Blinks and winks
Bubble — By Daran Hill on February 3, 2010 10:23 am
Ben Swain from The Thick of It - the most famous blinking politician in Britain
Glyn Davies sums it up well when he reflects, “Sometimes the extreme efforts to which Assembly Members will go to create a difference of opinion amongst themselves verges on the heroic. The shenanigans about next Tuesday’s vote on whether to ask the UK Government to arrange for a referendum on transferring law making powers in currently devolved policy areas to the National Assembly for Wales is near to laughable.”
As discussed here yesterday, the sticking point is when the actual referendum will or won’t be held – and whether a May 2011 referendum on the same day as the Assembly elections will be ruled out. For the Liberal Democrats, Conservatives and Trish Law, that’s the assurance they are looking for.
A fortnight ago plenty of people were saying the trigger vote wouldn’t even be tabled. I never found myself in that camp, and said so on the media at the time. This was Carwyn Jones’ first big test as leader and I felt sure he would see the challenge through and get the trigger vote laid. My faith was not misplaced.
But now we’re in a situation where there is a chance the trigger vote will not pass next Tuesday. An useful and illustrative explanation of why “we are where we are” (the mantra of the third Assembly) can be found from Peter Black over on the Freedom Central blog:
“This is not an academic argument. Outside this Cardiff Bay bubble the referendum is there to be won but it will take a masssive effort of persuading people of the case to vote yes. If we do not have all four parties on-board and concentrating entirely on winning that plebiscite then it will be lost. That is why, as a strong devolutionist, I am prepared to abstain on February 9th to ensure that we get the process right.”
In an interview on Radio Wales this morning (1hr 50 mins in if you can bear to listen) I used some extended metaphors to describe the situation, and they’re probably worth transcribing here. Basically, we’re in a Mexican stand-off situation where Carwyn is on one side and Nick Bourne and Kirsty Williams are on the other. Both sides are waiting for the other to blink. But in reality both opposition party leaders are probably just waiting for a nod and a wink, not a blink, to convince them to support the government next week.
Tellingly, Nick Bourne is quoted in today’s Western Mail as saying “I’m a glass half full kind of guy.”
But Carwyn is neither blinking or winking at the moment. He correctly points out that next Tuesday isn’t about setting the referendum date at all, but triggering the process. And that comes with a cold, hard barrister’s stare – without an eye movement in sight.
Tags: Carwyn Jones, devolution, referendum, Welsh Conservatives, Welsh Liberal Democrats
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3 Comments
When the *!* will our politicians stop playing STUPID games? That’s all this is. Mo Mowlem apparently told Gerry Adams to start a meeting again without putting “his dick on the table”. Well, of course, she couldn’t have said this to Trish Law or Kirsty Williams, but it makes the point.
This posturing (actually as Mo might have said, obscene public exposure) does the individuals great harm – that I don’t give a damn about. But I do care about the referendum process – and so should they. This date or that, is something for a quiet, considered conversation with the Electoral Commission. Stop messing about, and as Mo might have said ” p’ing on the Welsh public”.
Note to moderator – quite happy personally to add the expletives because they are deserved, but maybe there are sensitive readers out there who don’t watch Channel 4.
Peter- I really don’t think its all politicians who are playing ‘stupid games’ in all of this. I’m as eager as you are to trigger the vote, and to discuss the details of date and wording at a later stage, when it is appropriate. All sorts of conspiracy theories are floating around about why there are problems with the trigger vote being successful next week, not least that the Tories would lose out electorally if they had a referendum on more powers on the same day as the next Assembly elections.
But if we start from the point that we want the powers for Wales, that all parties acknowledge that the system as it stands does not work, then I see no real reason why the process should be stalled.
If it is the case that people are starting to reasses their views in the cold light of day, with the trigger vote lomming closer and closer, then that is another matter entirely, and such people/ parties should be honest and admit to it. I want to get on with the job, and start the yes campaign. But that depends on us getting the 2/3rds vote- the governing parties alone cannot guarantee that.
“But if we start from the point that we want the powers for Wales, that all parties acknowledge that the system as it stands does not work, then I see no real reason why the process should be stalled.”
Bethan – are you sure that all parties acknowledge that the system as it stands does not work? That’s not my reading of the Labour position. Rather, there is agreement that Part 4 would be an improvement.
A semantic point, maybe, but this has been a week of rather semantic points on this issue…