He Will Not Veto!

Well Peter Hain says he's not going to veto a referendum (which means Labour and the Tories seem to be on the same page)...

He’s just told Plenary: "If I am the Secretary of State in receipt of an Assembly request to call a referendum, I would not veto that request."

It appears he has actually been convinced by the All Wales convention report!

But he still seems to think that the "new system is starting to work and is starting to work well."

It’s not an unequivocal show of support – but it clears things up a bit!

So I guess the ball is now fully in the court of the new Labour leader. If that new leader is Edwina Hart it seems unclear if she will move as quickly as Plaid might like. Today her response has popped up on her campaign site, it says: "Our focus will be on testing public readiness to support such a vote."

(I thought that was what the All Wales Convention was all about.)

Dewi Tri

MPs Hart Labour

Today we’ve found out that Edwina Hart’s campaign has been boosted with the support of Paul Murphy MP and Don Touhig MP – as one tweet put it, two for the price of one.

Now have I missed something somewhere? I’m sure that all the talk to this point has been that whilst Edwina Hart is popular with the trade unionists and some AMs, her campaign would likely splutter due to a lack of support from MPs. Today’s news surely means that this analysis is flawed?

Paul Murphy and Don Touhig are some of the most senior Labour MPs and the most anti-devolution. If they support Edwina Hart’s campaign then surely many more MPs will follow? Edwina Hart is seen as a radical and the most pro-devolution of the three candidates – so if Don and Paul have ignored their natural opposition to these positions, and backed the AM from Gower, then maybe MPs are not as anti Edwina as we have been led to believe?

If this is the case and MPs are dancing to Edwina Hart’s tune then surely she must become the front runner?

Ladbrokes latest on Welsh First Minister race has it as:

Jones 4/6, Hart 5/2, Lewis 7/2

So Carwyn Jones is in the lead for now – but if more MPs start harting Labour then I suspect the odds will change.

Dewi Un

Two’s company, three’s a crowd - Edwina Hart plans to run for the top job

Politics Cymru have heard that Edwina Hart has decided to run for the Labour leadership! We have been told that she has informed a few key personnel and is in the embryonic stages of planning her campaign.

This throws the whole contest wide open as it had been expected that the health minister would act as King (or should that be Queen?) maker for either Huw Lewis or Carwyn Jones. The latter, who has been favourite to take over from Rhodri, must be devastated to find that the AM for the Gower is now running.

What this does for the odds should make for interesting reading, and what it does for the contest even more so. We have already seen a clear socialist vision of Wales put forth by Huw Lewis, so does Edwina Hart, who is of course a devoted trade unionist and socialist, jump even further to the left? Or does she concentrate her campaign on personality and experience?

All we really know is that the debates (if there are any) will make for very interesting viewing!

As ever let us know your opinions (which, given the strength of comment we had last time we blogged about Edwina Hart, should be good).

Yours

Dewi Un

A busy day for Edwina

Today Edwin Hart has once again shown that she is a politician that doesn’t flinch at making the big decisions. Not only has she gone against medical advice in keeping two separate sites for Neurology open in South Wales, but she has also given the go ahead for expensive kidney cancer medication to be available on the NHS in Wales, even though this isn’t the case in England.

Edwina Hart is a true flyer of the red flag. Where other politicians like to suggest that they are socialist to the core, when it comes to the crunch they often fold to the pressures of the free market. Here we have the health minister openly supporting patient wishes despite the financial cost, and given today’s economic climate you have to admit it’s a politically gutsy move.

It would have been easy for Mrs Hart to sidle along with the arguments of cutting back and being prudent in this time of recession (as of tomorrow) but no, she has stuck to her principles and acted in the way she feels best, I have to admit that in this age of spin it is refreshing to see a high profile politician act in this manner.

Whatever a politician's beliefs, be they lefty, righty, centrist, slightly lefty... too often we see core principles abandoned for short term political gain. Sometimes, whether we agree or disagree it’s nice to see an elected official do what they said they would, and act according to their conscience. For too long we have watched our politicians play a game of chess in the media trying to convince us that they are something they are not.

Edwina Hart's brand of socialism may not be for everyone, and it may be that her beliefs cost her the Labour leadership, but surely everyone has to have a degree of respect for such a politician in today’s age of political trickery.

Hwyl am y tro

Dewi Un