In a new blog for Caerphilly Observer, recently elected Caerphilly AM Hefin David pays tribute to his predecessor and fellow campaigners, and speaks about an interesting first day in the Senedd.
Honoured
On Thursday May 5, I was elected to serve as your Assembly Member for the next five years. I am truly honoured to represent my home.
I speak for all of the candidates when I say that, whether we receive one cross on the ballot paper or thousands, we feel an incredible sense of responsibility. I will now work for every resident of the Caerphilly constituency, however they voted.
I want to thank, in particular, Jeff Cuthbert who was an outstanding AM for Caerphilly for the past 13 years and will now be an effective Police and Crime Commissioner for Gwent. I have much work to do to follow him.
I also pay a fond tribute to Lindsay Whittle, a committed campaigner. I offered Lindsay my best wishes at the count last week. The election in Caerphilly was fought honourably and with good temper, in large part because of Lindsay’s conduct.
What next?
I have begun work, setting up an office and taking up cases for residents. I will be meeting shortly with protesters against the draft Local Development Plan to look at ways of helping their campaign and to try and bring about a strategic plan for South East Wales. I will keep constituents updated on progress with this.
I took part last week in the election of a new Presiding Officer of the Assembly (much like the House of Commons Speaker) and was delighted to see Plaid’s Elin Jones AM chosen. It’s going to be an interesting Fifth Assembly with seven UKIP AMs in the chamber for the first time.
I note with interest that UKIP have chosen the Thatcherite former Tory MP Neil Hamilton as their Assembly Leader. I doubt UKIP would have polled as many votes here in Caerphilly had residents known a Thatcherite was about to take control of UKIP in Wales. Along with the Tories, they supported Plaid’s Leanne Wood for First Minister, which could have made for an interesting Plaid-UKIP-Tory Government.
I will keep in touch regularly through this blog but for now, as your new Assembly Member, I will take the advice my father gave me back in primary school. I will always do my best.
You wouldn’t be fit to polish Maggies shoes Mr David, and if the late great Margaret Thatcher were running Wales instead of that useless bag of hot air Carwyn Jones it wouldn’t be the basket case of Europe groveling cap in hand for funding to prop up it’s failing economy, and it wasn’t for Margaret Thatcher winning three terms of office the Labour party wouldn’t have transformed into New Labour under Tony Blair. It was over 30 years ago that mines were closed, get over it Mr David, if they hadn’t have closed down then, European legislation and Mr Millibands Climate Change Act would have seen the end of them by now anyway.
Great Margret Thatcher- yeh right so great her own party kicked her out how great was that.
All good things must come to an end.
3.20 AM Thusday the 5th May, 2016 all good thing come to an end as the last vote was counted for Labours Hefin David.as our Assembly Memeber. instead of punching air at every opportunity why dont you rejoice at the wise Caerphilly Voting Public and join the party.
The wise Caerphilly voting public won’t be rejoicing next year when Caerphilly Council hike up council tax by 5 or 6% to pay for the bribe they conned the blinkered voters with this year, or when Welsh Labour have everybodies home re-valued yet again to squeeze even more council tax from us…..but then again it won’t affect that many Caerphilly residents will it as thanks to 17 years of poor Labour governance most of them are out of work anyway and have their council tax paid for them, because that’s how Welsh Labour prefer it to be….keep the people down and create an unbreakable dependency culture….and another few thousand destined for the dole queue in Port Talbot, whilst Carwyn throws millions at Cardiff airport and continues to give the rich free prescriptions.
Roll on the first decisions of the new Scrutiny Committees in the `new` Labour Assembly; with the disprortionate influences our voting system has handed to a group of people (12) The Welsh Nationalists, we are about to see what policies these narrow minded lunatics will try to impose on the unsuspecting Welsh Public. You really will have to get some tablets my friend,
What they sow they will reap. and I think this could all get a bit more unpleasent and disrespectful than The Nationalist Leaders diatribe in the Chamber, on Wednesday, when they 100% supported the Labour administration.
All parties clearly have Hamilton to answer to in future.
Thankfully I get my medication for free – a perk of moving across the border….the next big headache June 23rd, I don’t know which way to vote on that one – not a scooby doo!
Well. which ever side you eventually fall, at least, you can get medication for that big headache paid for from your taxes, that is, as you say, a perk of living in Wales, you are wrong again of course as this IS NOT A PERK, it is a facility established by a Welsh Labour Government and for which you already pay through your tax, no free lunches in Wales. In Wales we pay just ONCE for our medication, In England of Course they pay TWICE.
I don’t earn enough to pay income tax as thanks to the Tories my tax free allowance has gone up to £11’000 something that Labour would never do, yes I pay a tiny amount of NI, anyways with free prescriptions in Wales costing £600M a year surely those who can easy afford a prescription should pay for it, why should somebody earning above £25K get free prescriptions, that massive bill could possibly be halved and the money spent on something useful. Free prescriptions are a perk for me moving across the border though sadly my council tax is considerably more than it was in England for a comparable property – yet another myth peddled by Welsh Labour that council tax is lower in Wales than it is in England.
At least you can get those pills for that headache you keep getting now Labour are back in control in Cardiff. and you don`t have pay twice for them. And of course living in Wales under a Labour government, with the Wonderful Welsh Countryside, and good medical services and education system, and jobs for those who decide to come to live here, with generous Council tax rebates for those on low wages, what COULD be BETTER?. enjoy that PERK, and the rest of the benefits of living in Wales.
Penderyn whisky……..hic.
Knifed in the back I think it was Alan. and not a minute too soon.
In my opinion Hefin a vote for Wood instead of Jones was merely a shot across Labour’s bows, as their ship of state sailed serenely onward seemingly unaware that they are now a minority government.
No doubt Carwen Jones will eventually be installed as First Minister but it has been a wake up call to remind Labour that they will have to talk with other parties before making decisions. Pretty healthy when parties other than Labour received more than 65% of the votes cast by Welsh people. These people do have a voice in the Assembly, through their elected representatives, and this voice was heard last week. It won’t be the last time and Labour needs to learn that is is a minority and that any legislation must have some cross party support to be passed.
Good again to see the sensible people of Caerphilly elected the best candidate for the job of representing this constituency in the Assembly, Labours Hefin David has the perfect pedigree for the job.
And true to his word, he has hit the ground running in respect to the promises he made about the changes needed, in his views, expressed before the election, to make alterations to the way Local Development Plans are evolved. And to this end, having been elected for less than three weeks, he has already made arrangements to meet people opposed to the current system of dealing with LDP`s.
I would remind Paul that the people of the valley`s will not forget the havok and destitution Thatcher wrecked on the communities of the valleys of South Wales, and our country. your friend, He of Brown envelope fame, former ex Tory, ex Cabinet Minister in a Tory Government and supporter of all things Thatcherite, including the continued imprisonment of Nelson Mandela by a Tory Government, now wants to play a part in rebuilding a Welsh economy, rebuilding Welsh Communites, rebuilding Welsh industrial infrustructure, all of which he helped to destroy. And to top all this off he say`s he wants to support The Welsh Nationalists to do this work. Now there`s a man who knows how to walk a straight line (SIC).
Yes and the arrogant, contemptuous Welsh Labour party know that the poor, downtrodden Tory hating people from the valleys ( as Labour keeps reminding them that they are ) will always vote for them regardless of what Labour do in Wales. Do you and the rest of the Tory hating Welsh honestly believe that the pits would still be open today, digging out tons of coal, polluting the rivers, causing smog, soot, acid rain and toxic air emmisons, I don’t think so – and if somebody threatens to mine coal again a bunch of middle class Labour voting hippies will turn up and protest against it.
I think you need to lay down in a darkened room for an hour or two.
ALL Tories are in denial about the near death they deliberatly caused to the coal mining communities all over the Country, my concern? Wales and our communities, children going to school fed on donated food, families supporting families, traders supporting families, people from all political positions ensuring thier communities did not starve, NOT A TORY IN SIGHT. It will not be forgotten, it is sealed in the bones of those who endured it, and it will not be removed from history. Live with it.
And live with the fact that socialists of some particular party or another, will represent our communities, I dont know where you live, but if it is in our Country you need to get with it.
PLAID CYMRU – The best candidate wasn`t elected but Effin was via the donkey vote which is obviously dieing out …
A modicum of good grace could have prevented the Penultimate paragraph.
I can see nothing graceless in this paragraph, or indeed Hefin Davids `General` good grae throughout, particularly his generous comments about Lindsay Whittle, the Welsh Nationalist Candidate.
With the greatest respect, the paragraph you allude to seems to be pretty factual to me.
That is wilful ignorance on your part. Being a graceful winner to ALL your opponents is just as important as not being a sore looser. There will be plenty of time and circumstance for bashing the perceived enemy but an opening address is the time to say well done to All and not just the favoured. I expect this from the red corner, they have past form on it.
Correct Pete, as Labour and Plaid are two cheeks of the same backside – proven by their little deal today – it would be more impressive if Hefin had recognised his real opponents. Never mind, people will realise as the months go by who it is that is actually scrutinises what this minority government does. It won’t be the Welsh Nationalists.
It’s far to cosy a club for my liking. There’s a reason oppositional parties form the best sort of governance, there is now no one to stop anyone doing stupid things.
I predicted this before a vote was cast, a vote for Plaid is merely a vote for a Labour administration. However the cosiness will evaporate over time. Martin Shipton, of Media Wales, wrote of Plaid,
“In due course they will doubtless claim credit for anything that goes right and blame Labour for whatever goes wrong.”
This is a pretty good analysis of what is going to happen. The real opposition are the Tories and the Kippers.
The Deal has sealed the prevention of any opposition from UKIP or the Tories, the real problem is that because of the position of what has apparently been agreed between the party in power and the Welsh Nationalists, it `appears` to remove any prospect of real opposition, and Governments work much better, and produce much healthier democratic decisions against a strong opposition. Disruption tactics will not cut the bacon, as has been proven by shoving the Nationalists in the drection of Labour.
UKIP nore the Tories, nor a combination of both will ever produce a stong and meaningful opposition in the Assembly. perhaps, mores the pity
Perhaps? I will give you an up vote for that concession.
Jesus love all his children even you Pete even you
That’s nice Marc.
Trefor Bond has to be Labour .. he can`t say PLAID CYMRU
Proud to be a WELSH Nationalist
Plaid Cymru- The Nationalist Party of Wales, its members are, by definition, NATIONALISTS, you, whoever you may be, say you are a Proud WELSH Nationalist, What`s wrong with that?? I call a Plaid Cymru representative a Welsh Nationalist, you and I agree, you appear to be punching air on this one, There is a world of difference being a PROUD WELSHMAN OR WOMAN, and being a proud Welsh Nationalist, if you are the latter you will, no doubt, live by it.
Although, you can`t be a very proud Welsh Nationalist, because you dont want anyone to know who you are, you hide your identity and therefore there is NOTHING there to be proud of.
PLAID CYMRU
How am I hiding my identity??? I have logged in with facebook and not only my name appears but a little photo as well.. but you?? is your name made up ?? are you the same person as the other labourite who doesn`t use a name.??
Yeap, you seem dodgy to me ??
As the Assembly Member and Caerphilly Councillor who voted Against the LDP we should be reminded, as Hefin David has done in this blog, that he is against the Caerphilly Council LDP, and, he has already submitted an objection to the Caerphilly Local Development Plan, calling for it to be SUSPENDED until an all of South Wales Plan can be developed. He said he would do this during his election campaign, and he has been true to his word.
Perhaps everyone who has expressed so much vitriolic opposition to the plan should now consider supporting Hefin David in representing them in his endevours.