Rhodri Glyn Thomas AC / AM

Plaid AM raises Firefighter concerns to Minister

Rhodri — Thu, 10 May 2012 10:51:37 +0000

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has this week raised serious concerns at the operational effectiveness of the new Sprinter Van Rural Response Pumps which are set to replace Fire Appliances which provide a primary response to all type of property fires.

The Mid and West Wales Regional Chair of the FBU, Cerith Griffiths, described the action as having “potentially serious implications for the operational effectiveness of the Service and also compromises the safety of operational Firefighters and also for the public living in and visiting the Mid and West Wales area”.

As a result the FBU has issued a Safety Critical Notice to the Chief Fire Officer of Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service.

Assembly Member for Carmarthen East & Dinefwr and Plaid Cymru’s spokesperson on Communities, Rhodri Glyn Thomas, said that Firefighters are best placed to know whether the equipment they use is at an adequate standard and, if Firefighters have such serious concerns, the Minister must step forward and ensure these are addressed as a matter of urgency.

Mr. Thomas has written to the Welsh Government’s Minister for Communities, Carl Sergeant AM, who has responsibility for the Fire and Rescue Services including community fire safety.

Rhodri Glyn Thomas said:

“The Fire Brigades Union has said the firefighting capabilities and limited water supply carried on the new Rural Response Pumps is inadequate, on the grounds of Critical Health and Safety, as a primary response to property fires.

“This is a serious indictment on the new equipment and could potentially lead to life threatening situations.

“Ultimately the Firefighters themselves are best placed to know whether the apparatus they use is to an adequate standard. Evidently this isn’t the case and the Minister must step forward to address these concerns as a matter of urgency”.

ENDS

Plaid Cymru – Action to protect Welsh Dairy Industry is overdue

Rhodri — Tue, 01 May 2012 10:37:37 +0000

Plaid Cymru politicians Jonathan Edwards MP and Rhodri Glyn Thomas AM have reiterated calls for the Welsh and UK Governments to take action to defend the Welsh dairy industry following the announcement that milk processor, Dairy Crest, will slash its payments to farmers by 2pence per litre.

At the end of 2011, Rhodri Glyn Thomas co-led a debate in the National Assembly highlighting that the number of dairy farmers in Wales had fallen by over half (51.3%) since 1999, and called on the Labour Welsh government to develop a set of measures to protect dairy farmers from unfair commercial practices, allowing them to obtain a fair price for their product.

The key components of Plaid’s action plan were
a. A baseline standard raw milk contract
b. An enforceable code of practice between farmers and dairy companies
c. Publication of transparent information on the distribution of margins and wholesale prices

Earlier in 2011, constituency colleague Jonathan Edwards used the Westminster European Committee to champion a fair deal for dairy producers stating that farmers were in a weak position by not having sufficient control of the price they receive for their milk.

Rhodri Glyn Thomas said:

“The announcement by Dairy Crest to reduce its farm gate milk prices will a bitter pill for Welsh dairy farmers to swallow – especially when we consider farmers’ milk is already sold below its worth or below its cost of production. A payment of 3 to 4 pence per litre below the cost of production equates to an estimated £65million loss to the Welsh dairy sector every year.

“The number of dairy farmers in Wales has reduced by over half since 1999. This is an extremely worrying statistic and highlights how such tough market conditions are affecting the industry.

“Carmarthenshire is highest milk producing region in the country and many jobs throughout Wales are reliant on the sector. But earning a living from in the industry is becoming a near impossible task.

“If the dairy industry in Wales is to survive, the Labour Welsh government must come forward with an urgent action plan, as Plaid Cymru has set out, to ensure our dairy farmers receive a fair price for their product and have greater contractual protections.”

Jonathan Edwards added:

“If there was any doubt that an end to unreasonable and unfair contracts in the dairy industry was needed, the decision by Dairy Crest this week to cut their price to farmers will erode any misgivings.

“It cannot be fair for a farmer to be required to give 12 months notice to pull out of a contract, but the price a farmer receives for their product can be changed in a matter of days.

“The milk sector is of significant importance to Wales and contributes approximately 10 per cent of the UK’s total milk figure.
“Plaid Cymru’s former Rural Affairs Minister, Elin Jones AM, recognised the important of the dairy industry and introduced a £3.3million investment programme for the sector when in office.

“The Labour Welsh government must bring forward proposals to protect the Welsh dairy industry as a matter of urgency.”

ENDS

Politicians shell-shocked by military testing site response

Rhodri — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 10:49:06 +0000

Plaid Cymru politicians Jonathan Edwards MP and Rhodri Glyn Thomas AM have continued their campaign against the increased testing of bombs at the military site in Pendine, Carmarthenshire.

Residents of the Ferryside and Llangain communities are affected by the noise levels of the testing with some complaining of vibrations in their home. Residents have formed the STIFLE (St. Ishmaels fights large explosions) action group to campaign for the testing of the bombs to be redirected.

Assembly Member Rhodri Glyn Thomas raised constituents’ concerns directly to the First Minister of Wales in the National Assembly this week. Following his questioning, Mr. Thomas said that despite defence not being devolved to the National Assembly he was surprised the Welsh Government had not had any discussions about a decision which effects so many of his constituents. Mr. Thomas went on to say how stunned he was that his neighbouring Assembly Member, Angela Burns, has actively tried to interfere with his representations and to downgrade his constituents’ concerns.

Rhodri Glyn Thomas said:

“I was surprised that the Welsh Government had no discussions with the Ministry of Defence regarding the increased testing and noise levels at the Pendine site.

“The testing is having a detrimental impact on my constituents who, unlike other communities, are not protected from the noise by a land buffer.

“I was stunned to see my Conservative neighbour intervene on this issue and actively seek to stop representations being made to the MoD. I am sure the people of Ferryside and Llansaint will be aghast to know that the Tories are content with their lives being blighted by increased noise levels and increased testing frequency”.

Meanwhile in Westminster, Jonathan Edwards MP has presented the petition from STILFE to the MoD.

“There has been a great deal of support for the testing facility in the past. However the increased testing levels are having a negative impact on the communities I represent.

“We’re sure the concerns can be resolved if the MoD is just prepared to listen”.

ENDS

Plaid Cymru politicians take lead in defending local newspapers

Rhodri — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 13:50:01 +0000

Plaid Cymru politicians Jonathan Edwards and Rhodri Glyn Thomas are leading the way in defending local newspapers faced with the potential loss of thousands of pounds in advertising revenue should the Welsh Government get its own way.

Current legislation requires Road Traffic Orders made by local authorities and the Welsh Government to be advertised in local newspapers. However the Labour Welsh Government has proposed changing this legislation and allow authorities to bypass the requirement to use local newspapers.

Local Plaid Cymru politicians have branded the proposed changes as nothing but a cost cutting measure which, if implemented, would be detrimental to local community reporting.

Jonathan Edwards MP said:

“Despite all the rhetoric from the Labour Government, the proposal to end traffic notices in our local newspapers is the same type of cost cutting measures being pursued by the Tories and Lib Dems, with little thought given to the consequences of this terrible proposal.

“Our newspapers are crucial for good community reporting and play a vital role in our society.

“I am in the process of setting up an All Party Parliamentary Group on Media in Wales and have invited members of both the House of Commons and Lords to join. Our inaugural meeting will take place next month and I am sure the potential removal of traffic order regulations will feature heavily in our initial work.

“The Welsh government should be coming up with ideas to support and promote local newspapers throughout Wales instead of wielding its axe and adding to the demise of the industry”.

Rhodri Glyn Thomas AM added:

“In its own consultation document, the Welsh Government admits that boycotting our local newspapers would have a negative effect on papers’ revenue streams.

“We’re already seeing the growth of local authorities printing their own publications in an effort to bypass the current legislation. Sadly such publications are also used as a propaganda agent for the ruling council and don’t have the quality reporting or political balance of our established newspapers.

“If we’re to see the survival of our good quality local newspapers, which are already under extreme financial pressures, we cannot sit back and allow the Labour Welsh government to implement their proposed changes.

“I have this week tabled a Statement of Opinion in the National Assembly calling on the Welsh Government to abandon its attack on local newspapers. I hope other Assembly Members will support my statement and send a strong message to the Welsh Government that it will have a fight on its hands.”
ENDS

Records reveal Labour’s PFI blunder

Rhodri — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:10:39 +0000

It was just two weeks ago that Leader of the Labour Party in Carmarthenshire, Cllr. Kevin Madge, called for an urgent independent inquiry into how the costly private finance deal, which led to the construction of Ammanford Police Station, was ever allowed to go ahead.

Last week Plaid Cymru politicians Rhodri Glyn Thomas AM and Jonathan Edwards MP hit out at the Labour party for dragging the name of a reputable local company through the mud and conveniently forgetting the Labour party’s love affair with Private Finance Initiatives (PFIs) under former Chancellor and Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Information obtained this week by the Plaid Cymru office shows that the former leader of Carmarthenshire Labour Party, Martin P. Morris, was a member of Dyfed Powys Police Authority during the whole period the costly PFI deal was agreed, missing just one meeting in a five year period.

The Plaid Cymru politicians said that Cllr. Madge’s attempt of diverting attention away from Labour’s obsession with PFI has well and truly backfired as records reveal the leader of Carmarthenshire Labour had a direct influence over the decision to proceed with the PFI agreement.

Rhodri Glyn Thomas and Jonathan Edwards said:

“The attempt by the leader of the Labour party here in Carmarthenshire to divert attention from Labour’s obsession with costly Private Finance deals has well and truly backfired.

“Information obtained by our office shows that the then leader of Carmarthenshire Labour was a member of the Dyfed Powys Police Authority up until 2002 and missed just one meeting in a five year period.

“The Labour party leadership had a direct influence over the Ammanford Police Station PFI contract. The party has absolutely no credibility to now question that decision.

“Cllr. Kevin Madge’s call for an urgent independent inquiry into that PFI agreement has been exposed as nothing but a cheap political stunt, at the expense of a reputable local company, in an effort to pass the buck from a decision for which his party has collective responsibility.”
ENDS

Journal Column – 1st February

Rhodri — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 23:30:30 +0000

This year is likely to be a year of challenges and changes in the health service. There is shortage of funding—which has implications for staffing and service levels—and the aspiration of some to restructure and centralise services. For those reasons, Plaid Cymru recently tabled a motion in the National Assembly on the management of the NHS. We tabled the motion so that everyone with an interest in the NHS can be clear about where responsibility for the NHS, decision making and democratic accountability lie. It is an exceptionally important debate, because we are talking about fundamental services—the most fundamental services for people in their communities.

What developed as a theme throughout the debate, in all contributions across all parties, was that a culture has developed that health boards are not transparent and do not show elements of accountability. We need answers as to how exactly that culture has taken hold; who is ultimately responsible for that culture; and how can we transform that situation.

We need to know how the health boards have developed into such a situation, to create this culture that is detrimental in terms of people’s trust in the health boards, and which creates a situation of fear, where people believe that basic health services will not be available to them, and that they will not be able to access those services.

We see government ministers in the Assembly chamber promising no downgrading to hospital services, but later see senior government civil servants promoting the case for service centralisation on national television.
The Labour government here in Wales is happy to take credit when the going is good. But when it comes to standing by its promise to the electorate, it is suddenly a matter for local health boards. No matter what spin politicians use, it is the Labour party which has ultimate responsibility for the whole Health Service in Wales.

The Labour party should Stand Up, Front Up and accept they got it wrong on PFI

Rhodri — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:41:15 +0000

Following recent media coverage that highlighted the £700,000 annual bill which Dyfed Powys Police Force pays to maintain its Ammanford station, Plaid Cymru politicians, Rhodri Glyn Thomas AM and MP Jonathan Edwards have hit out at the Carmarthenshire branch of the Labour Party for what the politicians describe as political point scoring.

The Plaid Cymru representatives, whose constituency office is also based in Ammanford, said that the Labour party’s call for an Inquiry into the PFI contract is hypocritical considering Labour’s love affair with Private Finance Initiatives (PFI) under Gordon Brown. They also said that Labour should be ashamed of the way in which the party has dragged the name of a local reputable company through the mud for its own political gain.

Commenting jointly, the Plaid Cymru AM and MP said:

“A Private Finance Initiative has been the only option available to many authorities to invest in public infrastructure such as schools, hospitals and police stations and we cannot blame authorities for wanting to develop new facilities for their communities. But Private Finance contracts such as Ammanford Police Station, the Severn Bridge and Baglan Hosptial come at a price.　

　

“Last year we exposed how local Councils in Wales have a £1.4billion PFI debt and fork out over £40million a year on these contracts. This is money which is being diverted from front line services. That’s why it has always been a principle of Plaid Cymru that PFIs do not provide value for money – a position we took into Government in the last Assembly term.　

　

“Given the tough economic climate and a 41% cut in capital funding from the Westminster Government, authorities cannot be tempted to continue with such an expensive funding method which sees significant sums of money being lost from budgets to pay off these enormous debts.　

　

“That’s why Plaid Cymru has already put forward an exciting proposal to develop infrastructure and create jobs at a much more affordable level via our Build4Wales not-for-distributable profit company.　 This has the potential to raise up to £500million for infrastructure projects.　

　

“Unless the Labour Government here in Wales accepts Plaid Cymru’s proposal, we could see projects such as the Ammanford relief road or Llandeilo bypass built using the same costly PFI contracts that Labour is suddenly against.

　

“It is hypocritical and an absolute disgrace to see the Labour party in Carmarthenshire dragging the good name of a local company through the mud for its own political advantage and in order to hide the Labour party’s shameful love affair with PFI contracts.　 Labour is actively undervaluing a local company when the company has only followed the financial structures Labour itself put in place.

　

“If the Labour party in Carmarthenshire wants a full investigation of how such costly PFI contracts were allowed to go ahead in Ammanford, it should start its inquiry squarely at the door of Gordon Brown who actively encouraged the use of PFI contracts in order to keep public debt levels off the balance books.

　

“The Labour party needs to stand up, front up and accept they got it wrong.”

ENDS

Jonathan Edwards MP, Rhodri Glyn Thomas AM support calls to devolve broadcasting powers to Wales

Rhodri — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:50:49 +0000

Member of Parliament Jonathan Edwards and Assembly Member Rhodri Glyn Thomas have today signed a proclamation pledging their support to devolve broadcasting to Wales.

The Carmarthenshire politicians said there had been too many cuts in the broadcasting sector in Wales recently especially concerning S4C.

These cuts have had a direct impact on the people of Carmarthenshire, many of whom are employed within the sector, be it in the BBC offices in Carmarthen or in Tinopolis, Llanelli.

Jonathan Edwards MP said:

‘We have recently seen with the cuts to S4C’s budget that there is a dire need for us to have the powers over broadcasting devolved to Wales, it doesn’t make sense that the broadcasting sector in Wales is open to constant threats by a government that has no mandate in Wales’

Rhodri Glyn Thomas AM added:

‘Broadcasting in Wales has faced blow after blow in the past year and it’s about time for us to take the reigns, devolve broadcasting and do something about the situation in our Assembly in Wales’

Journal Column – 11th January 2012

Rhodri — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 23:10:06 +0000

Plaid Cymru has been campaigning at the National Assembly over the past months for a package of urgent measures to be brought forward to combat the effects of the deepening economic crisis here in Wales. During this crisis, we need to protect jobs and small businesses – yet Labour has done little along those lines since forming this Welsh Government in May.

I want the Labour Welsh government to bring forward a package to boost the economy that includes Plaid Cymru’s idea of £45m investment in a Small Business Job protection scheme. Our scheme would extend Business Rate support to those businesses with a rateable value of up to £18,000. It would give direct support to 80% of Wales’ businesses in order to help safeguard jobs. We also want to see the refinement of public sector procurement practices to ensure more contracts can be awarded to local companies – directly benefiting businesses on own doorstep.

As your Plaid Cymru Assembly Member I am committed to continuing to press Labour to sit up and recognise the importance of small businesses to the local economy here in Carmarthenshire. Across Wales as a whole almost 500,000 people work for small businesses and reports are showing that the economic crisis is already starting to hit these jobs hard.

This week I have been visiting businesses in the county to share my party’s ideas for the economy directly with business owners. I have witnessed personally how small business owners in the county are working hard to keep their staff on despite the incredibly difficult economic conditions they’re facing and they should be praised for their efforts.

Labour’s refusal to take action on this issue and help our small business is yet more damning evidence that they are intentionally sitting back and allowing the economic situation to get even worse for their own, selfish political gain.

Plaid Cymru attacks County Council’s publicly funded electioneering

Rhodri — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:43:09 +0000

Plaid Cymru politicians Jonathan Edwards MP and Rhodri Glyn Thomas AM have joined their party’s Council group leader, Cllr. Peter Hughes-Griffiths, in attacking what he describe as ‘blatant electioneering at the hands of taxpayer-funded council staff’.

In an official press release from the Carmarthenshire County Council in which the Executive Board attempted to distance itself from the possible cuts to services already noted in local and national media, a representative of the Labour party attacked the Plaid Cymru councillor group for abstaining from voting on important budget matters.

The Plaid Cymru politicians said that not only are the Labour and Independent groups issuing completely false statements regarding votes, but has used Council staff, funded by Carmarthenshire rate payers, for its electioneering.

This is not the first time a civil servant of the County Council’s press team has been embroiled in party political matters. In a leaked e-mail, the former head of the Press Office was exposed for actively encouraging members of the public to pressure Assembly Members to support a planning application on the former Stradey Park site in Llanelli.

The Leader of the Plaid Cymru Council Group, Peter Hughes Griffiths said:

“The actions of this Labour and Independent Council are unconstitutional.

“The Executive Board agreed to send its proposed budget out for consultation. The authority has now issued an official press notice including comments from a Labour councillor who has absolutely nothing to do with the Executive Board, outlining to the people of Carmarthenshire where the Board has already decided not to make cuts, whilst at the same time trying to score party political points against Plaid Cymru.

“I have contacted the authority’s Chief Executive so that he can explain what exactly is going on in the authority; why budget announcements are being made by non-executive councillors; why announcements are being made during the consultation period and why the authority is carrying out political electioneering at the hands of taxpayer-funded council staff”.

Commenting jointly, Jonathan Edwards and Rhodri Glyn Thomas added:

“Democratic institutions only function properly when the civil service remains impartial. Party political comments being issued in an official county council press release demonstrates beyond doubt that the Labour and Independent Council has politicised the authority’s civil servants.

“We’re confident that Carmarthenshire ratepayers, who are seeing inflation-busting price increases in a number of the Council’s services, do not want their hard-earned money being spent on these sort of cheap political press reports with absolutely no basis in fact.

“The County Council’s press office has previously been embroiled in party political matters having been exposed for helping to orchestrate a campaign against elected Welsh Assembly members.

“A full investigation must immediately be undertaken to ascertain which senior officer(s) authorised the Labour and Independent parties to carry out this sort of electioneering at public expense.

“The authority’s Chief Executive must ensure that the senior officer(s) responsible are held accountable for their actions.

“There are also serious questions about the suitability of elected politicians who hold elected office and use their position to politicize civil servants. We would expect the heads of cabinet members and senior officials to fall over this issue.

“Once again the people of Carmarthenshire are given further notice of the need for a change of political direction at County level. The people of Carmarthenshire deserve a County Council that operates in their interests.”

ENDS