Just over a week to the General Election.
So who will I vote for? To be honest I'm still have yet to make up my mind. Knowing the candidates does I have to say bring a new dimension to my consideration. I obviously work with Mike, Ronnie and Phil as fellow Councillors, all of which are well respected Councillors in their own right. Each has qualities that you can see being useful as an MP. I have met Guto several times over the last couple of years, and again you can see why he was selected as the Conservative candidate. I haven't had the opportunity to see them in action at a hustings. I did listen to the Tudno FM debate, but I would have really liked to personally see all 4 in action.
On top of the local candidates we then have to consider the Parties Policies and the National Politics. I still have yet to see the detail that I was hoping for. The manifestos are OK but lack the detail required. It will still be a lottery when we get down to the detail. I suppose where I'm mostly concerned about is the Economy and particularly the Cuts that will come.
No one is being open and upfront about what will happen. I see that the Lib Dems have probably come closer to this than the other parties.
The parties have given top line figures with respect to Efficiency Savings. They are right when they say that the % talked about is quite small compared to the total spend, But then when you start saying that certain areas will be protected, such as Health, Education, Defence etc, it means the percentage is larger for the remaining departments. This percentage becomes even larger when you consider they are potentially Ring Fencing the larger spending areas.
so I have grave concerns that these savings can be done simply by Efficiency Savings. It begs the question that if these Efficiency Savings are so easy why they have not been identified and acted upon already, which doesn't look good from a Labour perspective.
I also doubt that the Conservatives will be able to make the Cuts and Savings as quickly as they are suggesting. Having been a Councillor now for 2 years I've seen the length of time it takes to go through the full democratic and governance procedures, things just do not happen straight away. So I doubt how the Conservatives could make any substantial savings any quicker than the other parties are suggesting. This, I'm surprised, doesn't seem to have been picked up by political commentators. The impact of this delay in making savings will mean that the figures will need to be revamped.
One thing is for sure the nation can not continue with the level of debt it has. The amount of money this debt costs us, deflects so much money from other services. So we have to have plan to reduce this. This has to be well planned and done over many years, which puts any new government at a disadvantage as it will take at least 2 terms (if not more) to bring this debt down to a manageable figure. So we will end up with a reduction in services, last public sector jobs and tax increases which is
NOT a good position for the the forth coming government. It will make hanging on to power in 4/5 years very difficult. One thing is for sure; we need to a government that is going to have to work together to get us out of this mess and put point scoring off the agenda. Wishful thinking I know.
Update: Nick Clegg must read my blog (as if). He on the Leaders Debate, and Vince Cable later on Question Time, said much the same; that the parties will have to work together to find a way through the Economic situation.This is why I don't believe a Hung Parliament is a bad thing. It will mean that more negotiation and hence scrutiny will be required before very important decisions are made.
So on reading the above you could say that I'm leaning towards the Lib Dems. But then there are other policies that then I have problems with, such as Nuclear Power and Europe. I can see how important Wlyffa B would be to Angelsey's economy. Some will say that Nuclear power is very expensive, but so are the wind farms. The Wind farms are only being built due to the massive subsidies for government. I'm all for renewable, but again we need to get our finger out and start building alternatives to just wind. This agenda again will take time (a common theme of this post) and hence why will need Nuclear while these alternatives prove themselves. In fact had the present government got there act together and managed a planned migration form Wlyffa A to the new B, without a loss of power production it could have meant the Aluminium Factory could have continued with the benefit of the cheaper/discounted power.
As for Europe, I'm very sceptical about the whole situation. How we can trust any organisation that has not had its own accounts audited. But the Lib Dems although Pro European have committed to not allowing transfer of any new powers without a referendum. Having worked in telecommunication companies for 12 years, which worked across the whole of Europe I can see the benefits of close ties with other Europeans countries. In fact the last company I worked for before moving to North Wales, was a French company called Alcatel. This company was a true European company with factories and businesses across the whole of Europe (and the rest of the world). But I think that close working relationships could (and where) be achieved without a full blown integration of governments. But we are in Europe now and we can not simply stop without a planned exit which again would take a lot of work and time (that word again). So as most of the parties are saying is it not better to tackle the issues form inside? I'm still to be convinced.
As for the levels of democracy we have, more so in Wales, this has to be questioned. Is it right that we have representation at Town/Community Council, County Council. Welsh Assembly, UK Parliament and European Parliament. Is this level of democracy really required, each with its own public elected members and vast amounts of Civil Servants just to manage the Democratic process and structure. The Conservatives have promised a 10% cut in the number of MPs Is this enough? How much would the reviewing of all the Boundaries and the cost of the change be compared to what it will save in the long run. Shouldn't somebody grab the mantle and perform an a wholesale review of the whole democratic system, and make more significant changes (that are worth the investment in the change process)
So I still remain in deep consideration as to where to put my X. But one thing I'm sure is the importance of Voting. So I would encourage all those people who are thinking "whats the point" to actually do something. This is the system that exists and if we have a view we should make our mark and give which ever party we go for a mandate. This may be voting for one of the main parties or one of the alternatives.
Kirsty, my wife has already made her mind up, she had done quite a while ago and she hasn't seen anything to change her mind. She has based her decision predominately on the local candidate. We have had only one canvasser round and that was from the Conservative Party. As for leaflets Kirsty did comment that those received through the post have been addressed to me. except for Labour's which was addressed just to Kirsty. Kirsty had already made up her mind, but it's a interesting point.
Update: Conservative Flyer received this morning (Thursday) addressed to Kirsty !
Anyway still sometime to go yet, we'll see what the final leaders debate will bring on Thursday evening.
Below is the list of confirmed candidates for Aberconwy. No Independent candidate, which is a surprise I thought somebody might have come forward. With such a marginal seat and the mistrust of main stream politics I did feel there was an opportunity for Independent to enthuse the electorate. Maybe I should have gone for it, then again maybe not!!
Guto Bebb Conservative
Phil Edwards Plaid Cymru
Ronald Hughes Labour
Mike Priestley Liberal Democrat
Mike Wieteska UK Independence Party
Louise Wynne-Jones Christian Party
