Watching the Defectives

Oh dear. This plotting business appears to be a little too complicated for the Plaid-Labour-Con Coalition leaders to get right with any consistency. After getting the tip-off about their failure to get rid of Nick Tregoning and Paul Tucker at Area 2 Planning yesterday, I rang one of my moles with a few questions about what they had been trying to do. It seems that Labour's David Phillips was going to propose his fellow PLC Coalition leader, and new best mate, Tory 'Dear Leader' Rene Kinzett. (They get on well together outside the chamber too; another source saw them nip out for a high-level pow-wow in a nearby office.)

Darren 'Baby Face' Price wasn't there, but then I guess that given Plaid's new role as Labour's Little Helpers in the Assembly, they didn't really need him to be. I'd always thought Plaid had a bigger role to play than as a glove-puppet for Swansea New Labour - and now for their new Tory partners. Seems I was wrong.

What really sums the new coalition up, however, was that in the attempt to unseat Tregoning and Tucker, two non-voting PLC members who were there actually stuck their hands up and voted. Luckily, eagle-eyed officers spotted the 'mistake'. No doubt the PLC spinners across at the former New Labour spin-site will have some excuse for this. Cue injured huffing and puffing from Inside Leg!

Bandwagon Pit Stop

The Labour Party's 2008 campaign war chest (funded from any Special Allowance they pick up) took a knock today when they failed to unseat Nick Tregoning and Paul Tucker from their posts at planning this afternoon. A 16-14 defeat left steam coming out of the PLC administration's (sorry coalition's) ringpiece.

David Philips was trying his best as a barrack room lawyer to explain how the vote should be conducted. He then resorted to hurt child tactic's of "You promised us an orderly transition.".

We are patiently waiting for the day when Labour ask their new bedfellows to directly contribute to the war chest. Could be fun and games in West Cross next Year!

PLC Alliance Candidate for Swansea West?

My sources within local New Labour are always act coy when I ask them who is in the frame to take over from Alan Williams in Swansea West. Which former Master of the Universe will it be? Will David Phillips stand? Will a woman get the nod? Not if Swansea Labour's record during their last year in power - in office would be more accurate really- is anything to go by. How many women were there in that last Cabinet boys?

There is a name which has been mentioned to me as the front-runner at this time, barring Labour in London parachuting in a candidate of course; and that is Derek Vaughan, presently New Labour leader of Neath Port Talbot Council; the self-same New Labour-controlled Council that is scurrying round 3000 or so of their senior staff trying to get them to take early retirement so as to get their budget sorted out. Someone will be looking for an ABD (Anyone But Derek) any day now.

Perhaps they could approach Rene Kinzett? Or Darren Price? After all, they are all in the PLC (Plaid Labour Con) Alliance! Perhaps the spinners across at Inside Leg can tell us?

Grabbing the money

Surprisingly, a quick poll of Councillors has revealed that the only people who really care about the special responsibility allowances are those in the Plaid, Labour, Conservative Alliance.

So far the resistance to the PLC takeover has been largely motivated by sheer bloody-mindedness on the part of the Adminstration group. This is especially so when one considers that of the four who relinguished their post yesterday, one does not claim his Special Responsibility Allowance at all.

Still, whilst the Inside Outers continue to gloat, we can rest assured that they continue to neglect their real job of scrutinising the Administration. And if it takes an election for Chair and Vice Chair to get them to turn up for meetings then what is the harm in doing it every month.

Meanwhile, the question on everybody's lips is 'would David Phillips acknowledge the facts if he tripped over them?'

City Centre moving forward

Although we have been saying it for some time, it is nice to have independent and external developers confirming that Swansea City Centre is moving forward again.

Developers behind the £9 million rejuvenation of Pearl House are quoted in today's Evening Post as saying that Swansea is on the up. They have given the city a vote of confidence and are convinced that the city centre's fortunes are about to be transformed.

Director, Martyn Guess, said: "The reason we bought it is that we could see the potential of Swansea. I have been coming here for 10 years and I thought something was going to happen.

"With what is happening in the docks, along with all the residential and other developments, the whole place is being regenerated."

Mr Guess believes the new-look Kingsway and the redevelopment of the former David Evans store would lift that part of the city.

He said: "With all the road works that have been going on, it has been like armageddon down there. But it will be good. That is why we bought the property, the new David Evans and the new retailers will definitely enhance the area. I think making Princess Way narrower will also make it a more intimate shopping area."

It is nice to see that others appreciate the way that the Administration has picked up the pieces of Labour's disastrous mismanagement of the City Centre.

Bog Standard

After debating the withdrawl of the Dog Licence from Post Offices, Lady Pennard switched chambers. She was spotted coming out of the Administration khazi by the Mawr mouth whose prostate was giving him jip. On her return we believe there were cries of strap her to the bidet and turn on the hot water. But the big question remained was she chairing Area 1 or 2?

Budget Time

The Labour chumps at Inside Out are very keen to portray the Swansea Administration as keen to cut services, even though in many instances they failed to oppose the supposed cuts and the impact on the ground is minimal. For our part we have been keen to eschew Labour's example and to live within our means. That is why we have kept our average Council Tax increase to 4.25%, compared to 8.66% under Labour.

Just how difficult that has been in the face of many cost pressures and inadequate settlements from the Labour Assembly Government has not been appreciated by many. For Labour, they have always preferred to ignore these factors and just oppose for the sake of it.

Now we see that it is not just Swansea that is having problems. Neighbouring Labour-controlled Neath Port Council are having to resort to more drastic measures than anything we would contemplate to keep their budget under control. According to the Neath Guardian Labour Council Leader, Derek Vaughan, is contemplating laying off staff to make ends meet. His administration has written to almost 3,000 of their most senior staff, asking them if they would be willing to take voluntary redundancy or early retirement. So far 400 have volunteered. Quite what impact this will have on services has yet to be seen but we are willing to bet that it will not be positive.

Although Neath Port Talbot aim to keep their Council Tax rise to a minimum they will still have the highest Council tax bills in Wales. So their residents will be paying more than anybody else for poorer services. That is the reality of living in a Labour-run Council area. We bet this will not feature on the Labour spin site anytime soon.

Post Office blues

Having left the public gallery sometime during public questions last night, we missed the most entertaining part of the Council proceedings. We are talking about Labour teaming up with the Conservatives to try and frustrate a Liberal Democrat motion opposing further cuts in Post Offices.

According to our sources, Labour wunderkind and Morriston new boy, Rob Stewart, backed up by his leader, David Phillips, sought to remove from the motion opposition to the removal of Government business from the Post Office. He and his Labour colleagues also opposed any link up between the Council and local AMs and MPs to campaign against the dismantling of the Post Office network. They must have swallowed hard when new Tory leader, Rene Kinzett leapt to his feet to enthusiastically pledge the support of himself and his Tory Group to this amendment. Labour failed to vote for the unamended motion.

We can only conclude from this unholy alliance that Labour and the Tories are happy at the Government removing choice from local people as to where they get their passport for example, and that they do not mind too much if as a result of the Government taking their business elsewhere, local Post Offices become less viable and have to close.

We must also draw the conclusion that both Labour and the Tories do not wish to see a repeat of the joint work between the Council and local Parliamentary and Assembly representatives over the Kingsway Post Office, in seeking to save other Post Offices. Presumably they are happy to sit passively by as their communities are deprived of this vital facility.

Vote Labour, get Tory and lose your Post Office.

A vision for the future

We do not mind admitting that it took some time to get to grips with the mess that Labour left us in the City Centre. Things do not move quickly in the world of retail development and it has been difficult re-establishing Swansea's reputation as a place to do business. We still have some way to go on that.

Although the Evening Post concentrated on plans to link up the Quadrant and St. David's Centre, the strategy which we have just published contains an important blueprint for the future. What is just as important is that at Council tonight there was all-party support for that vision.

Things are starting to look up for Swansea. New developments are coming on line, whilst developers are showing an interest in the City once more. Although Labour keep alleging that we are a one-trick Adminstration with regards to the Leisure Centre they may find, when it comes to facing the voters in 2008, we actually have quite a number of accomplishments under our belt and that a reviving City Centre is one of them.

Business as usual

Whilst all the scheming continues behind closed doors in County Hall, the Cabinet is ensuring that it is business as usual for the Council.

Part of this is the way that the Administration is gearing up its campaign to clean up the City. Talks are underway with the Trade Unions to introduce more effective working practices whilst other initiatives are being introduced to discourage and punish litter.

Whatever happens tomorrow and subsequently, we are determined to make some very real improvements to the cleanliness of Swansea.

Update: It is good to see Labour acknowledge how bad things were when we took over, even if they do refer to fictitious cuts in cleansing.

PLC Alliance gets New Member?

Back in the city for a week, catching up with old friends and all the gossip - hearing all about the new Plaid/Labour/Con Alliance; now there's an alliance built on principle and mutual respect!

Looks like the stuff I was reading about Plaid shoring up Labour in the Assembly wasn't just a one-off then - they're at it here in Swansea too. No real surprise to see Rene Kinzett join forces with the former Masters of the Universe of course...I guess they're all getting excited at the prospect of sharing out Special Responsibility Allowances once again, and ordering people about. How will they manage with three leaders? Perhaps David Phillips will be the Great Leader, and Rene Kinzett the Dear Leader - where does that leave Darren Price? The Spare Leader?

It seems incidentally, that the 'Great Leader' was seen in the public gallery talking to none other than Lis Davies during Planning this afternoon. Is Lis to be the latest addition to the PLC Alliance? I think we should be told...

Smoke filled rooms

The smell of intrigue in County Hall is pungent with all the groups weighing up their options. If it had not been for modern health and safety policies the Councillors would not be able to move for the smoke filled rooms.

Tonight, whilst the Administration Group were discussing their options, the Labour Party were meeting in County Hall to consider whether they were prepared to enter into a rainbow coalition with Tories and Plaid to take all the Committee Chairs. Quite why a public facility is still being used free of charge by a political party for its meetings might be something that the Cabinet might wish to investigate.

Meanwhile, it was rumoured that new Conservative Leader, Rene Kinzett, was ensconced with the Plaid Cymru group trying to convince them to support his personal vendetta against the Administration. Both Plaid and Labour need to decide whether their grassroots will countenance this sort of pact with the previously hated Tories and what impact it will have on their respective Assembly campaigns.

Most intriguing of all was the directive issued to Council Leader, Chris Holley by Rene and his Renegades. Having already lost two of his original group members back to the Administration Councillor Kinzett is understandably sensitive about the possibility of more of his colleagues being talked into following suit. Accordingly, he demanded that no Administration Councillor should approach or speak to any of his group without seeking his permission first.

Many in the Administration reacted to this demand with scorn but were surprised nevertheless to read on Alun Cairn's blog that this 'understanding' was not mutual. Not only has Rene been trying to tempt Richard Lewis into his group but he and other Conservatives continue to put pressure on Joan Peters and Huw Rees to come back into the fold. In all three cases we understand that they received a very firm rebuff.

How deluded the Tories are is summed up by Cairn's suggestion that the recruitment of Independent Councillor Margaret Smith back into his party somehow constitutes a 'recovery'. As the Tories Economic Development Spokesman and a banker, you would have thought that his arithmetic was good enough to realise that four is one less than five and that any independent observer would reasonably conclude that Kinzett's defection had led to a catastrophic schism within the local Conservative Party.

Innuendo

In the end the much heralded appearance of Ray Welsby on the Swansea Sound phone-in was a bit of a damp squib. If he had information of 'dodgy dealing' then he was keeping it to himself. Instead he launched into one of his customary rants about his fellow Councillors, peppered as usual with inaccuracies, rumours and innuendo.

Of course it is perfectly possible that our disappointment was not Ray's fault. After all his contribution had been built up to unscalable heights by the increasingly desperate Labour spin site. They are starting to build up a quite a reputation for making it up as they go along.

Another unlikely alliance

It has been just over a week since Rene Kinzett took over the leadership of the Council's Conservative Group and already he is finding that political leadership is not as easy as he thought.

Two fifths of his group have deserted him and, even though he may pick up an independent in return for a suitable incentive, he has still been left leading a rump and sharing an office with Ray Welsby.

Of course this still leaves him in a reasonably strong position if only because of the way that the group numbers stack up. What he is going to do with this influence has yet to be seen.

His attempt to separate himself and his group from Administration policies on e-government, the Leisure Centre and the Bendy Bus is a gamble that may yet rebound on him. For the last three years he has been closely associated with all of these policies. When they start to come good just in time for the elections then he may well find himself out on a limb. Equally, if any of them should suffer a setback he will have great difficulty convincing anybody that he was not complicit in formulating and implementing the policy.

What is most interesting however is Rene's choice of allies. He has recently been seen around County Hall deep in discussion with Labour Group Leader, David Phillips. Whereas, even we would not suggest that he is about to form a Lab-Con Administration, it is certainly possible that his group will join with Labour to claim all the scrutiny chairs.

We are sure that the Tory blue rinse brigade, who account for the party's grassroots these days, will not be amused at this unlikely partnership. It may prove awkward too for Tory AM, Alun Cairns and his running mates in the Assembly elections. He will have some fun explaining to local voters how his party can advocate a rainbow coalition in Cardiff Bay, whilst at the same time stabbing the same potential partners in the back in Swansea and teaming up with New Labour instead.

We really do live in interesting times.

Wishful thinking

Labour may feel that they can gloat over this complaint by Manselton speed campaigners but they should not fool themselves that they are in touch with the community on this issue. Neither of the campaigners quoted in the article live in the area and in the case of Rhodri Griffiths he has been seeking to make political capital from the tragic death of a young girl for some time now.

The reason why there has been a delay in implementing this scheme is because the ward councillors have been working closely with local residents to get it right. The reason why the Council did not just slap a 20mph limit on the road and walk away as Rhodri Griffiths wants is because they did not wish to see any more children die there.

The inconvenient fact that Mr. Griffiths will not acknowledge is that the statutory speed limit is 30mph and that anything below that is unenforceable. The highway experts believe that the only way to slow traffic down is to change the road layout and that is what is happening.

Community politics is not about popularism, it is about working with a community to change things for the better. That is precisely what the Manselton Councillors have been doing. As for the budget cuts, Labour keep on saying that they have hit basic services but they can offer no evidence for this. In highways there is now a proper programme of repair, maintenance and replacement and there is more to come.

Update: The latest politicians to fall under the spell of the Liz Davies/Ray Welsby/Rhodri Griffiths axis are Plaid Cymru AM, Dai 'Preacher' Lloyd and his protégé, Darren 'babyface' Price. They have put out a statement supporting the demand for a 20mph zone in Manselton Road. It seems that they too have no regard to the future safety of local children and would happily see an ineffective and unenforceable 20mph limit in place rather than the measures that are being installed at present.

Moment of truth for Minister

Work on re-building the Quadrant bus station has always relied on Assembly transport grant from the moment that the previous Labour Administration conceived the idea. It should be no surprise to anybody, least of all local AM and Transport Minister, Andrew Davies, that the moment has now come to put the Assembly Government's cash where his mouth is.

This is a major plank in the regeneration of the City Centre. Enough money has gone into other, mostly Labour, areas such as Rhondda Cynon Taf. As a Swansea AM, Andrew Davies needs to ensure that his home city starts to get its fair share. It would be about time.

Threesome

All sorts of groups now value the figure 'three' as an ideal operating size. Some though reach that number by mistake.

One for the Gipper

Labour really cannot let e-government go. The problem is that they seem to be making it up as they go along. The letter in today's Evening Post from former Councillor Derek James is a classic case in point. He pretends to know what is going on but actually he is as confused as the newspaper's journalists.

Mr. James should know better than to talk about local government in terms of profit and loss. He is also experienced enough to know that even Labour's more extravagant e-government scheme was as bad as he imagines the current project to be.

If Derek wants to know the true costs he only has to read this blog. We would be more than happy to provide an on-line tutorial for him.

Tackling litter

Some of those who commented on the Evening Post website may not have been too happy but this intiative to penalise litter louts is an important cornerstone of the Administration's drive to clean up Swansea.

The Council is seeking to reform the way that they keep the City clean from April with the introduction of dedicated clean teams. They are also seeking to overcome some of the restrictive practices that have ensured that Council taxpayers have not been getting value for money in the past on cleansing. Negotiations are on-going with unions that will hopefully ensure that we get a more efficient service in return for investing a bit more in our workforce.

No doubt the extra litter bins will follow, but we must educate people into keeping the City clean as well, and that takes a stick as well as carrots.

Searching for a crystal ball

Whatever else we might say about the brothers and sisters over at Inside Out at Swansea, they are consistent. Their excited postings about Ray Welsby phoning into Swansea Sound this morning has gone the way of many of their past predictions and claims - down the pan. They really should stop listening at doors and get themselves a real crystal ball.

It is entirely possible of course that Welsby failed to get up early enough as the Labour hacks imply, but then again, unlikely as it is, maybe he just didn't have anything to say.

Still at least we had David Phillips to make up for Welsby's absence. The Inside Outers accuse Peter Black of launching into a "tired and often repeated anti-Labour tirade" but it is Councillor Phillips who really needs to change the record. Whilst his Labour group continue to miss meetings and show little interest in effective scrutiny as a result of losing their Special Responsibility Allowances, he totally lacks credibility in accusing Administration Councillors of just being in it for the money.

The throne in the cupboard

All the talk in County Hall is of the new office that has appeared next door to the ladies toilets on the second floor. Those walking past can just make out through the glass panel in the door a desk, computer, printer and a massive chair. In fact it is not so much a chair as a throne.

It turns out that this is the new prestigious office of Ray Welsby, from which he will preside over his many campaigns. Nobody has yet thought to point out to him that it is in fact a converted cupboard, and no-one has yet explained why it is that it has not been sound proofed.

Ratting on Gethin

An e-mail from Ioan Richard attacking Labour Councillors is not unusual, however the latest missive is interesting if only for the allegations it contains about Labour Councillor Gethin Evans. What is more it was sent to us by a member of the Labour Group.

In his communication to all Labour Councillors Ioan states that during the "Lliw Valley days" Gethin Evans often went behind the backs of the ruling Labour group to feed information to Swansea's present Deputy Lord Mayor. In particular it is alleged that Gethin put Ioan up to attack Labour Party colleagues over the Bowls Club fiasco at Gorseinon and the Llwchwr Rescue Station.

Ioan continues: "You frequently used to tell me the most scathing things about the Labour Leadership of Lliw Valley Council and also in the early days of this Council you leaked information to me. It only stopped I presume when you considered I lacked much influence to damage Labour on Swansea Council."

We are sure that the Swansea Council Labour Group will not be amused.

A tribute to Joan Peters

Councillor Joan Peters is a longstanding Conservative Councillor who has been badly treated by her own party. It is a tribute to her loyalty therefore that she has decided to stick with them.

The saddest thing about her enforced removal as leader of the Conservative Group was the shabby way in which it took place. Rumours have it that Welsh Conservative Leader, Nick Bourne, even took the trouble to travel all the way to Swansea to make sure that there were no hitches in Rene Kinzett's little coup. When we put this to Tory spin doctor Richard Hazlewood on his blog he failed to post our comment. We are happy therefore to give him or Nick Bourne the opportunity to deny it by e-mailing us. We will, of course publish any reply as an update to this post and correct anything here that is inaccurate.

Mr. Hazlewood's post was a masterpiece in political spin. It was though rather a kick in the teeth for Councillor Peters. It was almost as if she had become persona non grata. When your own party starts to promote your sacking as 'good news to kick off the New Year', then you know that you have become a non-person.

Fortunately. Joan Peter's colleagues in the Administration value her rather more than her fellow Conservatives and it is likely that she will remain in the Cabinet for the time being.

Update: The following e-mail has been received which we are happy to reproduce in full so as to clarify events:

I note from your website that you allege Nick Bourne AM travelled to Swansea to attend a Conservative Group meeting at which Joan Peters was replaced as Leader by Rene Kinzett.

This is not true. Nick Bourne was abroad on Assembly Business when the meeting was held so I would be grateful if you would make this clear. Nick has played no part in this matter at all.

Paul Morris
Group Administrator
Welsh Conservative Group

Perhaps we can now establish the whereabouts of Alun Cairns and Welsh Conservative officials during this meeting.

Further Update: Paul Morris has now confirmed that Alun Cairns was not present, however the Chairman of the Welsh Conservative Party was. No wonder Joan Peters was so aggrieved to find the Welsh Conservative establishment lined up to facilitate the coup d'grace that was instituted against her.

Labour bring on the clowns

An e-mail arrives consisting of a letter to the Evening Post in answer to the nonsense written by Jeff Baker and David Phillips in tonight's Evening Post.

As we have no shame we have corrected one item in it and used it as the basis of this post:

In his letter, Chris Powell states that the Service @ Swansea project has cost council taxpayers up to £170 million for both phases to come to fruition. The actual value of the work to date is £98 million over ten years. Of this £37 million is new money. The rest is paid for out of existing budgets and savings.

As phase two has not commenced there is no additional expenditure on this part of the project. The whole point of deciding that we would not proceed with phase two with Capgemini was to ensure that the Council did not overstretch itself and commit to expenditure that it could not afford. That is a prudent action and it is the reason why we will not get the massive increase in Council Tax bills predicted by Mr. Powell.

In the light of these facts it is difficult to reconcile the charges of incompetence from Trade Union Boss, Jeff Baker, with the reality. The Administration has already made it clear that it is investigating alternative ways of implementing the contact centre in a way that is affordable and deliverable. The out-of-date IT systems are being introduced and are already making a massive difference to the way that the Council is administered, whilst the suggestion that jobs are at risk as a result of this decision is a fiction.

The comments by Councillor David Phillips make even less sense. He refers to £18 million as savings that should have been made from phase one to fund phase two and yet the budgetted savings for this part of the project is £8.5m. He also claims that that we cannot make it phase one break even but with the first year not yet complete we have already identified half of the ten year savings.

We have not implemented phase two precisely because we did not believe that the figures stacked up. That decision has saved the Council millions. We will only implement phase two when we believe that it will deliver what is expected of it and that it is affordable. Phase two and the contact centre have not been cancelled. We are trying to find more affordable ways of delivering it.

When the present Administration came to power it found a legacy of neglect: the Leisure Centre had closed because of the failure to maintain it, the Guildhall had a £30 million maintenance backlog, money needed to be spent on schools, roads, car parks, lamp posts and many other assets just to keep them running. The same is true of the Council’s internal systems. If the Administration had not invested in ICT then millions of pounds would continue to have been poured down the drain from inefficient practices, duplication and poor information. To be fair Labour recognised that too, which is why they started the e-government programme. It is a shame they cannot continue to support that modernisation.

Val Watch

Labour AM Val Lloyd is to be commended for her initiative in pledging to use her car less in 2007. Of course she does not say whether her husband and unofficial chauffeur, Swansea Councillor, Bob Lloyd, will be following suit.

Presumably, when Bob comes down to Cardiff to join her overnight he will be catching the train as well.

Either way we will enjoy keeping our eye out for any lapses in this new policy. Please e-mail us with any sightings of Bob or Val driving around the streets of Swansea and/or Cardiff and especially any evidence of them using the M4.

And now for the good news!

New Labour hacks have been very keen to get onto the internet and local radio in the last 24 hours to accuse the Administration of trying to bury bad news but actually the reverse is true.

It is significant that this story about the early re-opening of the Leisure Centre has not featured in any of the Inside Outers' pronouncements. That is because they would prefer that it was not happening. Instead they have tried to manufacture a bad news story about e-government in an effort to bury the good news.

Labour closed down the Leisure Centre as a result of their incompetence and neglect. It has taken a new Administration to re-open it and to do so ahead of schedule.

Pulling the plug

Having been nice about the New Labour blog we can now get back to the business in hand and point out their inconsistency, hypocrisy and sheer brass neck once more.

In this instance it is their spin on the decision by the Administration not to proceed with phase two of e-government using Capgemini.

It has been clear for some time that this part of the scheme was unaffordable and needed to be re-thought out. In fact members of the Administration have said as much in the Evening Post. It is also the case, contrary to what is said in the Post and on the Labour blog, that phase one is likely to achieve both its objectives and the savings expected of it. Indeed, half of those ten year savings have already been identified. That fits precisely with what we said on 28 April 2006.

The Evening Post say that projected savings have been scaled back from between £30m and £50m to £26m, but that is because only half of the original scheme is being implemented as envisaged. As for Councillor Phillips' allegation that we need phase two to implement the contact centre, that is not strictly true, and of course it is always possible that phase two can be resurrected with a new partner or via a scaled back in-house option. All of these are being looked at.

The biggest laugh however is Labour's selective quotation of the Evening Post article. They note the paper's description of the decision as a u-turn but ignore completely the comment article in which the Council is praised for taking this course of action:

Pressing the pause button heralds a common sense approach from County Hall and its new chief executive, and is in marked contrast to his predecessor's head-in-the-clouds attitude to local government.

Having taken this project through a strike caused by the previous Labour administration's mishandling of the issues, and having had to mould their wild ambitions for IT into a more manageable form, we believe that our whole approach to e-government has been a common-sense approach. If Labour had had their way the Council would have been bankrupted. Now we can enjoy the benefits of improved working, better IT systems, a combined contact centre/library and financial savings. Phase two may still be possible, but we are not going to put front line services at risk to pay for it.

A unlikely note of gratitude

When the previous Insider deleted the old Inside Swansea site we thought that the archives had been lost forever. However, this turns out not to be the case and we have the brothers and sisters of Inside Out at Swansea to thank for it.

We have now put a link to the resurrected site so that our readers can enjoy some continuity.

Large clunking fist

Talking about people who need to check their facts, comments by Labour AM, Val Lloyd, in today's Evening Post, seem remarkably off-message.

She is undoubtedly aware of the enthusiasm of her Labour colleague, Leighton Andrews, for transferring Council housing stock to a community mutual housing association in Rhondda Cynon Taf and also of the way that Labour run Councils in Bridgend andTorfaen have led the way on this agenda. She will also be aware, because she was there, that both First Minister, Rhodri Morgan, and Social Justice Minister, Edwina Hart, have reiterated the policy of Chancellor, Gordon Brown, that there is no fourth option. And why should there be? After all, to secure such a fourth option the Government would need to find an additional £300 million of public spending in Wales alone.

Despite all of this Mrs Lloyd continues to advocate a 'fourth option' and suggests that this is also the policy of the Assembly Government. If she is not careful the great clunking fist of the Chancellor of the Exchequer or the Social Justice Minister will strike her down for being seriously off message.

No brainer

Reluctant as we are to spoil the Insider Outers little rant but it does seem relevant to point out that their memory may be playing tricks on them with regards to the motion on mobile phone masts.

Far from voting against the idea of restrictions for these masts, the Administration actually referred the issue to a scrutiny board where it could be fully investigated. That board is getting on with this work even as we type.

All of this is completely in line with the contents of the motion now submitted to Council by Nick Tregoning and John Newbury.

Let us not forget by the way that all of the £450,000 income from masts on Council-owned land comes from agreements made by the previous Labour Administration before we were elected into office.

Labour spin corps

We are not sure what exactly the Labour Insiders have against spinners, after all they are pretty proficient at the art themselves. Take their latest posting on bed-blocking.

They point out the article in today's Evening Post that claims that delays in transferring patients from hospital to council commissioned residential care – is around the £1 million mark, with a total of 43 cases being “social care-related” and they imply that this is somehow a Swansea problem and specifically the fault of the Administration. A commentator on the paper's website also believes that this problem could have been avoided if the Council was not rebuilding the Leisure Centre. Perhaps he has been drinking with some Labour Councillors.

The money being spent on re-opening the Leisure Centre is, of course, capital spending, whereas the shortfall described by the Local Health Trust is revenue. The fact is though that this sort of bed-blocking is rife across Wales and Swansea is by no means the worst area.

In the last budget round the Administration increased the amount of money available for Social Services by a substantial amount. It was noticeable that when the Council debated these plans, Labour failed to raise the issue of bed-blocking at all. The truth is that the Trust is playing a game of its own, trying to put pressure on other authorities to bail it out.

We suspect that if the Labour Assembly Government got its act together and actually forced health and social services to pool their budgets, whilst throwing in some extra cash to initiate long term projects to do away with bed blocking, then the issue could be sorted out.

Update: An e-mail sent to all Councillors from the Director of Social Services trashes the claims by the NHS Trust. His letter to the Evening Post states that the latest census report for the period to November reveals 70 Delayed Transfers of Care for Swansea residents, 16 related directly to Social Care.

He goes on to say that the figures in the Trust's report relate to the whole Trust not just Swansea residents (and therefore Swansea Social Care), they provide insufficient analysis of type of delay to be helpful, and they use a definition called Social Care, which is not the same as Social Services.

In other words our analysis that the Trust was playing a political game to put pressure on its partners and the Assembly Government to bail them out appears to have been correct. Perhaps if they learnt to work with other agencies instead of undermining them they might not be in such trouble.

Dumb and Dumber

Rumour has it that Lis 'bandwagon' Davies has now joined up with Ray Welsby in his campaign to single-handedly prevent stock transfer.

We are told that Lis is helping organise a public meeting in Sketty next Tuesday in which the gruesome twosome hope to rally thousands of tenants in opposition to the proposal. Alas, if the meeting is anything like those Ray Welsby has held previously then it will consist of about two dozen Trots and a couple of bemused tenants.

Quite why Lis is interested in this issue is not clear. She has never previously shown any knowledge or awareness of Council housing. We can only speculate that she views this campaign as yet another opportunity to bash the Swansea Administration.

Hitting out at the Administration is a speciality for Lis Davies. For many she has become a cartoon villain as she has increasingly sought out any ally and any issue she can, irrespective of logic or principle, in an effort to hit out at her sworn enemies. In doing so she has got herself into trouble with the ombudsman and completely undermined any respect she may once have had. This latest partnership with Ray Welsby may well be the final nail in the coffin of her credibility.

Learning to count again

Oh dear, presumably thinking that they are now safe from contradiction, the Inside Outers are up to their old tricks - spinning the facts in a way that fits their story rather than telling the truth.

They are fully aware that the e-government programme did not cost £90 million and that it is much more than mainframe renewal. After all it was their programme. The Administration just scaled it back to make it more affordable and deliverable.

The value of the phase one contract is £83 million over 10 years. The majority of this cost is to run the Council’s ICT Service which was transferred to Capgemini when the contract was signed. Included in that sum is £18 million, which is the cost of the new ICT system. In addition to the cost of the contract the Council will incur costs of £15 million over the 10 years, which is mainly how much the Council needs to pay to manage the programme and the outsourced ICT contract. Therefore the total value of the project is £98 million over 10 years.

The programme will be funded from a combination of the existing ICT budget totalling £53 million over ten years, new investment of £3.7 million a year and savings of £8.5 million over the period of the contract. The council has already identified half of those savings before the first year has concluded.

Labour and the Inside Outers are very fond of using the word 'incompetence'. We would suggest that the main reason for that is that they are so intimate with the concept. It was their mishandling of e-government that led to a strike and pie-in-the-sky arithmetic that we had to bring back down to earth.

It was their incompetence that led to the closure of the Leisure Centre and a bill for maintenance across the Council's property portfolio that runs into tens of millions of pounds. There is a whole catalogue of similar charges that Labour have to answer before they can go shouting the odds about others. We are sure that future posts will elucidate further.

Rise of the Phoenix

From the ashes of Inside Swansea rises the new Phoenix. No porn here and no mercy will be shown to the denizens of Labour (old and new) as we expose their inconsistencies, lies and hypocrisy.

We will also re-post some of the best of the old Inside Swansea site.