THE CONSERVATIVES moved yet further into the pre-Assembly camp. Of course the group wants more powers for this place, party leader Nick Bourne told the weekly press briefing, writes Clive Betts from the Assembly press gallery.
Well, what about more AMs to cope with the amount of work currently involved, he was asked.
Particularly in the view of the party’s aim to reduce the number of MPs at Westminster?
To which we obtained no reply, beyond a touch of humming and haa-ing.
Currently, of course, the numbers of MPs and AMs are closely linked.
But everyone acknowledges that 60 AMs is insufficient.
Think of all the policy-influencing and scrutiny that has had to be abandoned through the ending of the subject committee shodowing each minister. These bodies met every fortnight; and every month the minister had to give a long report on which he or she was closely questioned (interrogated might be a better word).
These reports were by far the best source of information on what was happening within the Assembly and in particular the government.
But they have gone; forced out of existence by lack of AMs and time.
You could almost see Nick Bourne weeping tears at what has been lost.
So, would the Tories carry over the attack on the number of Westminster politicians to include those at Cardiff Bay ?
No reply.
Instead, we were presented with the need for longer working hours in terms of Assembly sessions.
But as the Tories rightly claim that much of the time in Assembly sessions is taking up with the mouthing of political platitudes for pretty much no point whatsoever, could it be that Mr Bourne is secretly creaming of the return of the old-style committee sessions.
Does that mean he wants to isolate Cardiff as much as possible from the politicians-axing that would get under way at Westminster when the Tories take power ?
Of course, no-one would really complain if the Tories axed those troglodytes in Monmouth, Preseli and Clwyd West. David Davies, Stephen Crabb and David Jones are so much out of touch with modern Toryism that they should go off and do the decent thing.
Resign the Tory whip and join UKIP They we’d see whether they are popular enough to get re-elected.
