Government and Opposition need to up their game

It’s been a week to forget in Cardiff Bay, a petty spat about the costs of ring binders at First Minister’s Questions, another chapter in the long running Labour versus Tories saga of who can lay the most  blame at the other for Wales problems while keeping a straight face,  the Lib Dems trying to deflect flack over regional benefits and floundering over a GP’s survey and Plaid Cymru on its high horse over Trident and the threat of it never appearing in Milford Haven, even if Scotland voted for independence.

This prompted rightful complaints from lobbyist and commentator Daran Hill among others about the often pointless nature of Opposition debates in the Senedd, but in a bizarre twist what exactly does it say about the state of Welsh politics that during that same Trident debate today on a hypothetical motion of something that will never become a reality was the first time Carwyn Jones as First Minister looked and sounded incredibly tetchy and uncomfortable on the debate subject and was under sustained political pressure from the opposition inside and outside the Senedd.

And for all the damage done, it's unlikely to have any significant impact on Labour’s votes at election time even if voters disagree with Carwyn's views on Trident, which leads me neatly back to Daran's column, a more honest description of the Assembly in his new IWA column would have added that 90% of what the Welsh Government does to tackle the problems Wales faces such on the economic, social and health front is no more than managing decline or more uncharitably rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic. 

In short rather than the easy option of criticizing the lackluster opposition, for the good of politics he could have stated that both sides need to up their game, because this week has been a carbon copy of far too many weeks in the Senedd chamber where much of what happens is seen as having little if any positive impact on people's lives. But as Daran like other media and political commentators relies heavily on the Assembly for their living and are good friends with many in the political establishment, that was as far as he was willing to go which is a shame.

But before we get to depressed about the state Welsh politics I highly recommend the excellent Oggy Bloggy Ogwr’s  ‘Pencil CaseTheft threatens to destabilise the Assembly’ for a more satirical take on the week’s events. 

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