Senedd Watch - May 2011

Seeing how the Welsh Government has undergone a long overdue re-brand, "WAG Watch" now stands for Welsh Assembly & Government Watch - I guess.

• Labour made gains in the Assembly election, winning 30 seats, falling short of an overall majority. The Conservatives won an extra two seats but lost their leader Nick Bourne. Plaid Cymru had a disappointing night, losing 4 seats - including the party's deputy leader Helen Mary Jones. The Lib Dems only lost a single seat overall, but saw their share of the vote fall and lost 2 FPTP constituencies - including Cardiff Central.
• Paul Davies (Con, Preseli Pembrokeshire) was made interim leader of the Welsh Conservatives while a leadership contest gets underway. He has, however, ruled himself out of the race. A new leader is due to be announced on July 11^th. Andrew RT Davies (Con, South Wales Central) and Nick Ramsey (Con, Monmouthshire) are the only leadership candidates .
• The fourth National Assembly of Wales convened on 11^th May and began with a tribute to the late regional list AM for North Wales, Brynle Williams.
• Rosemary Butler (Lab, Newport West) was appointed as Llywydd unopposed, replacing Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas, who stands down from the role after 12 years.
• David Melding and William Graham were both nominated for the post of Deputy Llywydd. David Melding AM (Con, South Wales Central) was elected by 46 votes to 12 in a secret ballot.
• Carwyn Jones AM (Lab, Bridgend) was appointed as First Minister unopposed.
• Ieuan Wyn Jones AM (Plaid, Ynys Mon) announced that he is to stand down as Plaid Cymru leader "in the first half of the Assembly term".
• Department of Work and Pensions statistics reveal that 23% of the population of Wales live in relative income poverty - the same rate as England but higher than Scotland (19%) and Northern Ireland (22%). 33% of children lived in relative income poverty, the highest rate of the home nations, Scotland having the lowest rate at 25%. 17% of pensioners in Wales lived in relative income poverty - the same rate as England, higher than Scotland (13%) but lower than Northern Ireland (21%)
• Simon Thomas AM (Plaid, Mid & West Wales) has called for the Welsh Government to publish a programme of government and "demonstrate their commitment to co-operation in order to get their plans through the Senedd".
• Kevin Davies AM (Lab, Llanelli) criticised comments made by former WJEC exam board chair, Jeff Jones, that the Welsh Baccalaureate was "an A level with a load on nonsense added on". This comes after news that Cardiff University refused to accept the qualification for a history and politics course.
• Two newly elected Lib Dem regional list AM's - Aled Roberts and John Dixon - were disqualified from the Assembly for retaining membership of organisations that AMs were barred from being members of. UKIP MEP John Bufton referred the pair to the police for electoral fraud.
• Unemployment in Wales fell sharply by 10,000, with the unemployment rate now exactly the same as the UK average at 7.7%. Unemployment and economic inactivity in Wales have also had sharper falls than the UK average compared to last year.
• First Minister Carwyn Jones described the UK Government's decision to downgrade Newport passport office as "extremely disappointing news".
• Around 1,500 people gathered outside the Senedd on May 24^th to protest against TAN 8, the UK and Welsh Government's policy to generate more renewable energy. Of particular concern were the building of new windfarms in Mid Wales and a power line from Montgomeryshire to Shrewsbury.
• Office of National Statistics data showed that 50,400 people from the rest of the UK moved to Wales while 48,500 left, with net inward migration of 1,900 in the twelve months to September 2010.
• Alun Ffred Jones AM (Plaid, Arfon) has written to Llywydd Rosemary Butler, criticising the Assembly Commission for not setting up committees quickly enough, saying that there was a sense of "lethargy" and that AMs were "pottering around". He criticised the Welsh Government for being slow in setting out a programme of government compared to the Scottish Government.
• Theodore Huckle QC, was appointed Consul General, the Assembly Government's senior legal advisor, on May 27^th.
• First Minister Carwyn Jones joined his counterparts in Scotland and Northern Ireland for a trilateral summit in Edinburgh on May 31^st. The meeting was to discuss shared agendas for the term ahead.
• Major projects announced this month include the start of the £35m Wrexham Industrial Estate Access Road(s), a proposed leisure resort on Anglesey that could create up to 600 jobs and a £77m refurbishment of Ysbyty Glan Clwyd in Bodelwyddan, Denbighshire.