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.