Politics
Commissioner calls for police to be included on Covid-19 Vaccination priority list

POLICE and Crime Commissioner Dafydd Llywelyn is calling for the Welsh Government to include Police Officers on the Covid-19 Vaccination priority list so that they can be protected from the virus as a matter of urgency.
A petition calling for this to take place was recently set-up by a father of a Police Officer who fell ill following arresting a man who was infected by the virus. With over 6000 signatures already on the petition, there is support from Unison, the NPCC along with the Police Federation of England and Wales, and now Dyfed-Powys Police and Crime Commissioner, Dafydd Llywelyn is calling on the Welsh Government to ensure that front line officers are vaccinated as a priority.
PCC Llywelyn said; “Like all other First Responders and NHS staff, Police Officers risk their lives every day to keep the public safe, and are at a higher risk of contracting and transmitting COVID-19 due to their increased level of exposure with the general public and lack of regular testing.
“We have a situation at the Police Headquarters in Llangunnor, Carmarthen where we are providing resources to support the Welsh Ambulance Service to facilitate the vaccination process of their staff who are based at HQ, which is fantastic. But, I find it frustrating that while we are putting resources in place to carry out the vaccination process at HQ, it is still unclear, when the vaccination will become available to us to roll out to our Officers.
“Police Officers are essential workers, they are in face to face contact with the general public on a daily basis, dealing with difficult and complex situations, and as a result it is essential that they are included on the priority list like other First Respondents.
“I’m now calling on the Welsh Government for some clarity on the roll-out schedule, and that Police Officers are given the same priority as other emergency services so that the public are confident that they are safe when they come in to contact with the Police.”
Politics
Call to replace the Lords

OVERHAULING Parliament’s London-dominated second chamber would help empower the UK’s nations and regions, writes Willie Sullivan a senior director at the Electoral Reform Society.
It’s been a year since Boris Johnson’s victory in the 2019 general election, an election won with a commitment to ‘level up’ those communities left behind.
Since then, our politics has been shaken by a pandemic that has put pressure on the already strained constitutional settlement that holds the nations and regions of the UK together.
We’ve seen attention turned to local and regional government as well as the devolved administrations. We’ve seen clearly how the over-centralising nature of Westminster can hamper and undermine public trust. The video of Andy Burnham first hearing news of Greater Manchester’s Covid funding settlement at a live press conference will go down as a low point in Britain’s patchwork devolution framework.
This is all set to the backdrop of declining faith in our politics. At the same time as the PM was returning to Number 10 last winter, polling for the Electoral Reform Society showed that just 16% of the public believe politics is working well in the UK – and only 2% feel they have a significant influence over decision-making.
For a government publicly committed to a levelling up agenda, this democratic malaise must serve as a warning: it will take more than economic investment or shiny new infrastructure to remedy the feeling of powerlessness that many feel outside of Westminster.
Tackling that will require some long-overdue reform. The calls for a clear framework for devolution in the UK have become impossible to ignore in recent months. Even areas of England with mayors felt sidelined this year, but the picture was even worse elsewhere – with zero guarantees that local people would be consulted on changes that would affect their lives immeasurably.
There’s a good way to start empowering the UK’s nations and regions: overhauling Parliament’s unelected second chamber.
Abolishing the outdated and unaccountable House of Lords offers a chance to rebalance politics away from Westminster – and create a representative Senate of the Nations and Regions.
Recent Electoral Reform Society analysis found that nearly a quarter of peers are based in London, compared to just 13% of the UK public. Over half – 56% of peers – live in the capital, or the east and south-east of England, while peers in the east and west Midlands make up just 6% between them – leaving many areas in which the Conservatives won seats in the so-called ‘red wall’ woefully underrepresented.
It should be said, this is only peers we know about: more than 300 refuse to state even the country they live in (some live overseas), and hundreds more do not even provide a direct email address for people to get in touch and stand up for their areas.
All this undermines the government’s stated intention to ‘level up’ the regions, when we have a chamber that is skewed towards one patch of England.
Reforming this London-dominated second chamber is a rare issue that is highly popular across all parties. 71% of the UK public back an overhaul of the House of Lords, research showed this year. The issue cuts across Britain’s divides, with an overhaul backed by a majority of those who voted Conservative or Labour in the 2019 general election, and those who voted Leave or Remain in the EU referendum.
As well as levelling up representation – with peers elected using a fair, proportional voting system – a genuinely accountable second chamber could establish a guaranteed voice for the regions of the UK, to speak as one, to scrutinise legislation and our constitutional settlement with clear communities in mind. The UK remains one of the most centralised countries in Europe – and the archaic, power-hoarding set-up in Westminster has a big role to play in why this is.
The pandemic has shown just how important it is for those outside the capital to be truly heard. There are many reasons why voters had more confidence in their governments’ Covid responses more in Wales and Scotland, but having a stake – being genuinely ‘in it together’ makes a big difference.
This is a challenge to all parties, from Boris Johnson as he tries to plot a path for recovery for the UK, to Keir Starmer as he begins to outline his own view of devolution.
One thing’s clear: the London-dominated House of Lords is undermining the voice of local communities. A Senate of the Nations and Regions could be the gamechanger we need.
Politics
Taskforce returns empty homes to use

“There was a formal process and a range of forms to complete but my grant was approved and the work has been done. I am delighted.”
Politics
North Wales Commissioner to stand down

“A true public servant, he will be remembered for representing the people of north Wales with determination and for fighting to ensure that the voices of victims of crime are heard within the justice system.
“On behalf of Plaid Cymru, I wish him all the best for the future.”
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