One Wales....

I'm sorry that I haven't blogged for so long. Did you miss me?!

I've been appointing staff, I attended a local meeting against an open cast development tonight, took part in a panel discussion on post 16 education today at the Millennium Centre, and did my first Short debate this Wednesday, on Student debt in Wales.

All that, and Plaid's Assembly group has finally decided to propose the Red- Green deal to our National Executive. It's a very good document, which includes exciting policies on housing(suspending the right to buy in areas of housing pressure), health (rejecting privatisation of NHS services), rejecting the implementation of top-up fees in this Assembly term, a Welsh Language education strategy and a Welsh Federal College, as well as making Welsh an official Language of Wales, and establishing the role of the Commissioner. The issue which makes the document much more robust is obviously the referendum on a Parliament for Wales, and the convention which will engage with people from all parts of society to set the terms of reference for the referendum.

I think that we've encouraged Labour in to accepting concessions that they never would have considered before May the 3rd, and I hope that Plaid can continue to be a positive influence on the governing of Wales for the next four years. What's important is that we can deliver on what has been agreed between the two parties if, of course, it is ratified in both the Labour Special Conference and at our National Council on the 7th of July. I will be posting an executive summary of the document here but I'm sure you can find it in full on other blogs ( the recently retired blogger Ted Jones has it on his blog)

No doubt if this deal comes about the Lib dems and the Tories will be attacking us, but that is to be expected.
I must say, ( shock horror) that I favour this deal to the three party coalition. For one, both parties have agreed to campaign for a successful outcome to a referendum on a Parliament for Wales. We need a 2/3 majority to trigger a referendum, and as a Nationalist, who wants to further the constitutional question, I believe this is an historic opportunity for Wales- that we will have a referendum either before or at the next Assembly election in 2011.

I also support this coalition as we will show that we have rejected the concept of realigning our party to the right of the political spectrum. By entering this coalition, I do not feel that Plaid is abandoning its key left of centre stance, which we would undoubtedly be doing if we were to enter Government alongside the Tories. Some will of course argue that Labour are not following a left agenda. That may be so in Westminster, but I certainly hope that we can kick New Labour in to touch here in Wales. Politics is about perception, and I don't think that the perception of us entering a coalition with the Tories would have enhanced our credibility as a party who has historically placed ourselves on the left, and rightly so.

I am confident that we can unite the party to support the implementation of the programme, and be positive about the next four years. It will be a challenge, especially at grassroots level, but it's a challenge that we should grasp with enthusiasm, not with negativity.

10 of us voted in favour of this deal- a majority amongst the Plaid AM's. We have to make it work now so that people have confidence in the National Assembly as an Institution. I must say that I am quite shocked that there are accusations that the party's left have blackmailed Ieuan Wyn Jones in to accepting this deal. I said from the beginning of the negotiations, that even though I didn't support the three party deal, if that's what the party voted for, then I would work to make it a success. It's an easy hit for critics to continually attack 'the left' in Plaid, especially those who wanted the three party deal for the sake of getting more interesting stories!

At the end of the day, Ieuan Wyn Jones is our leader, and therefore has the ability to make informed decisions. It is totally preposterous to make claims that he has been pushed in to making a decision to support red-green. Some Rainbowistas might not like it, but that's the reality of the situation!