Election 2011 : Final Campaign Round Up

Well that's that.

One of the most insipid, uninspiring and (on the ground) nasty election campaigns in the Welsh Assembly's short history draws to a close. Each and every party should be embarrassed - ashamed even - at how they've conducted themselves and their campaigns. I don't think it's entirely their fault, but they played more than their fair role.

This might very well be a good election to lose, there might very well be a lot of hard decisions in the coming years that will make them unpopular, but they've let us down badly. We finally grasped self-determination in March, but by May I'm wondering why we bothered.

I'll be posting my predictions tomorrow, and I've come to some surprising conclusions. But to each and every candidate who might be reading this - especially those who have Wales's best interests at heart (you know who you are) - I wish you the very best of luck.

Conservatives:

• Have been forced to withdraw an election leaflet that claimed Labour wanted to close down Neath Port Talbot hospital if they won.
• Prime Minister David Cameron joined the Conservative campaign trail in north Wales and warned that Labour would make NHS cuts.
• Candidate for Cardiff Central, Matt Smith, has been forced to apologise after comparing the Respect Party to paedophiles.
• The tweets of North Wales list candidate John Broughton have come under the spotlight, saying that Plaid's Heledd Fychan was "odd", Plaid's Helen Mary Jones was "a fruitcake", that party leader Nick Bourne was "nice guy, completely wrong policy".
• Nick Bourne campaigned on Anglesey saying they needed to help small businesses, "not strangle them with red tape and with burdens like high business rates".

Labour:

• Have attacked Conservative plans to reintroduce prescription charges, labeling it a "tablet tax".
• Ynys Mon candidate Joe Lock, has apologised after saying he "hoped Margaret Thatcher dies soon" on his Facebook account.
• Campaigned in Haverfordwest against the closure of Milford Haven and Holyhead coastguard stations.
• Carwyn Jones has reiterated that Labour are the only party that "won't do a deal with the Tories" and that voting Lib Dem or Plaid would "let them in through the back door".
• Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls campaigned in Cardiff, asking people to "do everything possible to mitigate the impact of the Tory cuts".
• Llanelli candidate Keith Davies launched a bizarre attack on Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones, claiming that pictures of him with his family were "weird".
• In another bizarre incident, Labour MP for Caerphilly Wayne David has been spotted -and admitted to - removing Plaid Cymru placards from front gardens in the constituency, claiming to householders that they were "offensive" and "illegal".

Liberal Democrats:

• Kirsty Williams insisted that Westminster issues are "not an issue on the doorstep".
• Visited Chepstow and discussed their policies for cutting regulations and freezing business rates.
• Outlined their plans for sustainable public transport at Swansea Bus Station.
• Spoke out against the "waste and inefficiency" of One Wales, saying they had turned it "into an art form".

Plaid Cymru:

• Unveiled their plans for a "Homecoming" festival in 2014 to mark Dylan Thomas's centenary and plans to strengthen the "Welsh brand" for tourism.
• Ieuan Wyn Jones promised "transformational" changes to the Welsh education system.
• Criticised the other parties for lacking job creation proposals. Nerys Evans said "whinging won't create a single job – our plan will create up to 50,000 of them".

Minor Parties:

UKIP leader Nigel Farage visited Monmouth, where he said that the main parties in Wales "have merged" and that UKIP provided "a voice of opposition".