out for me, and that were anything but ‘dull’ were those impacting on child poverty. This budget will lift an extra 500,000 children out of poverty. That’s roughly 25,000 in a Welsh context. Dull? Only if you are (i) Not a child in poverty (ii) Not the parent of a child in poverty or (iii) You don’t care about the people mentioned in (i) or (ii).

Insofar as this historic piece of progressive politics was noticed at all it was simply as a way of illustrating that at the present rate of decline in the poverty statistics, Labour is on course to miss it’s 2010 target to halve the numbers of children in this life-stunting situation.

Targets are important – and we should strive to meet them – and commentators should, indeed, point out if they are not met. But let’s also do two other things as well:

Firstly – pay tribute to the progress made. In Wales, the 200,000 kids we started with in 1999 is down to around 170,000 now. These measures will bring us down to about 145,000 ( from 1 in 3 to more like 1 in 5). Labour delivered this.

Secondly – recognise that Labour delivered this almost alone. Big socially progressive measures like this should rely on allies in civil society backing the argument and giving support. These allies have been thin on the ground – which makes political progress on an issue which most journalists find ‘dull’ (i.e. irrelevant, as far as their agenda is concerned) – bloody difficult.

That’s why I’ve been so heartened but the joint working of the Bevan Foundation and Save the Children on this issue. They are starting to articulate the case that in order to get these numbers down its not enough to be a spectator, throwing rocks at Mr Darling – you have to get stuck in yourself. Herein being the lesson for WAG.

If Westminster gets us down to 145,000 children in poverty by 2010, what can WAG do to bring the numbers down further and perhaps actually hit the 100,000 target by 2010?

Well WAG has its implementation plan which I hope will help, because I wrote it. I sincerely believe that two measures alone from that plan – benefit take up campaigns and action on personal debt, would of themselves alone lift thousands of Welsh kids out of the statistics. The rapid actioning of the other elements of the plan over the next year or so gives us a chance of moving from spectating in the stands, to playing on the pitch.

I don’t care if people think Alistair Darling is ‘dull’, and neither should he. He’s a politician, not a song and dance artist. They called Attlee ‘dull’. Thousands upon thousands of working class families recognised a debt of gratitude to Clement’s politics – not his repartee. Maybe Darling will be able to claim something similar. But only if we back him. And that ‘we’ includes WAG.

St David’s Day – The People’s Holiday?

2008-03-03T02:46:00.000-08:00

The case for St David’s Day to become a national holiday in Wales now has such universal backing, that it must be a case of "when" and "how" as opposed to "if". What other cause can you think of that unites Cerys Matthews and the Tory leader Nick Bourne – or Brace’s the bakers with leading teaching unions?

Scottish politicians, as is too often the case, seem to have beaten us to the punch and found a way of introducing St Andrew’s Day to the calendar without too many objections. I hope we will not be far behind in introducing a similar change here in Wales.

The idea that St David’s Day should become, indeed will become, a national holiday sooner rather than later got me thinking about the day itself and how we celebrate it. Like any Saint’s Day celebration, St David’s Day is an odd concoction of events related to the fragments we know or believe about the man himself. It’s a day which currently touches few people in a meaningful way outside our schools.

We may have an extra spring in our step, as we sport our leeks or daffs on the way into work, or if we are lucky enough to be given time to participate in a St David’s Day march – but so much of the day is tied to a small and distant part of our history that it feels that a great swathe of the national story we should be celebrating is missing.

Whilst the traditional elements of celebration: the bardic traditions, the Welsh dancing, the costumes and the lives of our saints have a place at the heart of a national holiday; that is not where our national story ends.

If we have a national holiday for St David’s Day, I’d like it to mean more and reach more people than it does today. It should reflect modern Wales too, and our more recent history.
The Scottish TUC for example support St Andrew’s Day as a day to celebrate Scotland’s diversity of cultures, faiths and ethnic origins – I would like us to do much more in this regard.

Like the Trade Unions, one of the most important reasons I support a St David’s Day national holiday is because I think our workforce deserve another day off. It is well documented that the number of our public holidays lags behind our European neighbours, many of which also manage to achieve greater productivity rates. It is equally well-known that workers here suffer more and more from anxiety, depression and stress which can lead to the direst of consequences.

The economic arguments against another public holiday do not hold water either when you consider the inevitable boost to the tourist industry. And anyway what kind of a progressive country are we if we allow the welfare of our workers to be second best in a debate such as this?

It is because it is the working people of Wales who deserve an additional holiday that I think the working people of Wales – and their history – deserve more of a starring role on our national holiday. Some of the most famous words attributed to St David speak of the importance of "doing the little things" – and I could think of no better phrase which could apply to the generous, giving spirit of our working class communities across the breadth of Wales. Whether we think about those who have worked on the land in Anglesey, the quarrymen of Snowdonia, or the miners of the Valleys – there are working people with a story to tell. Surely our national holiday of St David’s Day should be the day to do it.

This is not a renewed pitch for a bricks and mortar home for the new collection of People’s History being assembled by the National Museums and Galleries of Wales – though that remains an important campaign – but many of the arguments are the same. Perhaps we still feel too close to many of the heroic and tragic elements of our modern history to properly celebrate their radical and original nature – but we should be more confident.

We should square the cultural inheritance of St David’s Days past with the culture that is in reality common to working people in Wales – and recognise their long and continuing struggle to achieve the Good Society.

I fully support St David’s Day becoming a national holiday, but I think we should look to how we celebrate our nation’s people every bit as much as we celebrate our nation’s symbols. Let’s make St David’s Day a People’s Holiday.

April Deadline for Health Report

2008-02-27T05:56:00.000-08:00

I attended a marvellous Q&A session yesterday hosted by the Merthyr Older Peoples’ Forum at Striker’s Club. The subject at hand was the future of NHS provision in the Merthyr area, and I was joined by Prof. Mansel Aylward who is well advanced in his ‘trouble shooting’ role which is intended to clarify the indecision and bad planning which has dogged this issue for some years.

Mansel was my first choice for this work, and I have to say I think the best possible one, too. Using his huge experience and personal commitment to the area (he’s a Cefn Coed boy) he is making swift progress.

Around 150 forum members grilled us for over an hour – but I hope we gave all the relevant information we could in our answers – this has to be one of the best informed, engaged audiences you could find anywhere.

Mansel’s final report will come in mid-April. I know not everyone will agree with every proposal he makes (that never happens!) but I am confident he will map out a step change in the quality of NHS provision local people can expect. And about time too.

On another issue - this is a troubling report on rail in today's Western Mail, regarding rolling stock being diverted from South Wales to English services. I tabled a request for an Urgent Question to discuss this in the Chamber today - but unfortunately the appeal was turned down by the Presiding Officer. I've also asked for an urgent response from the Transport Minister here, Ieuan Wyn Jones - and I know questions are also being asked at Westminster. The initial explanation I've been given is that these coaches are currently additional to requirements on the Valleys lines - something anyone travelling on a rush hour train between Merthyr & Cardiff would be shocked to hear I've no doubt.

Finally, new surgery dates posted on the Contact page.

Lib Dems Lashing Out in Llandudno

2008-02-25T00:38:00.001-08:00

Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader, generated a fair bit of heat and absolutely no light in his Conference speech on Saturday. The calls I received from people up in Llandudno described his section on my constituency as thinly veiled "Merthyr bashing", and I'm glad it was as transparent to them, as it was to me.

There are things the Liberal Democrats are good at. They fight "good" - often nasty and personalised - local campaigns. They are good at getting a regular Focus newsletter through your door. And when it comes to holier-than-thou preaching about the wrongs of the world, only Trotskyists do it better.

What the Liberal Democrats are not good at includes running councils, making tough (any) decisions, backing up words with action, combating (and understanding) poverty, tackling crime and anti-social behaviour and telling the truth. It was Nick Clegg's party in Wales that came kicking and screaming to the table on targeting the eradication of child poverty - they signed up long after the Tories in Wales, having only committed to describing Labour's aim as "brave" for the first few years. And yet now they say that we're not doing enough to tackle deprivation? Its the usual Lib Dem formula. As I have blogged about before, the Lib Dems don't get poverty - but they are happy to use it for their own electoral gain.

Such crass tactics are also identifiable in the way they treat the local health debate. Their leaflets were full of downright mistruths about the future of our local hospital in the election, but they've done nothing to help keep services there, despite my genuine post-election invitation for all parties to help.

The often repellent tactics of Liberal Democrats on the ground really does not chime with my experience of the Assembly group of six, who tend to be thoughtful, well meaning and a generally progressive bunch. The dichotomy between their ambitions and the actions of their leadership and councillors however, spells out where the trouble lies for the Libs in Wales.

I have sympathy with anyone who wants more investment in Merthyr Tydfil, I spend every day pursuing just that aim, but the Lib Dems can't even claim they want that. During the last election campaign, they called the aspiration to turn Merthyr into a university town a "gimmick" despite the tens of millions of pounds of investment this would mean - not to mention the transformation of people's aspirations it would help develop. Of course the Lib Dems feel that people in Valleys towns should limit themselves to jobs and courses at the bottom of the ladder, serving their middle-class masters, but any party that really is committed to social justice would never accept that kind of thinking. So there we are, if you don't want the "gimmick" of a University in Merthyr, vote Lib Dem in May!

The Lib Dems are in trouble, not least in Wales, where their game of coalition hokey-cokey again highlighted their inability to make a decision when the chips are down. The natural reaction of any party in trouble is to lash out at the others, but the party would do well to spend some serious time on serious policy - rather than hoodwinking votes through yet another leaflet full of dodgy graphs and pictures of dog poo.

On the Culture Trail

2008-02-22T07:59:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I spent an interesting afternoon in the company of Rhodri Glyn Thomas. Rhodri was on an extended visit to Merthyr at my invitation to talk about the future of Arts investment in the area.

As well as the centrepiece of future investment – a Galeri style arts centre for the town, we also spent time with the Zoar Chapel / Canolfan Cymraeg group who have an innovative project lined up for one of Merthyr’s least known but most beautiful buildings. Then it was off to Cyfarthfa Park to impress on the Minister the amazing space available for outdoor music events.

Not satisfied with that, I also persuaded him the take a look at the interior of the Theatre Royal – a 600 seat Victorian Theatre preserved in aspic – just calling out for restoration. For 8 long years I have harangued various ministers and partnership organisations about the necessity of saving this proud but bedraggled piece of Merthyr’s heritage – to no avail as yet – but I’m going to keep on trying. I can’t help thinking that if this gem was anywhere but the South Wales Valleys, and especially Merthyr, there would be an outcry about the state its in.

I think the visit came as a welcome distraction for Rhodri Glyn from the unfolding story about the collapse of Y Byd. The decision about the grant available for a Welsh language paper is just one of many big calls the Minister has had to make in a few short months in post – and overall I think he’s coped pretty well. As has been reported elsewhere, I have been won over by the case for a Welsh Language daily newspaper, but clearly there was no commitment made to Y Byd directly. Personally, I thought it seemed like common sense to build on a project already well advanced, but I recognise it must have been another difficult call, the flak aimed at the Minister from members of his own party is testament to that. I hope that the case we built yesterday for Merthyr’s Arts, Heritage & Culture provision proves to be a more straightforward case for Rhodri Glyn.

Crucially we were accompanied all the way by Chair of the Arts Council, Prof Dai Smith. I’m a great fan of this great Welshman, and I know I was preaching to the converted about the undervaluing of Merthyr’s cultural heritage that has gone on for generations.

There are good things on the horizon for Arts investment in Merthyr – but the pressure must be kept up until we get delivery.

Western Mail today

2008-02-21T08:07:00.000-08:00

Had a good chat with David Williamson of the Western Mail on Tuesday. You can read the interview from today's paper here.

Labour Conference, Poujade and the Local Elections

2008-02-19T10:09:00.000-08:00

Firstly my apologies for being absent from the blogosphere for a while due to a family bereavement.

On getting back to work, my first port of call was Welsh Labour conference in Llandudno – and here’s something most people missed - rule changes were introduced to formalise the name of the Party as ‘Welsh Labour’. Now not a lot of people know this, but I was the first to suggest the change of name (from ‘Labour Party Wales’) at an Assembly Labour group ‘away day’ back in 1999. Good to know it’s finally been made official!

The big issue of course was our campaign launch for the local elections due in May. I’d say conference was a solid platform for this, but there’s no denying these elections will be tough. A tight, perhaps overly tight, local government settlement will give any incumbent leader little room for manoeuvre, and this will be a street by street, issue by issue campaign. Labour local authorities have a good record to campaign on all the same – our schools buildings programme alone has been historic in scale, and we need not be afraid of taking on the current fashion for Poujadism at local level. All opposition parties, of course, indulge in this to an extent – but in the Valleys in particular, the current rash of Independents have developed this into a fine art – whilst of course offering four fifths of bugger all in terms of positive proposals.

I’ll be knocking doors in neighbouring Blaenau Gwent as well as on my own patch – the thought of the people of the area being as ill served by a ‘People’s Voice’ (ie gaggle of Poujadists) as they already are at Assembly and Parliamentary level doesn’t bear thinking about.

A Farewell to Tower

2008-01-24T04:08:00.000-08:00

I have sent the following letter to Tyrone O'Sullivan today:

Dear Tyrone,

On the occasion of the closure of Tower colliery tomorrow I would like to pay tribute, through you, to the astounding achievements of the Tower workforce.

In all the long history of the South Wales miners there are many examples of boldness and courage. For decades this population of workers that had faced poverty, cruelty and indifference responded not with cynicism or despair, but with hope.

Organising themselves through the Fed, the NUM and the wider Labour movement they remade their communities, transformed the lives of their members and gave an example to progressive people across the world.

Facing forces that showed sporadic viciousness and more often just plain indifference to the harshness of the living and working conditions of the miners, they fought back with solidarity and the bloody minded expectation of a better future.

That the story of deep mining in the Valleys should close with Tower could not be more poignant or more appropriate. The example that the Tower workforce set us all was in the finest tradition of the South Wales miners and of organised Labour everywhere – and it was simply this – the determination to build a future in the face of everything that sought to destroy it.

Those of us who grew up in mining communities were shaped by these values. Because of that we have watched you and all of Tower’s people with great pride in the work you have done since the buyout of 1995.

This chapter closes now, but the lessons of Tower will always be with us.

Please accept my best wishes for the future for yourself and your family, and for all the workforce of Tower Colliery, past and present.

Best,
Huw

Water Joke

2008-01-17T05:28:00.000-08:00

With the amount of rain we’ve had recently residents in Bedlinog can be forgiven for feeling more than slightly annoyed at being left without water. Six times in three months!

The Merthyr Express has today covered the story as has the BBC. The problems appear to revolve around a burst pipe and very old infrastructure, which Welsh Water are, I am told, in the process of replacing.
In the meantime around 700 of my constituents have this week been left without water and the local primary school forced to send children home. This is simply not good enough and I am meeting with Welsh Water’s Managing Director next week to press for urgent action to be taken to remedy these long-running problems.

Special thanks must also go to Councillor Helen Thomas and Bedlinog Community Council who have worked tirelessly to keep local residents informed.

An Outbreak of Common Sense?

2008-01-16T05:12:00.000-08:00

Paul Flynn here, and Lembit Opik here, make a number of good points about why the calls for Peter Hain's resignation vary between the opportunistic and the pathetic. Nothing about the mistakes relating to the Deputy Leadership campaign suggest that Peter is not fit to continue in his position as Minister. In fact the dignified way he has conducted himself in the face of such trite nonsense from Elfyn Llwyd and his cronies - every one of whom was recently found guilty of misusing public funds on election issues - only goes to underline his consummate ability as a first rate politician.

I am hopeful and confident that Peter will continue in his "two job" role. He has already made a real impact in delivering justice for the ASW workers - and has a crucial and challenging task ahead of him in shaping welfare reform.