Plaid in Powys and other stories of collaboration and electoral recall.. .

Plaid in Powys and other stories of collaboration and electoral recall.. . You may remember two weeks ago I wrote about the failure of the Tory Independent coalition that runs Powys failed to pass it's budget. However the following week it was able to force through its budget. This involved a council tax rise of 9.5% and a savage cut back in other vital services. Breakfast clubs and Schools still remain under threat in years to come as does the future of Libraries and other services. Social housing rents are rising and street lights face wing shut off at night. Without the effective opposition of parties as diverse as the Labour "magnificent seven" and the Lib Dems and the single Green the situation would have been far worse. It could well have been that all the libraries throughout Powys would have closed had it not been for the Labour Group. The simple truth is that an independent is not an independent that are simply Tories who do not admit it.

I was very surprised to hear that the two Plaid Cymru Councillors on Powys County Council abstained when it came to the vote on the Tory independent budget that passed last week. I heard that these two Councillors are claiming that they fought against the plans.. abstaining is hardly resistance it is more collaboration by looking the other way. I am not saying that their two votes would have prevented the passing of the bike budget. But it says much..I have heard many explanations for their decision none of which I can write about without evidence.

Last week the Plaid MP Johnathen Edwards refused to rule out a Plaid deal with the Welsh Tories. It was left to Adam Price to rule this out. One wonders if any correlation between the vote in Powys and such statements by Johnathen Edwards have any link at all or indeed imply unofficial cooperation. You might think that but I could not possibly comment.

A Brecon and Radnor by election looks likely . It seems that a recall petition will begin to start the process to remove Chris Davies as the MP for the constituency.. A recall petition can be downloaded and there will also be several points where electors can sign . The process takes six weeks and will require 10% of the electorate to sign. This will be about 5300 signatures. Of course if a General Election comes the Tories will have to decide if Chris Davies will be their candidate. Whatever happens Brecon and Radnor will once more be a significant political locus. Let us see what happens next? Labour will me selecting a parliamentary candidate on Saturday. It's perfect timing..
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