Egg on their faces

Are the brothers and sisters of New Swansea Labour going to end up with egg on their faces? Having kicked up a huge fuss about the six pound charge for Swansea residents to swim in the new LC, David Phillips may be in for a shock when he sits down and does his sums. It appears that the before it closed, residents wanting to spend two hours in the old pool would have had to pay nine pounds. So far from 'penalising the worse off' as suggested by the Labour leader, the Swansea Administration has actually cut the cost by 50%. Oops!

Ms Whiplash Is Back In Town

After a long absence, Ms Whiplash has returned to our democracy. After an absence of 20 years from the polls she has returned to bolster up support with Lord Lucan after a similar disappearance for Castle 2008. Her reincarnation is pictured here waking up amongst the fag butts left behind after a boozy night out. What's more she is now blaming others for the mess.

A rose by any other name

A copy of Labour's latest leaflet 'Swansea West Welsh Labour Rose' drops through the letterbox. It is dripping with the sort of propaganda all too prevalent in today's politics.

First up is an article demanding that residents stop the 'Liberal Democrat Council' building on the St. Helen's Recreation ground. The basis for this accusation is the Swansea Bay Strategy, currently out to consultation. Alas, not only has no such proposal been made by the Council, but its leadership has hinted that they will not accept this particular idea.

Why though is there no mention of the role played by Labour Minister and local AM, Andrew Davies in all of this. The Swansea Bay Strategy was jointly commissioned with the Labour Assembly Government and was launched by Mr. Davies. Surely, his association with the idea of developing the rec is as strong as the Councils. Like them he does not like the idea but that does not stop his party drawing its own conclusions.

Putting aside the deliberate error on the back page of the leaflet in which Social Services Cabinet Member, Wendy Fitzgerald, is described as a Liberal Democrat, Labour's prescription for mending social services is full of holes. Their spokesperson, Andrew Connell thinks that recruiting agency staff to cover unfilled vacancies is a waste of taxpayers' money.

This is not a view taken by Labour Councillors on Swansea Council, who recognise that there is a nationwide shortage of Social Workers and that in the short term it is better to cover vacancies rather than put more children at risk by not doing so. It is also not a view taken by other Labour-run Councils who have taken exactly the same course of action as Swansea.

It is true that allocating money 'directly to improving Social Services, giving assistance to children and families where it is most needed' sounds good but what does it actually mean and how precisely does it help the most vulnerable in our society? Once more Labour seem to be floundering in the dark.

The most audacious piece however comes at the end with Ian Ross accusing Liberal Democrats of allowing 'our school buildings to fall into horrendous conditions. As a result of the Lib Dems incompetence,' he says, 'our schools now have a £150 millions backlog of repairs.' Really? You can tell that nobody ever checks this stuff.

Let us be clear, Labour are now alleging that when they lost power in 2004 all of our school buildings were in an immaculate condition but that over the last three and a half years the Liberal Democrat administration has allowed them to collapse into near-ruin. That is quite a rate of deterioration. Do they really believe that voters will buy this nonsense.

The fact is that as with the Leisure Centre, the Central Libary, County Hall itself, Swansea Council housing and the Guildhall, there has been a dearth of investment in schools over decades of Labour rule. One hundred and fifty million pounds worth of repairs do not materialise overnight. The blame for this under-investment lies squarely in Labour's lap and it has been left to the present administration to put things right.

Cavalier with the facts

In their latest posting on Inside Out Swansea Labour demonstrate once more how relieved they are that they did not lose Lawrence Bailey's safe seat. In time-honoured tradition, they remain as cavalier with the facts as ever.

Checking back through previously published Councillor allowance statements it is quite clear that Peter Black never claimed a Special Responsibility Allowance, even though he was entitled to one, whilst he was chair of a Cabinet Advisory Committee. It looks too as though he has never claimed any travelling expenses.

Best of chums

At the Council's Annual General Meeting today it became clear that the Conservatives in Swansea have done a deal with Labour to take over the control of key council positions in a bid to control the Council.

Since January the Conservatives have voted with Labour, and against their former coalition partners on 11 separate occasions. The new informal coalition of Labour, Plaid and Conservatives now control 22 out of the 32 positions that the governing group has held in Swansea for the last 30 years.

Today Labour and Conservatives voted together to deprive the Liberal Democrats and Independents of the Presiding Officer and Deputy Presiding Officer, which are used to chair meetings of Full Council every 6 weeks.

It is shocking how fast the conservatives have left the first non-Labour coalition in 30 years and are now in bed with Labour. The Tories in Swansea seem to have no compunction whatsoever about doing a deal with Labour in an unseemly grab for power. It appears that in every sense a vote for the Conservatives in Swansea is a vote for Labour.

It was also amusing to see the varying degrees of enthusiasm employed by Labour Councillors as they were forced to indicate their support for Conservatives in a named vote. Some such as the Labour leader seemed to have little shame whilst others struggled to speak the name of their Tory ally. We would have thought that all those meetings between David Phillips and Rene Kinzett would have prepared them better for the big moment.

Labour flushed away

The only thing going down the pan around here is the Labour Party's spinning around Swansea website. All the evidence is that not only are they listening at the wrong doors but they are having difficulties reading.

When they claim that this Evening Post article on the state of the City's toilets shows that the Administration are not getting the basics right, they overlooked one small fact. Council-operated toilets were not looked at as part of the Halo Wipes' investigation.

In fact Swansea Council has award winning public toilet provision including the 2006 Loo of the Year Awards for Caer Street, Oystermouth, Quadrant, and Rhossili. Of course that inconvenient fact does not stop Labour who use every excuse to rub down Swansea now that they no longer run it.

Wrong again!

The Spinning Around Swansea Labour website demonstrate their usual lack of insight on the workings of the Council's Liberal Democrat Group. They really must stop listening at the wrong doors.

All Kinds Of Everything

Further to the last post it appears that Eurovision Fever has hit Castle with two ageing sitting Councillors facing their Waterloo in a selection re-run.

The Puppet on a string and her counterpart the Sandfields Lordi have reportedly had second thoughts about Making their minds up and are withdrawing their names before the poll ratings reach Rock Bottom and their reputations go Boom Bang a Bang.

Congratulations!!!

Eurovision

It is the time of year for selecting candidates. Some say that the spotlight is on Llansamlet at the moment.

This particular contest has a history. It has always provided amusement to the trained onlooker as it normally involves deselecting sitting Councillors.

Those with long memories will recall 2004 when the outcome was that Labour's head count went down from 4 to 3 in the big game.

Early indicators point to a re-run of the Eurovision result announcement chaos.

This term's spectacle is bound to provide many with more free entertainment - if it hasn't happened already (guffaw, guffaw)

Follow the Money

A new political independent club has opened in the city. In the frenetic build up to the unveiling somebody let slip that it wasn't so politically independent after all.

Apparently, it was funded by a local Labour Party that had the misfortune of being exterminated in 2004. It appears now that all references to this donation have disappeared without trace.

(Or have they?)

Stuffed of Swansea

If the Labour lot over at Inside Out think that the Administration 'got stuffed in two successive debates over school sprinkler systems and housing stock transfer' then perhaps they need to stop and think what exactly they are achieving on the Council.

Our recollection was that so incompetent were the drafters of the two motions that they were forced to run with heavily emascualated versions after the intervention of the Council's legal eagles.

Despite the fact that the Adminstration's amendment to the Housing Stock Transfer motion failed to pass, the fact is that what was eventually voted on was a meaningless and inaccurate mish-mash that will not stop the ballot. In fact the only person it is likely to embarrass is the Labour Minister for Social Justice, who just happens to represent Gower and is clearly out of step with her local party. Even her cousin voted against her.

PLC Coalition politicise mayoralty

There were disgraceful scenes in the Council chamber this evening as Labour Councillors joined with Plaid Cymru and some Tories to scupper the chances of Ioan Richard becoming Lord Mayor.

Members of the PLC Coalition ignored a protocol they had all voted for only weeks before to settle a personal score against the Mawr Councillor.

Attempts to occupy the moral high ground were effectively abandoned when Tory Leader, Rene Kinzett, stood up and admitted that he and the other opposition parties had tried to do a deal behind closed doors.

As Councillor Peter Black pointed out, he was effectively seeking to bring party politics into the mayoralty. Was this really what it was all about - trying to secure better sinecures in return for supporting a particular candidate? No wonder the Administration refused to go along with such a grubby deal.

Update: I have been forwarded a lengthy. self-justifying e-mail from Councillor Kinzett to all Councillors in which surely he protests too much about this post. What he fails to mention is that he demanded of the Council Leader that in return for the support of his group for Ioan Richard, he wanted the Administration to back Lady Pennard as the Deputy.

This was unanimously rejected by the Adminstration Group, including the Leader. Despite claims by Kinzett that Chris Holley cannot command the support of his group, the evidence demonstrates the contrary view to be correct. Keep digging Rene.

The Silence of the Bland...

OK, I know I've asked this before, but I'd really like one of the Plaid/Lab/Con Coalition across at Inside Leg to address themselves to three questions that arise out of their shambolic performance over Scrutiny Chairs.

Firstly, now that we all know that the letter inviting them to take up Scrutiny Chairs sent in June 2004 is real, why did they not do so?

Secondly, why not just ask if the offer was still open? Was it that the PLC Coalition needed to win a victory - however unnessary - in order to look like an Opposition? If so, it's really not working that well.

Thirdly, why does the Labour element of the Coalition now believe that it is so important that Scrutiny should be in the hands of the Opposition? They never did when they were in power, so what can possibly have changed their minds?

Fourthly, will they turn up? They never bothered much before.

Bullshit @ Swansea

It is of course entirely up to the Inside Outers what they write on their blog, but it really might help if they stopped pretending that they know what is going on with the Administration group and the Liberal Democrats.

Their record in attributing motives and in understanding the various relationships within the Liberal Democrats in particular is dire to say the least. Of course that has never stopped them expressing an opinion but frankly they are just embarrassing themselves.

In future they should just try to remember one simple rule: the Labour Party is unique, no other party has anything like the same experience of back-biting, petty jealousies and conspiracies. In other words don't apply your standards to us.

In any case surely the Swansea Labour Group have their own problems. By all accounts they are split three ways, so much so that they were stymied into complete impotence and inaction at the recent Council budget meeting.

Is all well with the PLC Coalition?

I only ask after what I am told by members and onlookers from all sides about last night's Council meeting to set the budget and council tax for next year. It would be a shame if such a principled bunch began to fall out - though I predict it won't happen until they've voted their placemen and women as Chairs and Vice-Chairs to the committees they were too inefficient to be able to capture on the last two occasions. (But will Rob Stewart actually turn up to Regeneration Scrutiny when he's Chair? I'm told that he's only ever attended one meeting...)

First, despite the fact that Plaid Cymru's amendments had been agreed to beforehand, it seems that David Phillips was still trying to renegotitate them with Darren 'Baby Face' Price as he was proposing. No wonder Phillips is facing a leadership challenge.

Then Labour voted against the amended motion, thus opposing both the transfer of an extra £500K for improving facilities for disabled people, and the installation of a sprinkler system in the new Penyrheol School. Not that the last one is much of a surprise really, as when the school burned down the last time, Labour rebuilt it without a sprinkler system. At least they're consistent.

Rene 'Dear Leader' Kinzett's New Model Tories proposed a 2% council tax increase to be paid for by either running reserves down to a dangerous and possibly illegal level, or presumably by £1.4m cuts in services. They didn't have the guts to explain what they would cut, though new convert Margaret Smith rather let the cat out of the bag by giving away details of the Tories' scheme to do away with Council water coolers. Is this the best they can do?

It's time for the Three Amigos to devote one of their regular meetings to putting the PLC Coalition back on track. What they need is a single leader..a Great Leader perhaps? I'm waiting for the 'Dear Leader' to defect to Labour myself...he could then join the two Labour insiders who are out to replace the hapless Phillips.

Not a Coalition - honest!

All the constituent parts of the PLC Coalition loudly deny that they are in fact a Coalition. It's like the Pope denying he's a Catholic if you ask me.

As I've said before, if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's a duck. In that context, I'm told that Rene 'Dear Leader' Kinzett, David Phillips, and Darren 'Baby Face' Price have taken to seeing Chris Holley together to talk about the Budget.

If there is no PLC Coalition, why do they need to do so? Such a visit only makes sense if they are working together, but don't trust each other that much...

Wrestling with demons

Is it me or are the Labour Party Spinners over at the Inside Out site getting overly obsessed with Peter Black? In the last few days he is all they seem capable of talking about. Three of their last six posts and constant references in many others all point to a group of people wrestling with their demons.

Peter Black must be very happy that he has caused such anguish amongst his political adversaries.

Judge and jury

It has taken us a few days to get hold of the actual Standards Committee judgement in this referral of Councillor Gethin Evans for leaking information to the press. However, once we had a copy it soon became apparent that Labour were once again spinning a line.

As the Labour spinners well know the allegations against Gethin Evans were a great deal more serious than that he leaked the outcome of the investigation. In fact when the Ombudsman carried out his inquiry, he concluded that there was 'credible prima facie evidence' that Councillor Evans had 'breached paragraph 5(a) of the Code of Conduct' and furthermore that the 'alleged breach was a material one'. What happened next was unprecedented.

The Standards Committee produced a list of people who they considered should have been interviewed in the course of the investigation. The list was so long that it would not have disgraced a proper police inquiry, which is presumably why the Ombudsman did not adopt this course of action in the first place. Nobody is suggesting that there might have been anything like a closing of ranks on the Standards Committee but the sort of issues that were raised were unusual to say the least. The one thing that is not in the decision letter is any views on the motives of the complainant, yet another Labour invention.

Even then Gethin Evans did not get the clean bill of health that Labour are claiming. The allegation was that Evans had committed a breach of the Code by disclosing confidential information to the press on the voting that took place at the Chief Officer Disciplinary Meeting. Their conclusion was that it was probable that there had been a breach of the Code, the same finding as had been reached by the Ombudsman. However, because there would be serious consequences for Gethin Evans if they ruled against him then they decided that a higher level of proof was needed, and so dismissed the charge altogether.

Having made this decision the Standards Committee then tried to cover its tracks. They ruled specifically that their determination 'should not be regarded as justification' for leaking confidential information in the future. They asked that a good practice note be sent to all members of the Council stating that legal advice should be sought in dealing with confidential matters in the future. They also said that it was unacceptable for Councillors to consider that officers can give consent to the release of information from a confidential committee meeting, a specific reference to the defence offered by Gethin Evans to the Ombudsman.

This decision has produced a fascinating response from the Ombudsman himself. He has now written to the Council's Monitoring Officer regarding another complaint made by David Phillips against Councillors Holley, Black and Kinzett. This particular referral also related to an alleged unauthorised disclosure of information and had been referred to the Standards Committee for determination. However the Ombudsman has now rescinded that referral.

Instead, he has decided that in view of the higher level of proof now needed to make such accusations stick there is no point in further considering Phillips' accusations and he has dismissed the complaint altogether. How Phillips will react to this is difficult to predict but we think that he will not be best pleased.

Update: We notice that the Labour spinners continue with their selective readership of the text of the letter to Gethin Evans.

A walk in the rain

We were fascinated to see in tonight's Evening Post a report of a visit by Home Office Minister Tony McNulty to Blaenymaes. Mr. McNulty was joined on his walk around the estate by Swansea East MP Sian James, Swansea East AM Val Lloyd and local Councillor, June Burtonshaw.

During his tour he was told by local Councillors about a new sense of optimism and purpose in Blaenymaes and Portmead. In return he told the paper about "the enthusiasm there was from both police and local community leaders in driving crime down and working on a positive way for the area.

"The absolute vibe is that this has been done from the ground up. This has been achieved with the police, so people in Blaenymaes get a real sense of being part of the solution in tackling crime rather than something being done from above."

Val Lloyd said: "The whole community has come together to fight crime in Blaenymaes. Good results in Swansea show that local people are serious about tackling crime and anti-social behaviour, and that partnership working is effective."

Could this be the same community that only a few months ago local Councillors were lambasting as a notorious place, crime ridden and not a place for a children's home? Is this the same place that Ray Welsby described as one of the most notorious areas in Great Britain? I think we should be told.

You would think that these Labour politicians would at least be a little shame-faced at their blatant u-turn. Fortunately for them, the community that the Home Office Minister saw yesterday is the real Blaenymaes and Portmead, not the fictional badlands invented by local Councillors in an attempt to undermine an important Administration initiative. We are sure that local people will not be fooled when it next comes to vote.

Chase our leader

Spinners on the Labour site are full of themselves as usual. All of that extra cash has clearly gone to their head. However before they get too carried away with themselves at the prospect of a leadership crisis within the Administration perhaps they should look to get their own house in order first.

We understand that despite his apparent successes David Phillips is in trouble within his own group. We have heard that many of them are not too impressed at having to vote in Conservatives to Scrutiny Chairs, that they believe that Phillips is too close to 'Dear Leader' Kinzett, and that they are disenchanted with his interminable and ineffective pedantry at Council meetings. There is also division within the Labour Group over the allocation of Special Responsibility Allowances.

A leadership challenge has now been mounted. Whether Phillips survives or not has yet to be seen.