60 Comment  with Simon Tomas PLAID CYMRU ensured there


was a vote on the triggering of Article 50 in the Senedd on Tuesday (Feb 7). We called for the National


Assembly to oppose the start of the Brexit process unless assurances are given over Wales’ participation in the single market. We have no safeguards at this


stage against Theresa May and the Tory government making a mess of Brexit and endangering Welsh jobs and economy. On Tuesday Plaid Cymru were able


to issue a warning that we will never let those who negotiate on our behalf get away with a poor deal for Wales. That includes Labour Welsh Government as well as Tory Westminster government. We will not forget the Leave


promises: £350m each week for the NHS; no roll back of Assembly powers; every penny kept for farmers; regional aid money made up from central government. A Plaid Cymru amendment to


ensure that the Leave campaigners such as Boris Johnson, Michael Gove;


kept their promises was voted down in the House of Commons. To be fair a majority of Welsh MPs


voted for the amendment. But once again the needs of Wales were swept aside by a domineering Westminster elite.


We must get commitments from


Westminster that Welsh farmers, manufacturers and traders can continue to access the single market without barriers or tariffs. We are told we can’t expect the


Westminster Government to reveal its hand in advance. But the EU has: they are clear. No deal can be better than remaining in the EU. By implication the deal must be worse. We have seen their hand, and they


hold all the Aces. We only have the three Brexiteer Jokers. We must get security that funding


will continue for Wales and its projects. For schemes signed after the


Autumn Statement 2016 and which continue after we have left the EU, funding will be honoured if they provide strong value for money and are in line with domestic strategic priorities


So in agreeing that Theresa May


decides the terms of Brexit we are outsourcing regional policy to a Tory government which basically doesn’t believe in regional policy beyond grandiose HS2 and building sites featuring hi-vis jackets. We must ensure EU citizens


currently in Wales have their rights protected (and for UK citizens in rest of EU). They vote for us as Assembly Members, we cannot permit them to be used as cannon fodder in a Tory war against the EU. The White Paper from Westminster


offers no assurances on their behalf. We are not taking back control, we


are ceding it to a right wing cabal who have no interest in Wales, paying lip service to our needs but vote time and time again to deny Wales resources, control and fairness. Though Plaid Cymru’s amendment


was not carried in the Assembly, we have put on warning all those who promised so much at the time of the referendum that we demand we see the colour of their money and they ensure Wales is not worse off.


Eluned Morgan Mid & West Labour AM


THE WELSH Labour


Government is helping to make our towns vibrant and viable with a £10 million fund to help bring empty, underused sites and premises in town centres back into use. The scheme works on a


recyclable loan basis which means that once it is repaid, it is used again to fund new loans elsewhere. I'm delighted to say that Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion, and Powys are amongst the Local Authorities to benefit this time. It has long been Welsh Government policy to help town centres regenerate, working with willing communities to make a positive difference. Since the recession, we’ve all noticed empty shops and premises falling into disrepair. The scheme is looking to address those issues by creating affordable


town centre homes or tourist and leisure attractions. As well as making town centres more attractive places to live, the loan scheme will help encourage investment into these areas and support the local economy. Pembrokeshire will receive £1,000,000 towards the redevelopment of the former Victoria Filling Station in Milford Haven and the Grade II listed Quay Stores into a cultural centre. While it was undoubtedly good


news earlier in the week that there'll be new jobs at BT in Swansea with support from the Welsh Government, there's obviously a need to do much more so we have new, better jobs here in Mid and West Wales. It was therefore welcome that the Economy Secretary said the Government are working hard to continue this momentum and to safeguard and


attract quality jobs to communities right across Wales. I'll be holding him to this. I also asked the First Minister in the Assembly this week whether he agreed the City Region model was not necessarily one relevant or appropriate for rural Wales. Whilst Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire are part of the Swansea Bay City Region, as he explained it's important that it's not seen as an urban-rural divide, nor a one-size fits all model. Something else that's new


is the Welsh Revenue Authority (WRA) which will be the first non- ministerial government department created by the Welsh Government. The headquarters will be based in Treforest to begin with, although the Government will review its location once it is fully operational. The WRA will also have a presence in Aberystwyth and Llandudno.


AHEM. Badger hopes you will forgive the


BADGER, BANJOS, AND BEANS


Now, as our reporter James


expression but when he was looking for the right words to describe the local authority’s approach to the proposed reorganisation of leisure and cultural surveys (aka: flogging it off on the cheap), the ones that first came to mind were ‘what a cock-up’. Well, there was an Anglo-Saxon


intensifier between the indefinite article and the noun, but you get the gist, readers. In the nigh on four years since


Badger’s first column he has railed against waste, inefficiency, indolence, eighteen varieties of idiocy, and shady behind-closed-doors deals that have rooked the public and demeaned democracy, but NEVER has he witnessed the rug pulled out from a scheme as completely as it has been from under the Council’s plans for sports and cultural facilities. It is a year ago that one of Badger’s


woodland chums pointed out in detail precisely what the problem would be with rolling Scolton Manor into some sort of bumper fire sale of assets to save a few pennies per Pembrokeshire person per year. Yes, readers, pennies. Plural. After burrowing through the


otiose verbiage and caveats which pass for exposition in the documents officers hand to councillors in the hope they will not be studied too closely, Penelope Polecat discovered that the Council would end up in the cart for many fine pieces of folding paper if it tried to pass off Scolton Manor. While the schools’ consultation


was ongoing, this newspaper’s Deputy Editor raised a specific inquiry about sports facilities co-located on school properties and was told that it had all been taken into account as part of the grand scheme the Council had for passing the buck for its own educational failures.


Hamster points out earlier in this week paper, all of that was seemingly forgotten in the mad rush to cart off public assets into private hands. With, as they say, hilarious


consequences. Poor Keith Lewis. Red of face and dark of suit, Keith was ‘very disappointed’ about the advice that the Council had received. It was, as it turns out, wrong. Funnily enough it was wrong for the same reasons as this newspaper explored last year. Now, readers, there is wrong advice and there is advice which turns out to be incorrect because it is based on a false premise. In this case it is not clear whether


the advice was incorrect or whether the advisors were not placed in possession of all the facts before they were asked to advise. Put it this way, place yourself


in the position of a lawyer: a client comes to you accused of murder and they state unequivocally that they did not do it. You accept what they say on face value, this is not – after all – Perry Mason or Law & Order. And, let’s face it, for most solicitors a murder is a restful break from the high excitement of residential conveyancing and sorting out who inherits great uncle Basil’s collection of vintage Smarties. Of course, when the CCTV


footage emerges of your client taking a machete to the victim before attempting to dispose of the corpse in a garden shredder, before forging the deceased’s will to their own benefit, the necessarily candid relationship between lawyer and client can come under strain. So it is with lawyers’ advice: it is


always expressed conditionally: ‘on the basis of the information before me’; or the markedly more menacing ‘based on what you have told me’. This means that if a lawyer is not in possession of all the facts,


THE HERALD FRIDAY FEBRUARY 10 2017


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