News

Badger and the legend of Leighton’s gold

Published

11 years ago

February 26, 2015

THIS Friday is an important one for Pembrokeshire, readers. It may seem like any other Friday at this time of year, marking time to the inevitable twinkling of sleigh bells and relentless smuggery of Christmas, but this Friday is different. For this Friday, local authorities across Wales are due to answer to the call of Welsh Labour’s Local Government Minister Leighton Andrews and tell him exactly how they intend to throw themselves on the bonfi re of democracy that he wants to take place sooner rather than later. Now, after all that has happened over the last few years, readers might expect Badger to face the potential dissolution of Pembrokeshire County Council with equanimity. You would be wrong readers. Badger believes, fi rmly believes, in the ability of Pembrokeshire’s people to govern themselves. You can say what you like about the incompetence and fatuity of members of our current council. Badger has. Often. But we can at least say that, whatever their manifest shortcomings, those governing us from County Hall were elected by and are accountable to us. That is the nature of representative democracy.

Now, however, without a democratic mandate of any sort, Welsh Labour in Cardiff Bay has decided that it needs to sweep away local democracy and replace it with – well – readers, there is the question. For all Leighton’s big words and posturing, he is very thin on detail. In short, he is asking council’s to mortgage their futures not on a false prospectus but on moonshine and moon beams. Let’s look at some basic arithmetic, readers. Welsh councils face carving out £900m from their budgets in cuts over the coming years. Those are cuts that follow on from the Welsh Government’s decision to slash the grants it gives to councils so they can pay for essential services. Like education, bin collections, and elderly social care. We have already seen the effects of those cuts in the last couple of years, and there is a long way to travel down that path of pain yet. More and deeper cuts are the order of the day. But Labour will do nothing to ease the burden of cuts: Instead – and in a moment of blind panic – Ed Milliband signed up to a cross-party promise to keep in place a funding formula that costs Wales (very conservatively) £400m A YEAR in grants from the UK Treasury.

Into that toxic mix, Leighton has decided to throw in a fundamental shake-up of Welsh councils for no better reason than it suits Welsh Labour in Cardiff Bay to emasculate a tier of government and raise the Senedd above the level of a glorifi ed County Council. Think about it readers: Do you seriously see Mark Drakeford and his ilk as people with the nous and ability to outwit a stunned herring, let alone get to Westminster and occupy senior stations on the Labour benches? But to return to our fun with sums. On top of £900m in cuts, Leighton wants to burden councils with a shakeup that could cost as much as £268m.So: While services are slashed and burned, Leighton thinks it a jolly good idea to get councils to fund their own dissolution by fi nding another quarter of a billion pounds to go with the near billion they are expected to find already.

Leighton has given heavy hints that he expects councils to fund all of this from their reserves. Readers, there is fi scal illiteracy and blind stupidity. Badger would not seek to burden Leighton and Carwyn et al with an accusation of crass stupidity. Let’s just settle for fi scal illiteracy. If county councils dump capital onto the market – for example, commercial properties and assets – in a fi re sale to realise Leighton’s levy, what do you think will happen to property and fi nancial markets, readers? And what about the duty of councils to realise the best commercial price for their assets? Leighton doesn’t care. In his prison of fi scal illiteracy he does not think of consequences just of grand schemes. Like Del Boy in Peckham Market he will knock it off on the cheap to get it off his hands. So, with Welsh local government, in the hole to – say – £1.1bn, how much does Leighton think will be saved? £80m a year.

Maybe. He has not got a clue. Nobody does. In ten years, possibly, 12, the cuts and the costs will be made up for by alleged savings in local government. Maybe. He has not got a clue. Nobody does. Leighton’s gold is without substance because it has no basis in reality. He has not got a clue. Badger has a word for the idea that changing local government a la Leighton will deliver meaningful service improvements at a lower cost. Bulls***. Shedding a few Chief Offi cers will save bugger all in the grand scheme of things. Their scalps are just a convenient peg upon which Leighton can hang his hat. Emperor Leighton has no clothes. He is trying to bully councils with unspecifi ed penalties and even more nebulous (and probably) unlawful intervention if they do not bend to his will.

‘No change is not an option’, is Leighton’s call. Badger has heard that before, from Mark Drakeford, Carwyn’s Health Minister. Remember that one, readers? Consult on proposals and then press ahead anyway with a policy already determined by a panel appointed by the Welsh Labour Government. The Welsh Government carved up the Welsh NHS in such a way as it could force through its programme of cuts and closures in the teeth of public disapproval. That is what the Welsh Government wants to do to Welsh local government. Having centralised health policy in the Bay, the Welsh Labour Government wants to do the same with local democracy. There are those who might think it couldn’t be worse than what we have at the moment. Badger invites them to consider whether turning the Welsh NHS into an unresponsive, centrally run, bureaucratic mess operated by placemen and hacks is a template for success or failure. Put another way, do you trust Leighton enough to leap into the dark holding his hand in yours? Badger doesn’t. After all, Leighton was too gutless to be interviewed by The Herald.

What faith could you have in a man who will not subject himself to even the gentlest of quizzing? If you are still nodding along with Leighton at this point, readers, please bear this in mind: Leighton was in Carwyn’s Cabinet before. He resigned from his role as Education Minister after campaigning in his own constituency against a policy he was enforcing on the rest of Wales. This is the man Carwyn has charged with ramming through local government change. This is the man who tells us he is doing this not for party advantage but to deliver the best local government for Wales. ‘Hypocrisy’ is a terrible word, readers. But if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks… And don’t forget to ask your Labour candidate their views. After all ‘hypocrisy’ is a terrible word, readers.

News

Senedd election candidates confirmed as vote.wales goes live

Published

15 hours ago

April 11, 2026

Tom Sinclair

Voters can now check who is standing in their constituency ahead of polling day on May 7

A TOTAL of 675 candidates will contest the Senedd election on May 7, with voters across Wales now able to see exactly who is standing in their area through the newly launched vote.wales website.

The nomination period for candidates closed at 4:00pm on Thursday (Apr 9), and full details of all confirmed candidates are now available online.

At this year’s election, Wales has been divided into 16 constituencies, with each one electing six Members of the Senedd under a closed-list proportional voting system. Voters will receive one ballot paper and will be able to vote either for a political party or for an individual independent candidate.

Under the new system, the number of seats won in each constituency is intended to broadly reflect each party’s share of the vote. That means, for example, that a party receiving around half the vote in a constituency would be expected to win three of the six available seats.

Political parties were allowed to put forward up to eight candidates in each constituency, while individuals were also able to stand as independents.

In total, the 675 candidates standing for election are competing for 96 seats in the next Senedd. They represent 16 political parties, along with 30 independent candidates.

Voters can use the postcode search on vote.wales to find out who is standing in their constituency. The website also allows users to check where their polling station is, what accessibility features are available there, and which constituency they belong to.

People wanting to see who is standing in other parts of Wales can do so through the site’s “Browse by constituency” section.

Vote.wales is a new website created for this year’s Senedd election and is intended to give voters clear and reliable information before polling day. It is managed by the Electoral Management Board for Wales, which is part of the Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru.

From Thursday, April 16, candidates’ leaflets will also be published on the site, allowing voters to see not only who is standing, but what they are standing for.

The website also includes information on how to vote, who is entitled to vote, and what powers and responsibilities the Senedd has.

Shereen Williams MBE OStJ, Chief Executive of the Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru, said: “We created vote.wales to give people all the information they need before the Senedd election on May 7.

“Now that candidates have been confirmed across Wales, people can find out exactly who they can vote for with a simple postcode search.

“We’re grateful to all the Returning Officers and election staff across Wales who are working so hard to deliver this election. It’s thanks to their hard work that people can now go to vote.wales to see who is standing in their constituency.

“If you have any questions about this election, vote.wales is the place to go. Voting confidence starts here.”

Who is standing?

In the Ceredigion Penfro constituency, voters will be choosing from candidates representing the Welsh Conservatives, Gwlad, the Heritage Party, Plaid Cymru, Plaid Werdd Cymru, Reform UK, Welsh Labour and the Welsh Liberal Democrats, along with three independents.

For the Welsh Conservatives, the candidates are Paul Windsor Davies, Samuel Deri Kurtz, Claire Victoria George, Brian Andrew Murphy, Gill Evans and Claire Malaina Jones.

Gwlad has selected Gwyn Wigley Evans, while the Heritage Party candidate is Elizabeth Davies.

Plaid Cymru has put forward Elin Jones, Kerry Ferguson, Anna Nicholl, Cris Tomos, Colin Nosworthy, Clive Davies, Owain Jones and Matt Adams.

Plaid Werdd Cymru is standing Amy Nicholass, Tomass Jereminovics, James Henry Purchase, Morgan Hope Phillips, Rosie O’Toole and Kezia Autumn Hine.

Reform UK’s candidates are Susan Claire Archibald, Paul Marr, Michael Timothy Allen, Elisa Bessie Gonzalez Randall, Peter Martin John and Bernard Holton.

Welsh Labour has selected Eluned Morgan, Marc Tierney, Joshua Phillips, Margaret Greenaway, Tansaim Hussain-Gul, Luke Davies-Jones and Peter Huw Jenkins.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats are standing Sandra Louise Jervis, Alistair Ronald Cameron, Tom Hughes, Lee Dennis Thomas John Herring, Andrew Christopher Lye and Maggie Robinson.

The independent candidates in the constituency are Aaron Carey, George Alexander Chadzy and Paul Haywood Dowson.

Voters have until April 20 to register to take part in the election. Unlike some other polls, photo ID is not required to vote at Senedd elections.

News

Billionaire donor returns to UK to keep backing Reform

Published

15 hours ago

April 11, 2026

Tom Sinclair

Ben Delo says new overseas donation cap is designed to curb support for Nigel Farage’s party

CRYPTOCURRENCY billionaire Ben Delo says he is returning to Britain so he can continue donating millions of pounds to Reform UK, after Labour unveiled plans to cap political donations from Britons living overseas.

Mr Delo, 42, who is currently based in Hong Kong, has already given £4 million to Reform this year. But under new government proposals, overseas electors would be limited to donating £100,000 a year.

The businessman has accused Sir Keir Starmer’s government of trying to tilt the political playing field in Labour’s favour by making it harder for Reform to attract major backing from wealthy British supporters living abroad.

Writing in The Telegraph, Mr Delo said he would relocate to the UK in order to continue funding Nigel Farage’s party and help it build a serious war chest before the next general election.

Mr Delo is widely known as a co-founder of the cryptocurrency trading platform BitMEX, which helped make him one of Britain’s youngest self-made billionaires.

He has also spoken publicly about having Asperger’s syndrome, saying he finds much of modern politics difficult to interpret because of what he sees as evasive and unclear language. He contrasted that with Mr Farage’s more direct style of speaking, which he said he finds easier to understand.

Mr Delo said his financial support could help Reform expand its staffing, improve campaign preparation and spend more on events, advertising and organisation ahead of the next national vote.

He also suggested the new donation cap could be aimed at limiting support from other wealthy overseas backers, including businessman Christopher Harborne, who has also donated substantial sums to Reform.

Mr Delo argued that while Labour continues to benefit from large donations linked to the trade union movement, the new rules would make it harder for rival parties to compete on equal terms.

The government says the proposed changes are part of a wider effort to tighten electoral law and reduce the risk of foreign influence in British politics.

Mr Farage welcomed Mr Delo’s decision, saying the funding would help Reform continue developing as a party that is serious about government and capable of attracting the expertise needed to prepare for power.

Mr Delo said he hoped other wealthy expatriates who want to support political causes in Britain would also consider returning to the UK.

News

St Davids Cathedral welcomes new organ to Lady Chapel

Published

16 hours ago

April 11, 2026

Tom Sinclair

Instrument by Peter Collins now in place as cathedral prepares for tuning and inaugural recital

ST DAVIDS CATHEDRAL CHOIR has announced the installation of a new organ in the Lady Chapel at St Davids Cathedral.

The instrument, a Peter Collins EOS9 organ, has been installed by Gary Owens Organ Builders.

Sharing the news, the choir said it was delighted with the addition of the “beautiful” organ and thanked the builders for their “time, professionalism and energy” in completing the work.

The cathedral says the instrument will now be left to settle for a couple of weeks before receiving its first tuning.

Further details about the dedication of the organ and its inaugural recital are expected to be announced soon.

In the meantime, the organ is open for inspection, while the Lady Chapel is once again available for worship and private prayer.