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Politics

How Labour won the argument

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By Matthew Paul

Even though Labour –according to Jeremy Corbyn– ‘won the argument’ last Thursday, the
Tories comprehensively won at the traditionally more important business of getting votes.
Simon Hart, Stephen Crabb and Jonathan Edwards all held their seats; the two
Conservatives enjoying comfortable majorities over Labour (though it was Hart, not Crabb,
who took Alun Cairns’ vacant job as Secretary of State for Wales).
Plaid Cymru, as predicted, had a pretty rotten night. They can take a little comfort from Ben
Lake’s solid win in Ceredigion, and from seeing their majorities creep up in Y Fro Gymraeg.
But the Party of Wales remains a party supported by only one in ten Welsh voters. Plaid
made no progress at all outside its core areas; indeed its share of the vote has (with a very
slight blip in 2015) been slowly on the slide for twenty years, from the 14.1% it won in the
2001 General Election, to 9.9% last Thursday. This is not a movement on the march.
Plaid’s aggressively anti-Brexit stance, and its ‘Unite to Remain’ alliance with wishy-washy
Britnat parties was a huge strategic error. Mistletoe-clad traditionalists in Y Fro know
perfectly well that the party is pro-EU and didn’t need reminding. Brexity boyos in the
valleys looking for an alternative to Labour found it a massive turn-off.
In Carmarthenshire West and South Pembrokeshire, Plaid’s vote share fell; Rhys Thomas
having failed to mention frequently enough that he’s a doctor and was in Afghanistan.
Jonathan Edwards will be spooked too. He lost half his majority in Carmarthen East &
Dinefwr, and the Conservatives smashed Labour into third place. With a bit of investment in
the constituency from CCHQ, there is every prospect of the Tories biting Jonathan on the
bum next time round.
While the doorstep in the Pembrokeshire constituencies had been showing solid support for
the Tories but no reason for complacency, over in Carmarthenshire it was apparent that the
Labour campaign had completely gone to bits. Labour Candidate Maria Carroll, though an
avid Corbynite, was for some reason unpersoned by her party and ordered to stay away
from Jezza’s big gig at Nantyci showground. The dear leader didn’t mention her or CE&D
once in his speech.
Rattled, Carroll put out a video in which she adopted the conciliatory tone of a dying gypsy
fortune-teller cursing the drunk driver who knocked her down: “your children and
grandchildren will SUFFER!” Even this inspirational message failed to turn things around.
Maria Carroll may have won the argument in Carmarthen East & Dinefwr; but only if the
argument centred on whether or not she would lose to both Plaid and the Tories, and get
the lowest vote in Carmarthenshire in the Labour Party’s entire history. To her credit, she
achieved both. She was fortunate not to face a credible challenge from the LibDems, or
Count Binface.
In receipt of this absolute shellacking from the electorate, many candidates would step
back, slightly abashed, and opt for a moment of quiet reflection. Not Maria. Erupting on
Twitter, she blamed every factor for her defeat except unpropitious astrological
convergences, her own incompetence, and Oh! Jeremy Corbyn. Broadly speaking, she

shared the view prevalent amongst members of the Corbyn cult; that the electorate got it
wrong.
Certainly, the analysis among Corbynites seems to be that it wasn’t the manifesto that got it
wrong; voters loved the classical socialist idea of taxing the rich until there aren’t any left,
then starting on the moderately well off. It definitely wasn’t the leader either; he is a good,
kind, honest, decent man who really cares for the poor. And, as we all know, there aren’t
any poor Jews. No, it was vile, billionaire-owned mainstream media like The New
Statesman, The Guardian and The Pembrokeshire Herald that brainwashed a majority of the
electorate into thinking Corbyn was an unpatriotic halfwit who surrounded himself with
commies, bomb-scatterers and anti-Semites. What made it worse was that they achieved
this by the sneaky, underhand trick of reporting things that Corbyn had said and done.
Carroll tweeted that she wants to see “an end to the abusive power of the media”, and even
expressed an aspiration to close the media down, so perhaps The Pembrokeshire Herald has
had a lucky break.
Maria Carroll wasn’t alone on Thursday night. The Beast of Bolsover, Dennis Skinner, was
finally told that his forty-year long end of the pier show was being shut down. Labour were
turfed out of Sedgefield; once Tony Blair’s rock-solid stronghold. Redcar, Grimsby Fishdocks,
Satanic Mills East, and a host of other seats which have been Labour since the dawn of time
all voted with some enthusiasm for Boris and Brexit.
The strategy of forcing opposition parties to treat a first-past-the-post election as a
referendum on a subject about which they didn’t agree worked an absolute treat for the
Tories. Even so, a competently led Labour Party with a clearly defined position on Brexit
could have won. In one credible poll, 43% of Labour voters who switched sides said it was
leadership, not Brexit, that was their main concern.
For the time being, Corbyn remains at the helm of his stricken party, anxious to ensure that
whoever succeeds him is chosen on his terms and from his cult. Any Tory with £3 in his
pocket would do well to sign up to Labour now, for the unmissable opportunity of helping to
elect Richard Burgon or Rebecca Long-Bailey as the Lenin-capped loon’s successor.
Entertaining as it may be to watch the Labour Party disintegrate, the Tories can allow
themselves only a short gloat. Reality will start to bite soon, when they get stuck into what
may not be the entirely effortless task of Getting Brexit Done.

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News

Welsh Water has increased sewage discharges into waterways ‘by 40%’

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NEW figures released by the Environment Agency have shown that Dwr Cymru discharged sewage into waterways for a staggering 23,354 hours last year, a 40% increase on 2022. 

The Welsh Liberal Democrats are now calling for tougher action against sewage dumping in Welsh waterways.

The party has also called for a halt on bonuses for water company bosses whose firms have dumped sewage into waterways.

Conservative MPs have consistently voted against measures which would have helped to tackle the crisis.

The Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds MS said: “It is a complete scandal that filthy sewage is being pumped into our nation’s rivers and waterways without consequence.

“It’s beggars’ belief that both the UK Conservative Government and the Welsh Labour government are allowing water firms to get away with this environmental vandalism.

“We as a party are calling for tougher action to stop sewage being dumped in local waterways. We have also called for a halt on bonuses for water company fat cats whose firms have pumped filth into our waterways.”

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News

New bus services announced by Pembrokeshire County Council

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A NUMBER of changes to local bus services will be introduced in the coming weeks as a result of a shake up to bus funding. 

From April 2024, the funding which has been provided directly to bus operators by the Welsh Government to keep services going in the wake of the Covid pandemic will cease. 

Additional funding will instead be provided to Local Authorities to support their local bus network.

In total, Pembrokeshire County Council and the Welsh Government will provide over £3million in support for bus services in Pembrokeshire during the coming year.

As part of this process, all Pembrokeshire’s local bus services have been re-tendered. 

A public consultation, receiving over 300 responses, helped to inform decisions about which services should be prioritised. 

Councillor Rhys Sinnett, Pembrokeshire County Council Cabinet Member for Residents’ Services said: “I am delighted to be able to report that we are able to maintain the whole of Pembrokeshire’s current local bus network in the coming year.

“We have also secured key improvements such as reinstating an hourly service on the 349 route between Haverfordwest and Tenby via Pembroke Dock, and the popular Strumble Shuttle and Puffin Shuttle coastal bus services during the summer.”

The changes will also see two key services, the 302 Haverfordwest to Milford Haven and 349 Haverfordwest to Tenby via Pembroke Dock, brought under Council oversight for the first time. 

This will give the Council greater oversight of service operations and fares.  Pembrokeshire residents will also benefit from a new fare structure on all First Cymru services, due to be introduced from 1 April 2024. 

This will use Tap On Tap Off to allow passengers to pay the cheapest fare depending on the number of journeys they make or distance travelled, and will cap the maximum adult fare at £3 single and £5.40 return. 

More information about these fares can be found on the First Cymru website

A number of additional service changes and improvements are being considered for introduction during the course of the coming year in response to feedback received from the public consultation.  

The following bus service changes have been confirmed:

From 23 March 2024:

  • The Celtic Coaster (403) on the St Davids peninsular will restart for the 2024 season on Saturday 23 March and will run until Sunday 29 September. This is an hourly service, increasing to half-hourly during the whitsun half term and school summer holidays. There will be no service departing Caerfai Road at 13.00 and 13.30.
  • The 351 (Tenby to Pendine via Amroth) will return to its summer timetable.

From 1 April 2024

  • An hourly service will return on the 349 (Haverfordwest to Tenby via Pembroke Dock) service (April to September only).
  • The 356 (Milford Haven to Monkton) service will no longer call at Waterston and Hazelbeach due to operational issues caused by the narrow lanes in this area. The Fflecsi service will still be available.
  • A Saturday service, between 07:30 and 18:30, will be reintroduced in the Fflecsi Mid Pembrokeshire zone (formerly known as Bwcabus). This zone covers the area between Letterston, Crymych, Clunderwen and Wiston.  Passengers can also travel from this zone to Fishguard and Haverfordwest. 
  • The 302 (Haverfordwest to Milford Haven) and 349 (Haverfordwest to Tenby via Pembroke Dock) services operated by First Cymru will come under Pembrokeshire County Council control, giving the Council greater oversight of service operations and fares.
  • The 322 (Haverfordwest to Carmarthen) and 381 (Haverfordwest to Tenby via Narberth) services will be run by First Cymru. The 322 timetable will remain the same. The 381 timetable will remain the same from Haverfordwest to Tenby but journeys from Tenby to Haverfordwest will depart slightly earlier (37 past the hour instead of 45).
  • The X22 and X61 services which provided journeys at the start and end of the day between Pembroke Dock and Kilgetty, and Pembroke Dock and Haverfordwest will be withdrawn.
  • The 410 (Fishguard Town) and T11 (Haverfordwest to Fishguard via St Davids) services will be operated on a commercial (T11 part commercial) basis by Richards Bros. An improved connection with the ferry at Fishguard Harbour will be provided at 12.30.

From 19 May 2024

  • The Tenby Coaster service between Tenby and Saundersfoot will return for the summer season.

From 25 May 2024

  • The 400 Puffin Shuttle and 404 Strumble Shuttle services will return to the coast between Marloes and St Davids, and St Davids and Fishguard. These services will operate 7 days a week until 29 September 2024.  The Fflecsi service is also available in this area throughout the year.
  • The 387/388 Coastal Cruiser service around the Angle Peninsula will also return to its summer timetable, operating 7 days a week until 29th September 2024.

Further information about all Pembrokeshire bus services can be found on the Council’s website.

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Surrogacy: Carmarthenshire solicitor calls for legal reform

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ON the anniversary of the Law Commission’s call for surrogacy law to be overhauled, JCP Solicitors’ Angela Killa, Director in the Family team, is calling on prospective surrogates and parents to better understand the legal rules around this complicated path to parenthood.

Proposing a new regulatory route for surrogacy arrangements in the UK, the Law Commission’s recommendations for the Government puts forward a change to the law so that intended parents would become parents of the child from birth in certain circumstances. Currently, intended parents must wait months to obtain a parental order ¾ which causes stress and anxiety, not to mention administrative difficulties when registering the child.

A Surrogacy Register would also be created under the new proposals, allowing surrogate children to trace their birth origins later in life. Overall, the recommendations laid out in the report would improve regulation of domestic surrogacy to dissuade UK residents from going abroad, as international surrogacy agreements can bring greater risk of exploitation of women and children in some countries.

A year on from the reform suggestions, surrogacy rates continue to rise in the UK – surging by 350% over the past 12 years. Now, legal experts say it is more relevant than ever to understand the full implications of entering a surrogacy agreement.

Angela Killa, Director in the Family team at JCP Solicitors, explains: “In the UK, a surrogate (and her husband or male civil partner, if relevant) are considered the mother (and father) of a child at birth. Intended parents must apply for a Parental Order, which is heard before the Court ¾ making it highly advisable for those involved in surrogacy cases to appoint a Solicitor.

“We often see immense stresses from both the parents and the surrogate, as the current law means that the parental order can take months to obtain which can be incredibly anxiety-inducing.

“For example, intended parents may worry that the surrogate will change her mind or will not give her consent freely, whereas surrogates may also worry that the intended parents may change their mind(s) or make unreasonable demands during pregnancy.

“This feels particularly difficult given the fact that many intended parents are likely to have dealt with a lot of trauma before considering surrogacy: many have faced fertility struggles and may even have dealt with the devastation of failed pregnancies or baby loss. For LGBTQ+ couples, there may have been additional challenges faced due to discrimination or prejudice. Therefore, empathy and consideration is of paramount importance when discussing this issue.”

The government published an interim response to the report in November 2023, with Maria Caulfield MP stating: “While we appreciate the importance of this work, parliamentary time does not allow for these changes to be taken forward at the moment.” Despite this response, legal experts working in surrogacy encourage the Government to take action and fully consider the proposed amendments. 

Angela explains: “The reforms laid out in the Surrogacy Reform Act by the Law Commission may help to ease the stress and pressure for all involved. The Government are encouraged to provide a full response as soon as possible so progress can be made in this important area of law”.

Angela Killa is a member of Resolution, a family law organisation advocating for a constructive approach to family issues.

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