Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones has rightly been making headlines this week for his full on assault of the First Minister Carwyn Jones and Welsh Government over the economy, but there was another equally newsworthy event this week’s with the decision of the three opposition parties to stand firm over changing the draft budget to better reflect voters concerns in their opinion. Conventional wisdom says one party will eventually do a deal, but could one of the main beneficiaries from the new tactic be one of the other opposition leaders Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies?.
When Andrew RT Davies was elected leader it was said by many political commentators, media types and bloggers that he would find it difficult to make alliances with Plaid Cymru and Lib Dems unlike his predecessor Nick Bourne and this would play into Labour hands causing rifts between the opposition parties and giving the Welsh Government a free ride for the next 5 years.
As things stand its First Minister Carwyn Jones who is the one under pressure as negotiations over the draft budget seem to be making little progress and deadlines loom and the opposition prove harder to buy off than in previous years, not the leader of the opposition who has had his critics inside and outside the Tory Party since he got the leaders job but the opposition amendment is a smart move and all three party leaders can take some credit.
It is of course early days and opposing a self interested Labour budget is at the easier end of the co-operation scale, but it shows that Andrew RT Davies is not as one dimensional as portrayed and after a shaky start has proven he can work constructively with Ieuan Wyn Jones and Lib Dem leader Kristy Williams which can only board well for holding Labour to account in the current Assembly term.Any source
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