Paul Flynn - Read My Day

The unimportance of brilliance

Dumped heroes
The Newport Labour Councillors who lost their seats last week must be feeling bruised, battered and bewildered.

If they are asking themselves what they did wrong, the answer is nothing. Their main task has been to provide a decent education. Yesterday Newport was given the highest-ever rating for a local education authority in Wales by Estyn, the inspectorate for education and training in Wales.

The "overall, inspection findings in Newport schools are the best in Wales" and "the performance of pupils in key stages one and two is outstanding".

Chris Freegard, the council's managing director, said: "This outstanding result pays tribute to the commitment, dedication and hard-work of elected members, council staff and schools over the last few years."

It has been a regular source of joy to me to visit Newport Schools over the past 36 years as an elected representative. Chris Freegard is right. It is the result of teamwork and the elected councillors have played their full part.

Many new families moving to Newport with the Patent Office, ONS and the Prison service have asked me about local schools. Many already had their children in private schools in London. I have always advised them to keep their money in their pockets because Newport has fine schools and no sink ones.

The Estyn team showered the city with superlatives. The pupils’ work is ‘outstanding’. The council’s support for numeracy and literacy is also outstanding and has a significant impact on raising standards.

The city venues programme for Year 12 students, an out-of-school vocational scheme, was called "exciting development". Praise was also lavished on the Council’s work with families with difficulties and pupils at risk of exclusion.

Official figures last year showed that Newport outperformed the majority of other Welsh local authorities in the core subjects of English, mathematics and science. Newport was the top authority in Wales at key stages one and two. Their new secondary schools are being built.

This is a glowing achievement that did the defeated councillors no good. They were rejected because of decisions taken at Westminster. It proves once again the unimportance of being brilliant.

The rejected councillors are justified is feeling aggrieved. Other areas of the council’s work have also won accolades. Newport has a marvellous record of achievements over 38 years. Perhaps soon the people of the city will recognise what they have thrown away.

An Oak Nurse

It sounds like a joke, but I am reliably informed that Oak Nurses are roaming the corridors of NHS hospitals.

They do not wear uniforms. Their task is to worry staff to ensure that targets times are not breeched. Targets distort priorities. There is an accusation that patients are being moved to meet targets rather than for their health needs.

Targets have often proved to be a measure of failure – not a measure of success. If the OAK nurses are serving targets rather than health needs, this is lamentable distortion of the prime purpose of the NHS.

An unlikely justification of the word Oak is that it represents solidity and steadfastness like an oak tree. NHS staff prefer the more convincing explanation that OAK stands for One Arse Kickers.

Bloggers' Lib
Murmured resentment of journalist bloggers has been heard from MPs.

Wales has a crop of BBC bloggers who regularly add to the nation’s joy and understanding. They are written under BBC guidelines but allow the journos to escape from their confined 30 seconds time slots. In the blogosphere, they are free to speculate, gossip and inform.

Presumably some MPs are retaliating after their delicate egos have been bruised by unkind blogs. Poor dears. The Beeb must not react with stultifying new rules. Let a hundred blogs bloom.

MPs’ blogs are subjected to idiotic censorship. Criticism of other MPs is not allowed. That is one of the dozens of piddling restrictions. Where is the fun in that?

Happily this blog is liberated, self-financed and unfettered by Commons censorship.

That’s why so many people read it.

Saltiest interrogators

Petard hoist

It was inevitable really. Within hours of my posting yesterday's blog, the Daily Mail struck back with a petard hoist.

I wrote,"The Home Secretary was praised this morning for her drugs' policy by the Daily Mail. If that does not convince her that she is wrong, what will?” Today the Daily Mail’s Quentin Letts lavishly praised my friend Gordon Prentice and me.

To avoid your buying a copy of the paper, I immodestly print some of his column. It is a more accurate and livelier version than mine, but I as a committee member try a little impartiality.

Where crooks, conmen and blue-sky pseuds are shown no mercy

'Paul Flynn and Gordon Prentice have become this Parliament's saltiest select committee interrogators.

Yesterday morning these two Labour MPs beat up a couple of recent Government ministers who have accepted big-loot lobbying jobs with unseemly haste.
By the time Messrs Flynn and Prentice had finished yesterday the Lord Warner-Richard Caborn combo must have wished they'd gone into holy orders after leaving ministerial office.

It was pretty brutal. Every Parliament brings its own Select Committee stars. In this Parliament, Messrs Flynn (Newport W) and Prentice (Pendle) have been consistent value for money, pulling apart a succession of crooks, conmen and blue-skythinking pseuds.

Mr Caborn (Lab, Sheffield C) was no less immodest, boasting about how he had once been "apprentice of the year", how he had been an MEP, a shop steward, a chairman of various parliamentary outfits – in short, what a fine upstanding Herbert he was.

While it might be wrong to call his manner spivvy he certainly did not help his case by allowing a knowing smile to keep darting across his teeth.

Mr Flynn, coldly: "I'm glad you are amused." Mr Flynn voiced the fear that Mr Caborn, in taking £70,000 per annum from the nuclear industry in addition to his MP's salary, might "prostitute our office".

Given that Sheffield jobs were on the line, should he not be involving himself in the nuclear industry as part of his parliamentary duty, rather than for raw cash?

Mr Flynn used the word "bung". "Why do you take a salary for this work?" he enquired, voice soft but deadly. MR Caborn, still with that larky smile: "Cos they want to pay me."

Mr Flynn observed that there were all too many companies keen to pay MPs. He left it at that. Mr Prentice, cross-examining, found a wonderfully arch tone of disbelief.

Both Lord Warner and Mr Caborn lost their tempers. All in all, richly satisfying sport.”

The Select Committee was also given huge coverage on Today and Yesterday in Parliament programmes that have a big audience of MPs and Peers. Perhaps the message will get across. Why not wait until retirement before starting the nest feathering?

Riot
Glorious weather tomorrow for the glorious Tredegar Park Folk Festival. It’s always at its best in fine weather. Enjoy a great riot of dance, song, quality drink food and fellowship. Starting at One o’clock with a great line-up.

International Dance teams:

PELOPONNESIAN FOLKLORE FOUNDATION (from Greece)

TAARNBY KVADRILLEN (from Denmark)

Dance teams from Wales and the four corners of Britain: 

GWERINWYR GWENT (Welsh social)

ISCA MORRISMEN

CWMNI GWERIN PONT-Y-PWL (Welsh social)
BOOJUM (Rapper)
CHEQUERED FLAG (Appalachian)
COBBLERS AWL (Clog)

THE BRANDYWINE CLOGGERS (Appalachian)
PLAYFORD ASSEMBLY
ALIVE AND KICKING (Appalachian)
FLAMENCO
CLOCS CANTON (Morris)

O'DONNELL IRISH DANCERS
NEWPORT INTERNATIONAL DANCERS

INDIA DANCE WALES
JAWAHIR (Middle Eastern)

JAWAHIR JUNIORS (Middle Eastern)
NEWPORT SALSA
TY SIGN SCHOOL (Welsh)
ST MELLONS SCHOOL (Welsh)
TIGER FEET (Appalachian)

MP..a full time job?

Cash for Comrades

It was MP versus MPs this morning. On the surface it was civil and polite but there was crackling resentment behind the exchanges.

In November 2007 Gordon Prentice and I raised the issue of ‘Cash for Comrades’ at the Public Administration Select Committee. There are £73 billion worth of contracts up for grabs to clean up the mess left behind by our last disastrous use of nuclear power. That’s before we start on the new disaster.

There were reports that two of our parliamentary Labour colleagues had taken jobs with firms bidding for the fat contracts. Iain McCartney was said to have a job with Fluor for £115,000 a year, Richard Caborn with Amec at £75,000.

This morning Richard Caborn appeared before the committee. He was in combative mood. He began with a storming defence of his engineering credentials. He was once ‘the apprentice of the year’ and he had engineered up and down the country ever since as boy and man. What’s more the firm that pays him the dosh is in his constituency. He has to work for his constituents.

I asked him if he thought an MP’s job is a fulltime one? He said it was. This took the wind out of his sails a bit. As he has Amec on his patch, I have E.A.D.S. Lifeforce and big firms that I promote as vigorously as I can. I said if one of them offered me a bung of seventy grand I would regard it as a corrupt practise.

I did not tell the committee but one local firm offered me a service that I would like but cannot afford. Had I accepted it I would have had to declare it and my ability to promote the company would be undermined.

Richard’s testimony will be studied with care. Promoting a constituency firm and constituency jobs does not need an additional income of more than an MP’s salary. The job of an MP is more than fulltime. Most of us regret that there are not 48 hours in every day so that we can do justice to the demands of our constituents.

My Newport West constituents would go berserk if I told them that I was taking a second job with a second salary but still staying on as their MP. They would certainly kick me out at the next election. Quite right too.

Naughty coppers

The more change, the more everything remains the same. This week we read that the  former Chief Constable of Dyfed Powys has been the subject of an adverse report on his conduct. A certain female was involved. The excellent Royce Gardener MBE (pictured) has sent me some fascinating stories on the way the police once behaved.

He has long been the Chairman of the Gwent Police Pensioners Association. Among the serious business in their publication to celebrate their 70th anniversary are these records of past disciplinary reports from many years ago: -

• PC X was found guilty of being on duty and found in a unit shop with a certain female with his lamp out.
• PC Y was found guilty whilst on duty of being in bed with a certain female with his boots on.
• PC Z was cautioned because after being ordered by the Superintendent to take a female to the station, took her home for the night and brought her back to the station in the morning.

That certain female had a very active life.

Thanks

In the past I have often jumped on them. Once I suggested that the Dragon's Eye TV programme should be renamed after another part of the dragon's anatomy because of the stuff they turned out.

Tonight's report by Bethan James was sensitive, newsworthy, intelligent and balanced. It did not exploit or over-dramatise the emotions of the family who have lost a son through drug use. Nor did they reach simplistic solutions.

The Home Secretary was praised this morning for her drugs ' policy by the Daily Mail. If that does not convince her that she is wrong, what will?

Stick heaven.

"All he had to play with was a stick, but he was the happiest he had ever been". One MP had a chat with one of the children from the remarkable BBC Wales series ‘The Coalhouse.’

 

A realistic picture of life in a mining village in the twenties had lessons for the way we live now. Now when poverty is measure as someone who has a Gameboy One but not a Gameboy Two we have forgotten much of the joy of simple play. The adults shared poverty forged links of comradeship. All confessed that they missed the communal life and longed to return to their mining cottages in spite of the squalor and poverty.

I vividly remember working class life in the war. The diet was simple but nutrious. The air raids added drama and excitement to the drab routine of school and church. Neighbourhood parties when peace came were unforgettable riots of singing, bonfires and dancing.

So much of our present lives are lived vicariously through soaps. Family and neighbour links are weak. The older children dreaded life without computers before they entered the cottages. Remarkably they rapidly adopted their standards into the deprivation and poverty of 80 years ago.

BBC Wales are planning a new series about the Coal House at War. BBC Wales had a breakfast meeting for MPs today. It was a pleasant change not to have to throw barbs at a visiting welsh Institutions. BBC Wales is part of the new blossoming success of devolved Welsh bodies.

Lib Dem sense

The tabloids will sing the praises of the Home Secretary tomorrow.

Those caught in possession of cannabis can be sent to jail for five years instead of two. Of course, we do not have any prisons that are not infested with cannabis, cocaine and heroin use. In as a cannabis user; out as a heroin addict.

I’m ashamed of both Labour and Tory frontbenches. They babbled inanities at each other. These decisions are evidence and science free. The LibDems made three sensible contributions. The Independent had a wonderful piece named ‘Reefer Madness’ that contradicted the foolish stance taken by the Independent on Sunday.

One of the sad unnoticed consequences of today’s work is that cannabis seeds will become illegal. There is a logic to it but the unintended consequences will be those with MS who import seeds and grow their own will now be deprived of their medicine. It’s a harmless practise and a victimless ‘crime’. In future the law will be able to bang MS patients up for five years.

My contribution was a restrained plea for the Government to back my Convention of Drugs that was approved by the Council of Europe. It seeks to shift the wasted £billions, spent on criminal justice solutions for drugs, to harm reduction solutions. The former have failed disastrously for the past 37 years. The latter work and reduce all drug harm.

BBC Wales Dragons Eye show are doing an item this week on the tragic consequences of the UK prisons drugs policies. It will include the sad account of the wasted lives of two of my young constituents. They were killed by the stupidity, indolence and cowardice of politicians. We witnessed more of that today.

10p tax solution

The Answer

Brilliant David Taylor has the answer to the 10p tax disaster.

In an EDM tabled tonight, he maps out a targeted solution that would restore the loss to those in genuine need. The cost will be £650 million - a fleabite in Government spending terms.

Frank Field and the others who forced a climb-down want clear answers not the flannel and obfuscation that lost the seats of 300 Labour Councillors. Restoring the 10p in full is not an option because it would unfairly benefit the very well-off. The Taylor solution is a winner. Details in the Guardian tomorrow.

Grab it, Gordon.

EDM 1477 COMPENSATION FOR ABOLITION OF THE 10 PENCE TAX RATE

06.05.2008

Taylor, David

That this House warmly welcomes the Government's recently announced commitment to compensate those individuals who have lost out since 6th April 2008 because of the abolition of the 10 pence tax rate; is very concerned that the details of the plan so far available in relation to the mechanism for reimbursement suggest a risk that it could be incomplete, delayed and inaccurate; fears that the use of a mix of winter fuel allowance, tax credits, minimum wage and other changes to measures to reimburse all those who are adversely affected is unnecessarily confusing and prone to significant error and take-up problems; understands that there is a preferable method using the income tax system itself in a way not dissimilar to how pensioners get extra tax allowances; notes that a decision, for all adults under 65 years, to add an extra amount, capped at £1,200 of 50 per cent. of income over £5,200 to the 2008-09 personal allowance, and for this extra to be progressively withdrawn at the rate of £10 for every £100 of income over £7,600, should fully compensate those with incomes from £5,200 up to £19,600 adversely affected by the 10 pence rate abolition; believes this method has the benefits of speed, relative simplicity, being retrospective and fully and accurately reimbursing all those, and only those, who otherwise might lose up to £240 per year; commends this cost-effective scheme to the Government for consideration; and urges it to announce its conclusions on this issue well before the Pre-Budget Report 2008.

A fourth term

Yes of course it’s possible to win a fourth term. Here is the plan. Gordon Brown survives until the D-Day of January 1 2010. By then he will have rebuilt his authority and he can resign with dignity and honour. Cameron and the shadow cabinet will be shop soiled and jaded. The calamites of the Old Etonian mayor will terrify the public from the prospect of an Old Etonian PM.

Labour draft in an exciting fresh new team of able politicians whose talents have never been recognised. The press will be fascinated and bowled over by the fresh new talent. The new cabinet’s honeymoon will be at its peak at a General Election at Easter 2010.

The Prime Minister will be Gordon Prentice. Brilliant, resourceful, brave and committed. The charismatic MP for Pendle secured a four seat gain for Labour in the council elections. He dominates the Public Administration Committee with his forensic creative skills. The nation will love him as a principled idealistic antidote to the Etonian fop.

Chancellor of the Exchequer will be David Taylor. His accountancy and verbally creative skills are unparalleled in the Commons. He has gifts of courage, intelligence and integrity that have been sharpened and not dulled by parliamentary experience.

The Home Secretary will be Ann Cryer. More than any other MP she has braved the difficult challenges of race relations in areas where other polticians fear to go. She is humane, dedicated, compassionate and wise. Her lack of guile will charm the nation.

Alan Simpson will be the Foreign Secretary. He has exceptional charm and mental agility. The clearest thinker on the main foreign affairs challenges of the environment, he will speak for a generation of voters who are alarmed at the global threats of future calamities.

The Justice Minister will be Bob Marshall Andrews. Urbane, literate and a brilliant advocate, he regularly reduces frontbench ministers to gibbering wrecks with his wit, knowledge and skills. His brilliance will dazzle the nation and he will be a great reformer.

I invite your suggsetions for the other cabinet posts.

Exciting isn't it?

Chalice of serpents

Boris nightmares
Tough luck, Ken. You did get twice the % vote of Labour nationally. But life is still full of interest. It will be fascinating to see how Boris stumbles over London’s nightmares.

On transport, he is manic. His Jeremy Clarkson-type backing for polluting Chelsea Tractors is foolish and a cowardly surrender to the bullies. Bringing back bus conductors will double staff costs for no purpose. What will they do? As a regular traveller on London buses, I have not seen anyone paying money for a fare for months. Almost everyone has an Oyster Card or a Freedom Pass. It's a highly efficient system And what's wrong with Bendy-buses?

The Olympics, Crossrail and the East London Line extension are all guaranteed headaches that will silence Boris’s jokes. The almost certain cost over-runs on any of these will have severe repercussions for London taxpayers and hideous retribution on the mayoral head.

Delivering more homes in the Thames Gateway requires concreting over the countryside and undermining any green credentials of the new regime.

Ken Livingstone enjoyed a period of burgeoning investment with a strong economy. Boris will be harried by a collapse of financial confidence that threatens the City of London's core role in the city’s economy.

Crime is the prime worry of Londoners. The situation had remained static but the press has cranked up the perception of crisis. The Evening Standard will give Boris an extended honeymoon. But is will be impossible to airbrush out of the picture the guaranteed Boris  disappointments and foul-ups.

Ken Livingstone will take  some consolation. While his diary is empty he has passed a chalice of serpents over to Boris. Which one will strike first?

Feisty 80

Today was a wonderful day. I attended a fabulous birthday party of the widow of my brother Terry who died 22 years ago.

Lilian is 80. Forget any stereotype of the frail elderly. At the age of 77, Lilian decided she wanted to put some more zip in her life. She left Cardiff and set up home in a beautiful village in the south of France.

All her loved ones warned against such a drastic move. Of course it has been a brilliant success. She is part of village life in Roquecor and loves the intimate neighbourly life. Best of all is relaxing on her terasse in the evening sun watching the changing light on the valley below.

The party was a lively exchange of fond memories and hopes for the future for her sons and grandchildren.

I can remember the time when those who had lived four score years were old.

Green Casanova

Foreword

Mike Bloxsome's biography of Newport MP Peter Freeman will be
published on this blog. Its a great read.

Peter Freeman raced like a shooting star across the parliamentary
firmament trailing a dazzling aurora. His trajectory was sometimes
capricious but always defined by originality, conviction and
idealism. Peter was a backbenchers’ backbencher untouched by
the tyranny of the party whips, electoral pressure or the media.
Assertive, intelligent, principled and unambitious for office, he
was the living nightmare for party disciplinarians. Many
contemporary backbenchers have been castrated, mesmerised and
lobotomised by ambition. The legacies of their careers will not be
celestial, trails not of stars but slugs.

Newport Pride
Newport was a hospitable habitat for Peter the vegetarian after
the sneering, doltish abuse heaped on him by the local aristocracy
– the ‘county set’ – in his previous rural parliamentary seat.
Newport Labour Party annually renews its pride in its Chartist
roots and rededicates itself to progressive causes. It was a delicious
pleasure to remind Tony Blair of the city’s radical independence.
On the day after he appointed the new Archbishop of Canterbury,
there was a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party. Tony was
taken aback when I told him that the new Archbishop had always
been a reliable supporter of all Labour Party Policies, adding “as
interpreted by Newport West Labour Party”. In his distinguished
11-year-stint in the city Rowan Williams echoed and built on the
courage and originality of the Chartists and Peter Freeman.

Mike Bloxsome reveals in this fascinating book that Freeman’s
vision was two generations before his time. He tried to ban fox
hunting with dogs three quarters of a century before the Commons
were convinced. The animal rights movement has not yet caught
up with the strength and purity of the conviction that forced him
to embrace a cruel death for himself.

Contradictions
To the dim-witted, Peter’s conduct and views seemed random
and contradictory: a rampant womaniser who was moved to a
self-sacrificial tender lifelong devotion; the successful entrepreneur
who planned to reshape the worker-employer relationship; the
impassioned internationalist who longed for a Welsh parliament;
the prophetic social reformer who was an adherent of a church
that has almost vanished; the world class sportsman who refused
life-improving medicine because of its origins. All were facets of
a coherent unique political personality. Mike Bloxsome has
captured the living memories of this archetypal environmentalist
at the precise moment when they were about to disappear into
oblivion. Posterity should now grant Peter Freeman’s memory
the respect, gratitude and admiration denied to him during his
tumultuous, extraordinary and ultimately tragic life. The Green
Casanova presents the world environmental movement with a new
hero!

Celtic Manor - brash and audacious

 Icon of confidence

Newspaper columnists must make outrageous statements to grab attention.

A TV hack Kevin McCloud (no I have never heard of him either) writes that he would like to bulldoze Newport’s Celtic Manor Resort Hotel.

Not serious stuff, but he has to fill his column. It’s an emotional spasm backed with the absurd comment, “It’s a huge monolith on an American scale which looks like it was about to swallow up the motorway. It’s not contextual – it doesn’t even look English.”

Good. It’s Welsh. The inspiration is Canadian – not American.  Its massive, brash self-confidence is an   inspiring icon for the new City of Newport. Its dominance rivals the surrounding hills. Crowned with a massive Welsh Dragon Flag, it eloquently creates its own artistic justification as a grand Welsh-Canadian idiom of tomorrow - not the stale yesterday of Kevin McCloud’s oak panelled world.

There are always those who always resent new concepts. Why should important buildings hide their presence in the shadow of hills? Why should new designs endlessly repeat the stale concepts and scale and of the past?

The sight of the Celtic Manor Hotel gives me a boost every time I drive past it on my journey from London. It’s unique, opulent and audacious in its solidity and scale.  It asserts pride in Newport and our stake in a prosperous twenty first century future.

Stow Hill Boost

Two rousing comments (below) on Labour losses in Stow Hill have come in.

Pictured are the four candidates (left to right), former mayor and splendid Councillor Miqdad al-Nuami and new candidate Fern Coster who lost to Bill Routley and Peter Davies.

Bill Routley previously vainly struggled to be an adequate councillor.  He recently mysteriously took to signing himself 'Lord' Routley. He has now modestly reverted to Mister. Why not 'Lord Councillor?

Peter Davies was diplomatic at the count and gracious in victory. But he has built a reputation as a populist piffle artist. His recent jape was a scare about a non-existent rat plague. Although the evidence indicates a reduction in the local rat population, Peter mis-read the figures to claim  a  local problem. A ‘Rats are out to devour your young’ story convinced the innumerate local paper.

Peter Davies provoked mocking laughter (from me and others) at the count when he compared the talents of 'Lord' Routley with those of Alan Howarth who is the real Lord Newport. Premier League compared the Beazer Home league.

Fern Coster did splendidly at her first outing. She was helped by an absurd mysogynist attack on her by local news rag hack 'Barking Buckingham'. Lots of her friends cooed over the 'nice picture'. None mentioned Buckingham's drivel. His Dad Army's prejudices and anti-women neurosis ensures that  his dense old fashioned prose remains un-read by those who do not share his prejudices.

A ‘revulsion at first sight’ new councillor for Malpas upset the audience at the count by attacking the marvellous hard-working three councillors known as the Malpas Three.

Short and over weight, like most of new Tory councillors, his idea of a charm offensive was to bark, ‘Tonight I made it the Malpas Two. Soon you’ll see the Malpas Zero'

I thought we were already listening to the 'Malpas Zero.' Perhap the Tory group leader who quoted membership of a local gym on his CV should get his new members BMI into shape.

The first  welcome message on Stow Hill read:

"Moving on from the feelings of despair that I felt on hearing the election news (especially in my own ward of Stow Hill where we lost an outstanding councillor in Miqdad) I am now determined to play a part in the fight back that you describe. I left the party in response to the war in Iraq - I will now rejoin and play whatever part I can to ensure a Labour victory, both in the next general election and in a future local election."

The second responded:

I never thought Stow Hill would turn Tory. I have always voted Labour and did so yesterday. However, it has now dawned on me that to vote is not enough. In the future I will actively campaign. Miqdad and Fern, you did nothing wrong. You were let down by local apathy and loathing of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Four years of being represented by Tories...I might have to move!"

Hayat Pride
Unreported on the evening was a significant and welcome election of Doctor Ibrahim Hayat.

Newport Labour saw the election of one of Britain’s first Asian councillors in 1972, Ravendra Sumar Soni. To our shame we have had no other Labour Asian or Muslim councillors elected since.

Doctor Ibrahim Hayat is the one of the sons of Mohammed Hayat who was a greatly respected and loved father of the Newport based Hayat family. He is pictured here chairing a meeting on international peace at the Newport Civic Centre.

On a difficult day, Ibrahim topped the poll, above seven other candidates, at his first attempt. This is measure of his popularity and the need for the Newport West Labour Party to be more representative of the whole city. His father was intensely loyal to the Labour Party. He would have been proud had he lived to see this day.

The Pillgwenlly ward will be well represented by the long serving councillor Ron Jones and Ibrahim. The Hayat family will continue to make their prominent distinguished contribution to the life of the City of Newport.

Rejoicing not desolation

Meltdown cancelled
Exhaustion may be playing a part; but I am strangely elated at the Newport Election results.

Little of the pre-vote foreboding has come true. Talented, creative hard working councillors have been felled by the anti-Labour swing alongwith the lazy useless time-servers. Unfairly and cruelly, it’s all because of issues beyond their control.

Newport has been punished even though it has the third lowest rates in the UK, the highest employment ever, prized green pioneering achievements and a cornucopia of new developments that will beneficially transform the city.

But there is no meltdown. I asked the Tory Leader in Newport this afternoon whether he will resign because of his chronic under-achievement. Labour is likely to end up with 22 seats, Conservatives 17, LibDems 9 and one each for Plaid and an independent.

If the results had reflected the national trends and local history, the Tories would have won 42 of the 50 seats. Only in 1968 was there a similar collapse in trust for Labour. We lost every seat in the city except Malpas.  In 1972, we won every seat in the city but Allt yr yn. Of course, a general election intervened.

We nationally count our irreducible rock solid support, that will stick with us at all costs, as 26%. Yesterday we were subterranean at 4%. Yet with a few deals here and there Labour will retain control.

The nightmare of Tory domination is postponed for at least 3 years. Newport stays green, progressive and vibrant. Thank you voters.

Recount fever
Being a supportive act in this election is as exhausting as being a candidate.

I was around in the wards all day yesterday. Then to the counts at midnight. They  continued to 7.00 am when two recounts were called. They started at 2.00 o’clock today and dragged on for three hours.

In the early of the morning after the first recount Caerleon Labour Councillor Gail Giles was told that she had lost by 5 votes. Exhaustion persuaded her to accept the figure. It was about 4.00 am and we were all exhausted. Who wanted to stay for another few hours? But her Caerelon party stalwarts refused.

This afternoon we went through three pain-staking recounts. The final result was a victory for Gail by 3 votes.

Labour members were there in force in supportive solidarity for a colleague we thought would lose. We were rewarded with a pleasant social get-together with comrades and a rousing celebration at the end of the drama.

Eternal truth
The media vultures are circling Gordon Brown.

Three called  today trying to coax some damaging word gobbets out on me. S'hould he resign?' ' Should his cabinet be sacked?' Maddest of all, ‘Should we have a General election?’ There is a poll of Labour backbenchers on the lines, On the lines of ;Should Labour panic now, tomorrow or next week?'

Comments have arrived on yesterday’s blog suggesting reasons for Labour’s woes from cannabis reclassification to no referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. We all create our own version of the truth.

Nothing should happen. NewLabour is hoist by its own petard of media dependence. Gordon seeks the daily drip feed of tabloid adulation that Blair enjoyed. It’s a trap.

Gordon should do an Attlee and read the papers only to check the cricket scores. It should be head down Gordon, bring on policies that will be loved by our core working class voters. Keep reminding them about the successes of Labour in redistributing wealth.

Every Labour MP should display on their computer home pages the last date in 2010 for calling an election  with the message 'Two years is an eternity in politics.'

The best thing Gordon could do is follow advice I once gave to Tony Blair, ‘Stop taking the tabloids.’

Moronic message

Empty gesture
Gordon Brown insists he will ‘send a message’ next week.

The message will be  ‘I don’t understand the drugs’ tragedy. I have not examined the evidence that spending £billions in the past 37 years on drugs prohibition has improved nothing and increased drugs use’.

Another debate on Tuesday this week of the House magazine agreed with the advisory committee decision that changing cannabis classification from C to B will achieve nothing.  The punishing for the two categories are identical except that the maximum prison sentence for possession will be increased from two to five years. But no court has ever dreamed of using the maximum sentence anyway. Two years prison would be vastly excessive, five years would be insanely severe. So no difference there.

Those on the Advisory Committee and at this week’s seminar are experts. They are burdened by deep knowledge of the continuing futility of Britain’s’ drug policies. Gordon has been listening to the morons on the Daily Mail with there message that prohibition has never worked so let’s have more of it.

This is populist crap. We should replicate the drugs policies that reduce harm. They have worked in Belgium, German, Australia, the Netherlands and Portugal. Reclassification is as gesture of ignorance.

Don’t do it, Gordon.

50 year wait
The mild fame that all MPs enjoy has many unexpected advantages.

Old friends that have lost contact know where to find us. I had a delightful letter yesterday from a school friend who I have not seen for a very long time.

He wrote that I took a cine film of his wedding. In June he will be celebrating his Golden Wedding and he has yet to see the film. In the meantime, he has had four daughters and ten grandchildren.’

I rang him last night and had a long natter on the latest news of mutual friends. I am looking forward to meeting him again.

In the meantime, where did I put that film?

Thin consolations
Labour is braced for an awful night at the polls.

It’s mostly to do with our shelf life. The press and public like a change. Boris would be a dreadful anti-Green mayor. He does not have a serious thought in his head. The only consolation is that the revulsion of the country at having one old Etonian in a prominent position may deter them from electing another in two years.

The prospect of a Tory regime in my constituency is revolting. With only a handful of exceptions they are deeply nasty and superficial. The officers will run the council because they lack the guile or wisdom to create policy. Again, it will be a step back for green policies. The only consolation here will be the luxury of spotting and hammering their certain idiotic decisions.

I’d gladly forego the pleasure of the consolations in exchange for results that will advance the green agenda.

Innuendo beats truth

Sleaze-less

Opinion polls tell us that the public believe British politicians are sleazy. A vast excess of media attention was given to the cash for peerages scandals ad the Abrahams donations to the Labour party.

It was not just the neurotically anti-Labour tabloids. The broadcasters. in spite of their duty of balance, lavishly reported every hint or innuendo of sleaze however minor. The interpretation placed on every set of circumstances was always the worst.

As a member of the sleaze busting committee, I tried to avoid defending the accused until the investigations had been completed. But the media had their agenda: - ‘All accused were innocent until they are proved to be Labour.’

To snorts of derision from broadcasting interviewers, I always maintained that our political system is one of the least corrupt in the world. Besmirching its reputation without evidence was doing permanent damage.

This week’s news that there will be no prosecutions in the Abrahams case as there was no prosecutions for cash for peerages. Anyone notice any screaming headlines – or even modest ones?

The public salivate for bad news. Corrupt politicians’ sell newspapers. Innocent politicians’ are not news.

Brute force
There was no build-up or excitement but the Government came close to defeat in the Commons this afternoon. 31 Labour  MPS backed an amendment to the Energy Bill moved with authority and charm by Labour’s Alan Simpson.

The result was 210 for and 250 against. Nearly 200 MPs were absent campaigning in the London and local elections. Had the Tories got their act together a major advance could have been made for renewables.

The amendment sought mechanisms to feed small renewable energy sources into the grid. This has worked brilliantly in Germany who are far ahead of us with clean renewable energy.

The rejection by the Government Minister Malcolm Wicks was ominous.  Big investors had warned against diverting funds from the main energy developments (i.e. nuclear) into two many renewables.

The head of Electricite de France said recently that the nuclear plans could be scuppered by diverting investment into other areas. The problem is that big nuclear is always late, over budget, expensive and rarely works as promised. Renewables are practical, readily attainable and have worked on a massive scale in Germany.

Alan Simpson produced a killer fact. 'Half the food produced in the UK is wasted. If waste could be used across Europe for energy generation, the continent would no longer need gas from Russia’ There was an audible ‘whow’ from MPs.

On the basis of reason and the environment Alan Simpson won the debate. The Minister spoke up for the brute force of vested interests.

The environment lost.

Cameron's slump

David Cameron boobed at Question Time today.

The subject he picked was the wrong one. The public are on Gordon’s side on 42 days detention. The Conservatives can be painted as soft on terrorism.

On the day before he election, the House was puzzled that Cameron did not go on London or Council issues. He made another tactical error in demanding the Gordon Brown should make the issue one of confidence. The only way hat many of us on the Labour side will vote for 42 days is if it is made an issue of confidence.

Fort the first time ever, Gordon Brown wounded Cameron with sharp insults. Is Cameron losing his touch?

Martyr me!

Malice rampant

Another bid for martyrdom today from the irritating Kate Hoey.  She lusts after victimhood and vengeance. Her life is shaped by her sacking after a brief period as a useless Sports Minister.

Her Labour roots are superficial and the only party she has backed with passion and knowledge is that of the Orangemen. Her current political mission is to incite her own expulsion from the Labour Party. No opportunity to vote against the Government is missed – even on subjects on which she has no strong views. Her presence is a regular embarrassment to other Labour MPs challenging Government policies.

Hilariously today she has accepted Boris Johnson’s stunt invitation to prop up his campaign – as an adviser of the Olympic Games-the bid for which she opposed. The announcement is timed with characteristic malice for maximum effect for Thursday’s mayoral vote.

She is in the pay of the Tory Daily Telegraph and the Countryside Alliance to the tune of £5,000 and £15,000 plus. The Countryside Alliance campaigns in key marginal seats against Labour MPs. On the referendum issue she backed another organization that targeted vulnerable Labour MPs.

There is reluctance in Labour circles to give her the satisfaction of martyrdom. She dreams of the attention. Think of the pained media interviews when she will present herself as the spurned heroine. She will damn the party that made her as intolerant. She will contrive a persona as the principled independent MP. If she was consistent and principled she would resign from the party that she clearly loathes.

Candidate Brian Paddick generously described Kate as ‘Bonkers’ ....why so mealy mouthed? Harriet Harman was woeful on London TV claiming that Hoey was supporting Livingstone while simultaneously stabbing him in the back. It’s a difficult call for Labour. Will more harm be done by kicking her out or by letting her linger on as a festering sore?

Who knows?

Elder abuse

Today an impressive group of experts deliberated on what may be the country's worse example of drug abuse.

Up to 105,000 people with dementia are given the anti-psychotic drugs inappropriately, according to expert predictions in the new All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Dementia report, 'Always a Last Resort'.

Although there is thin evidence that drugs work they are still a first resort for dealing with challenging behaviour in people with dementia, such as aggression or agitation. But there is massive evidence that neuroleptics cause devastating side effects of misery and confusion, doubling risk of death and costing us over £60 million a year.

I gave a whoop of joy when I read this report. The campaign is not new. I put down EDM is 2000 in 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996, 1995 and 1994. One in 1998 read:-

"That this House is shocked by the evidence from the Alzheimers Disease Society and Age Concern on the dangers of the over-medication of the elderly; is alarmed by reports that up to one in five admissions to hospital of the elderly are caused by the misuse of medicines and by investigations in England and Scotland that found 54 per cent. and 88 per cent of prescriptions of powerful neuroleptic drugs to elderly residents in homes were not needed, so were "wrongly prescribed". The early-day motion calls for an improvement in care services, and calls on the Government to replicate the reviews nationally"

I attended today’s two hour meeting and backed the report. Its recommendations are familiar.

'Always a Last Resort' identifies five vital steps to reduce antipsychotic use and reveals there is currently no audit or regulation of the issue. It urges the Government to use its new National Dementia Strategy to address the problem and the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to conduct a thorough review.

The ninth commandment of the Back Bencher's 10 commandments says, "Neglect the rich, the obsessed and the articulate, and seek out the silent voices". There are no voices quieter than those of people who are in residential homes for the elderly. 

Treasured view

The view from my office window has greatly improved

Since 1997 I have stared at the grime stained looming façade of the Treasury. It been cleaned-up and a new pavement has been constructed with low colonnades. It’s very attractive but the bus stops have been moved.

They were so convenient for me and thousands of others who work in parliament. Thanks for the makeover. Now bring the bus-stops back.

Burying the Body

Strangers become friends

No-one ever liked the name ‘Body’. I once urged that it we called it by its Irish name Comlacht.

Today the British Irish Parliamentary Body has metamorphosed into the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly.

It was launched in 1990 and the first plenary session was a meeting of strangers. Large delegations from the British and Irish Parliaments meet in Westminster.

Today we met as old friends. We know each other well. The gulf of suspicion and misunderstanding that separated us in 1990 has gone. The Assembly now has parliamentarians from the devolved parliaments and assemblies and the Channel Isles. The body has been a wonderful instrument for building trust and confidence in an atmosphere of mutual respect. It’s impossible to believe hostile myths about fellow parliamentarians when you have shared a meal or a pint or two with them.

The body has played a large part in breaking down the barriers in the North.  Last year for the first time ever we had a plenary meeting in Belfast. Ulster unionists have addressed our meeting. The ‘Body’ was a catalyst for the peace process. Today Peter Hain took over as the British co-chairman from Paul Murphy who has taken over from Peter as Secretary of State for Wales.

In future we will no longer spend hours talking about the crisis in Ulster. The future is the environment. We are small islands with a population of about 65 million in a world of billions of people. We have so much in common. The seas washed around our shores and their energy is wasted. If the force of the Bristol Channel and the Alderney race could be harnessed it would remove the need for 5 nuclear power stations.  It’s not high technology. Simple tidal current turbines working on both tides could produce energy that is clean, carbon free and eternal. The assembly could be a force for pushing the merits of marine power.

The ‘Body’ is no more. Long live the Assembly.

Irish saved Welsh

Thatcher's u-turn

It was Irish history than guaranteed the survival of the Welsh language.

Waiting for the flight to Dublin this morning, I was chatting about the unexpected vigour and strength of the Welsh Language especially in the Assembly. In the sixties, its demise was confidently forecast before the year 2000.

The issue of the proposed Welsh Language Channel dominated my political life in the seventies. I shared the gloom that the language would die without it. With a Labour colleague Gerard Purnell, I wrote a report that became Labour Party policy in 1973. Sadly the Labour Government of 74 to 79 did not honour our manifesto promise.

The Tory Government gave the thumbs-down in 1979. I resigned as stand-in chair of the BBC Governing Body, the Broadcasting Council for Wales. My period of service as chair was a record one that’s unlikely to be repeated. It lasted 15 minutes. Not that my resignation had any influence on the Government.

Plaid leader Gwynfor Evans announced that he would fast to death   in protest. By a stroke of luck Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was reading Irish history for the first time. She learned that a weak Irish republican movement became a mass issue only when they had martyrs killed at the Easter rising.

Thatcher saw a news report of televisions of an audience in Sophia Gardens pavilion in Cardiff chanting ‘Gwynfor! Gwynfor!’ after he had addressed them on his farewell tour. She feared that a Welsh martyr would incite violence from nationalists. She was probably correct.

To create an elegant u-turn she avoided accusations of surrendering to Gwynfor's  'blackmail' by summoning three wise men from Wales.  A pantomime was played out; when she announced that her mind had been changed – but not, of course, by the death threat.

S4C has been a glorious success beyond the most extravagant hopes of my report in 1973. There was no expectation that they would inspire so much original work of top international quality. S4C is the new habitat in which one of Europe’s most ancient languages has grown and prospered.

If only more Prime Ministers read history! Pass I send a short history of the Afghan war to Gordon Brown.

Cameron's Con
David Cameron is begging voters to commit an irrational act.

He wants fine Labour councillors with great records of service and achievement to be punished for a foul-up entirely beyond their control. He wants Ken Livingstone hammered too for the 10p foul-up.

Happily voters are cannier. When they hover over the choice on the ballot papers, a serious choice will draw then to the candidates with a proven record.

Newport Councillors have a solid record of achievement. A new city is emerging from the rubble of redevelopment. Newportonians will gain immensely from the legacy left by the Ryder Cup Tournament here in 2010.

The challenge is from a ragbag of opposition parties who threaten the city’s award winning green achievements. The city would pay dearly if it dropped its brilliant pilot and crew now. Newportonians are proving their good sense on the doorsteps and rejecting the Tories as they have in all election here since 1968.

Neglected renewables
The body that is made up of Irish, British and devolved administration MPs meets in Wexford over the next two days.

Two years ago I was made the vice-chair or its Economic Committee. It was surprise to discover that almost all its past reports have been preoccupied with the problems of small farmers. This made have had some connection with the fact that the chair of the committee and more than half its members were small farmers.

I gently suggested that it was time to take a look at the other 98% of the economy. Tomorrow we will plan the next stage of our study of renewables energy sources. Germany and Scotland are leading the way. Britain and Ireland are lagging behind.

We need action.

Everlasting stupidity

A subsidy isn’t just for Christmas

It’s forever.

It was 22 years ago that the cloud of radioactive filth from Chernobyl rained down on North Wales. You, the taxpayer are still paying the bill.

UP to 359 farms are still operating under restrictions imposed in the wake of Chernobyl. That’s 200,000 sheep that are being reared at massive subsidy cost. They cannot enter the food chain. There is no likely prospect of more than a handful of farms being freed from restrictions in the near future.

I know one of the farms well. It is Trawnant in Ysbyty Ifan farmed by Mr Glyn Roberts. I did a Welsh language television programme with Glyn a few years ago. I wanted to call ‘In search of a poor farmer.’ – a vain search of course. S4C called it ‘Flynn versus Glyn.’

The unanswered question is how long will sheep be reared on farms that will be free of radiation for thousands of years. Should another use now be found for the land instead of his expensive pretence that one day everything will be back to normal. The acreage is vast and hilly. Surely ideal sites for hydroelectric schemes.

The nuclear establishment want to forget our 200,000 radioactive sheep. Also embarrassing the World Health Organisation estimate that at least 4,000 died of cancer due to the catastrophe.

My wife fell out with our milkman in 1986. She cancelled fresh milk immediately after the nuclear rain. The milkman and the Government said this being alarmist. Now they admit that cancers resulted from drinking fresh milk then. Government scientists promised the North Wales farmers at the time that the radiation would wash away in six weeks.

The whole sorry history of nuclear power is of danger, waste, deceit, inefficiency, extravagance and cover-up. Nothing has changed in the new rush for nuclear.

Lost Cause
Tomorrow’s Independent will revive their foolish scare campaign on cannabis.  It is a shame that they have conned themselves into believing an evidence free argument.

I have tried to steer back to the splendid brave stand they took a decade ago. In answer to his question whether my opinion on cannabis has changed, I have told him: -

No. The information has remained the same but there has been a hysterical exaggeration of the long recognised harmful effects on mental health. Stronger forms of cannabis result in changed use- in the say that beer drinkers changing to wine drink less in volume. Examine the science not the tabloid headlines. If changing cannabis classification had any effect, it reduced use and presumably harm. Will reversing that policy increase use?
In 2005 with the agreement of all three main parties, magic mushrooms were absurdly placed in the same classification as heroin.  All because politicians were scared witless in fear of being caught in possession of an intelligent drugs policy just before a General Election.

Changing classifications gives politicians gratification and an excuse for not thinking. Drug's classes were irrelevant.  The UK's 10 year drugs strategy spent £billions and achieved almost nothing. Moving policies to harm reduction away from the criminal justice solutions will cut drug use, crime and deaths. Examine Portugal, which has halved drug deaths since 2001.

Night Mayor
For the first time ever I will be voting n London next week.

It’s possible to vote for the London mayor and vote for my local council candidate in Newport. The horror of giving power to Boris, the Etonian effete is too awful to contemplate.

Labour lost touch with our own people in Wales and London in 1999. Poor Frank Dobson had a mere 16% of the vote in Labour London. Ken Livingstone was the deserved victor and he has been a courageous green leader.

The Government refused to commit themselves to the congestion charge unless it proved to be a success. Congestion and pollution has been cut and public transport s more popular an efficient than it’s ever been.

Both Ken and Boris were useless MPs – petulantly prancing around waiting for for a bigger role to come along. Sense is returning. Most Londoners are now moving away from their flirtation with Boris – the joke mayor.

Gross Misconduct

The independent verdict

No one has published the unvarnished facts about a candidate standing in the local elections in Newport. He is described in election literature as an "adviser to Newport West Conservative Association on Social Services issues." A reasonable conclusion is that if the Conservatives gain control in Newport he would have a prominent role in charge of Social Services.

Labour has questioned his suitability for the job of councillor or for a position of responsibility in the department from which he was sacked. The Tories hint that the man’s dismissal was politically influenced. Totally false statements have been made verbally to me claiming that he was unfairly sacked and later compensated. The truth is simpler.

After his dismissal the man appealed to a tribunal. They heard the evidence and their fully independent conclusion could not be clearer.

“The unanimous decision of the tribunal is that the applicant was fairly dismissed and the application fails.

The reason for the dismissal was the involvement of the applicant in three incidents, two which displayed an unacceptably arrogant and rude behaviour towards the family of a relative of a morning at the old peoples’ home at which he was employed, the passing of incorrect and unauthorised information to a relative and most seriously the allegation of frightening an elderly resident.

We are satisfied that because of the nature of the applicant’s employment and the allegation involving the frightening of a resident that the conclusion that the misconduct was gross meriting instant dismissal was one which was appropriate.”

No local paper has published this crucial bit of evidence. The people of Rogerstone deserve to have the full information on the suitability or otherwise of their candidate Mr Andrew Cooksey. Up until now, this has been denied to them.

When Dafydd-El wept.

It was extraordinary night that’s imprinted forever on our memories.

The first time I have met Kirsty Williams since, as she put it, ‘we spent the night together’ was Wednesday. It was a weary six hours of slow torment that ended beautifully. She was on the Terrace of the House of the Commons and our emotions of that golden night were churned up again.

Four of us were in the BBC Wales studio to comment on the results of the referendum on Welsh Devolution. Jonathan Evans was insufferably smug, convinced that it would be a final ‘No’ vote. Dafydd Ellis Thomas, Kirsty and I suffered weary hours at what appeared to be growing certain defeat – until the glorious Carmarthen result clinched victory in the final result.

Kirsty recalls that she and I were dancing around the studio, Jonathan put his smacked-bum face on and Dafydd Ellis-Thomas wept. A marriage and three babies later, Kirsty is as splendid as ever. Surely she must become the leader of the Lib-Dems in Wales ? It will give the Assembly of bolt of much-needed colour and chutzpah. It might even resurrect the Welsh Lib-Dems from their zombie trance.

Councillor Lloyd Delahaye

A dreadful blow this morning was the news that Bettws Councillor Lloyd Delahaye had died.

He had a long illness but recently he had seemed hale and hearty. For the past few months he braved the elements to campaign for Labour Council votes throughout the city. He was the best of councillors, dedicated, intelligent, energetic, idealistic, practical and wise.

It was always pleasure to be in his company and that of his beloved wife Val. The couple have been a marvellous team, serving Bettws and the City – Lloyd as councillor and Val as the driving force in the Credit Union.

Lloyd was cabinet member for public affairs in the City of Newport. But above all his other work he was immensely proud of Bettws and the results of his work. Councillors’ work is rarely appreciated. It consists of thousands of acts of support, help and kindness.  I prized the memory of Lloyd’s faithful untiring dedication to his people.

May he rest in peace.

Human Pit Bulls

Baby fight club.

What a sickening spectacle on Channel Four tonight.

I was asked to watch it for a future comment programme follow-up. Named Baby Fight Club, it graphically showed manic parents training their 5 to 10 year old children to be human pit bulls.

It is the growing spectator sport of Thai Kick boxing. Kicks and punches to the head are sometimes banned. But the bouts filmed showed children being repeatedly punched and sometimes kicked in the head. To the adult brain, blows to the head inflict irreversible brain damage. With the maturing brain the damage can be severe.

A five-year boy and girl twins were visibly pressured into fighting. The girl was upset. She wanted to spend her time with dolls and pretty clothes. Even her tears on entering the ring did not persuade her father to stop the spectacle.

All the parents had ambitions to achieve fame and wealth through their children. One bout showed two ten year olds fighting in a cage before an audience who paid £35 each to gawp at dangerous violence being inflicted to young bodies. Why?

The regulations of the sport seem to be haphazard and vague. Some clubs do not ban blows to the head. Some allow kicks to the head. The parents’ lust for success seems to have blinded them to the perils.

This is child abuse. Why has no one stopped it?

Secret Pension Bonanza

It took three attempts, but at last I have the astonishing answer I wanted from a parliamentary question.

Constantly I have raised the subject of the growing  £billions of pounds that are accumulating as a surplus in the National Insurance Fund. The money is collected with a disproportionately high share coming from low earners.

With the help of my brilliant researcher Tony Lynes, a question was drafted that could not be dodged. What I wanted to know is if the surplus was paid to pensioners what effect would it have on the level of basic pensions payments.

The reply is breathtaking. It reads: -

“If the equivalent of the national insurance fund's annual excess of receipts over payments projected by the Acting Government Actuary for the years 2009-10 to 2012-13 were paid in its entirety to recipients of basic state pension, this would lead to an estimated percentage increase in the basic state pension of around 24 per cent in 2009-10 and around 6 per cent in the years 2010-11 to 2012-13

Any increase in basic state pension expenditure has a cumulative impact on Government spending going forward."

This means that, if each year's surplus was used to increase the basic pension (now £90.70 for a single pensioner), the pension would rise, at 2008 prices, to £112.45 in 2009-10, £119.20 in 2010-11, £126.35 in 2011-12, and £133.95 in 2012-13. 

If the present policy of increasing the pension only in line with prices continues, it will still be worth £90.70 in today's prices.  Spending the whole of the annual surplus on the basic pension, therefore, would give a single pensioner an extra £43 a week by 2012-13 - an increase of nearly 50 per cent.

Well I’m gob smacked. The Government argued that the surplus is used to fund general Government spending. But that is not the purpose of the National Insurance Fund. Nor should it paid largely by the lower paid.

Is the Government listening?

Independence threatened

The stand-in Tory shadow Leader of the House had a whine at Business Questions yesterday about the work of the Newport Based Statistics authority. How long will it take for the penny to drop.

Paul Flynn (Newport, West) (Lab): When can we have an educational debate in the House to inform the Conservatives about one of  the most serious reforms to go through this House in the past 10 years is the establishment of the UK Statistics Authority, which in its compilation and publication of statistics will be free from interference from political parties or any political narrative. Is it not disappointing that less than a month after it was set up, the Conservative party is trying to interfere with the work of the authority. 

Helen Goodman: My hon. Friend is right in that the new independent Statistics Authority that we set up under legislation earlier this month will firmly guarantee the independence of statistics. He may also be aware that scrutiny of the authority will be carried out by the Public Administration Committee. I hope that it will be able to consider the authority’s work. As he knows, all Select Committee reports may be debated in Westminster Hall.

 

‘42 Days’ dead?

Docile no more

There was pleasant euphoria today among the 40 MPs who put their heads over the parapet to challenge Gordon to repent and rebuild his budget. This was an act of solidarity among a mixed bag of backbenchers who have joined together for the first time.

The myth of subservient docile Labour backbenchers is dead. There is an organised group of backbenchers that has unity or strength. The Campaign group is divided and small. Tribune no longer exists. But there is a group of about 50 to 70 backbenchers with no personal ambitions but a great deal of mutual respect. They came together to oppose an outrage.

The change could not have been made without Frank Field’s furious forty. Today they are walking tall and looking towards a climb-down on another futile policy. The 42 days is intended to wrong-foot the opposition parties as friends of terrorists. It’s crude, unnecessary and counter productive. It will lose Muslim hearts and minds and be judged as a form of internment.

I have attended backbench briefings on this by Government ministers. Never have I had a persuasive answer on why the law is necessary. There are far more than 40 Labour MPs who are opposed to the 42 days. The opposition parties are united and parliamentary defeat is certain.

Why bother Gordon?

Hypochondriacs lead

The Hong Kong miracle was celebrated by a Parliamentary gathering of political luminaries and business leaders.

There was deep gloom from royalty and Chris Patten when the handover took place. One said that it felt like the Americans running from Saigon in 1968. A new dark age for Hong Kong was gloomily promised.

Out of their canny self-interest, the Chinese have midwifed in an era of glittering prosperity and self-confidence.

Britain is still the dominant foreign power in the region and our businesses are serving us well.

Now the task is to combine burgeoning growth with reverence for the environment. A former B