Politics

Wrexham MP slams Police job cuts
1/9/2010 - POLICE work praised by the Secretary of State for Wales will be affected by cuts being imposed by her Government. That is the warning by Wrexham MP Ian Lucas, after Secretary of State for Wales, Cheryl Gillan, visited...

Making Swansea a capital city
15/7/2010 - Plaid Cymru's AM for South Wales West Dai Lloyd has proposed that Swansea should be a regional capital city. In a short debate at the Assembly he said there was no doubt people from across the South West Wales region, ...

Wrexham beating recession
15/7/2010 - Wrexham MP Ian Lucas says the latest unemployment statistics suggest his constituency is slowly recovering from the recession. But he warned that that recovery remains fragile and that the policies of the new Governmen...

Wrexham MP slams taxes on charities
14/7/2010 - Wrexham MP Ian Lucas has said Liberal Democrat and Conservative MPs should be "ashamed" of voting to increase taxes on charities. He was speaking in a Commons debate last night, shortly before Lib Dems and Tories voted...

Making Wales one of the best places in the world
5/7/2010 - The Welsh Assembly Government today said it is going to radically transform the way it supports the Welsh economy. The Deputy First Minister and Minister for the Economy and Transport, Ieuan Wyn Jones, outlined a vis...

Lembit Opik wants to be Mayor of London
29/6/2010 - Lembit Öpik, the Liberal Democrat who lost his Montgomeryshire parliamentary seat last month, has said he will run for the job of London mayor if he wins his party's blessing. He told the Guardian newspaper, "If there...

Barry girl is new PM of Australia
24/6/2010 - After growing up as a Welsh immigrant in Adelaide, Julia Gillard, aged 48, today became Australia's first female prime minister. Gillard was born in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, where her father was a coal miner. She b...

Coalition scuppers Welsh plan for homes
24/6/2010 - A Welsh plan to help thousands of homeless people by stopping the sale of council houses has been turned down by the new Coalition government in Westminster. Welsh Deputy Minister for Housing and Regeneration Jocelyn D...

Grim Budget for Wales will hit the poor
23/6/2010 - Yesterday's Budget was grim and disrespectful for Wales and will hit the poorest and most vulnerable in our society the hardest. That was the message from the Welsh Assembly Government as its Cabinet met this morning...

Budget day - and Wales expects tough times
22/6/2010 - Tough financial times are ahead for Wales with 3% year on year reductions for revenue spending and 10% year on year for capital, Minister for Business and Budget Jane Hutt said today. But she said the Welsh Assembly Go...

Coalition means closer Wales-London ties, says Gillan
17/6/2010 - A new era of politics at Westminster means the opportunity for a renewed relationship between Westminster and Cardiff, said Secretary of State for Wales Cheryl Gilla as she addressed the National Assembly for the first ti...

Getting best for Wales in tough times
17/6/2010 - Tough spending cuts are coming to Wales but top slicing every budget could do irreparable harm, warned the Minister for Business and Budget, Jane Hutt, today. Ms Hutt called for a more creative, innovative and citizen...

Record numbers to vote by post
29/4/2010 - A record number of Swansea voters are planning to have their say by post in next week's general elections More than 29,000 residents will be making their preferred choice of MP from the comfort of home rather than voti...

S4C shows Assembly in action
26/4/2010 - Broadcaster S4C has begun showing the proceedings of the National Assembly for Wales. The decision has been welcomed by Presiding Officer Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas AM who says its good news for the democratic process in ...

Wales gives Nick Clegg a noisy ride
19/4/2010 - The age of Labour dominance in Wales is starting to come to an end, claimed Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, visiting Cardiff and Swansea today as his party's poll ratings soared following last week's TV debate. Aft...

Anglesey pub as polling station
19/4/2010 - Many Anglesey residents will be casting their votes in very different surroundings come polling day on Thursday, May 6. The Holland Hotel in Llanfachraeth will be used as a polling station on the day of the General Ele...

Plaid calls for big boost in pensions
13/4/2010 - Plaid Cymru said in its general election manifesto today it would fight to substantially increase pensions, at first for the over-80s, later for all pensioners, and it would make the abolition of child poverty a priority....

Hain calls for unity to help homeless
5/4/2010 - Secretary of State for Wales Peter Hain today (Monday) called for cross-party unity in tackling homelessness in Wales. Following completion of Parliamentary debates on all outstanding Legislative Competence Orders (LC...

BNP ex-copper to fight Hain in election
26/3/2010 - A former South Wales CID officer, Michael Green, is to stand for the British National Party against Welsh Secretary Peter Hain in the Neath constituency in the forthcoming general election. Mr Green said, “In my yea...

S4C to screen assembly meetings
26/3/2010 - Broadcaster S4C is to broadcast the proceedings of the National Assembly from next month. The Assembly’s full sessions and some committees will be screened on the broadcaster’s main channel on Tuesday, Wednesday a...

Thousands risk losing vote
24/3/2010 - With a general election only weeks away, thousands of people in Wales who have moved house risk losing their chance to vote by not being on the electoral register. The warning comes from independent elections watchdog...

Plaid anger at being left out of leaders' debates
4/3/2010 - Plaid Cymru is to review its support of the BBC licence fee after the party was left out of the forthcoming TV leaders' debates. Together with the Scottish National Party, Plaid today complained of a stitch-up between ...

Wales hails Michael Foot as a true giant
3/3/2010 - Tributes have been paid to Michael Foot, former MP for Ebbw Vale, who has died aged 96. Chris Roberts, Welsh Labour's General Secretary remembered driving Foot around North Wales in 1989. " I was in awe of a lovely...

Drive for optimum use of Welsh money
26/2/2010 - A new drive to ensure first-class public services is to be announced by the First Minister of Wales, Carwyn Jones. Addressing Wales’s first ever Public Services Summit, Mr Jones will say that all the public services...

Wales push for more than £2 billion EU funding
18/2/2010 - The European and External Affairs Committee will be discussing future EU funding with the four Welsh MEPs and one of Brussels’ top politicians on St David’s Day (Monday, 1 March). At present Wales benefits from two...

Royal approval for new Welsh laws
11/2/2010 - First Minister Carwyn Jones has welcomed the Royal Approval given to the Assembly’s bid for law-making powers in three key areas - the environment, mental health, and the Welsh language - and for new legislation to h...

Wales referendum on making its own laws
10/2/2010 - If the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Scottish Parliament have powers to make laws without having to seek the consent from Westminster, then why should it be any different for us in Wales? That was the question toda...

Tory axe hangs over Wales railways says Hain
5/2/2010 - Electrification of the main South Wales to London railway line will bring economic and environmental benefits, shorten journey times and improve services to rail passengers, Secretary of State for Wales Peter Hain said to...

Call for probe as Auditor General quits
3/2/2010 - An independent investigation into the running of the Wales Audit Office has been called for after the shock announcement that the Auditor General, Jeremy Colman, has resigned with immediate effect. Plaid Cymru AM Leann...

Wales Labour pick 20-year-old for general election
3/2/2010 - Welsh Labour today announced the selection of their youngest General Election candidate. Town councillor and student activist Richard Boudier, aged 20, has been confirmed as Welsh Labour's Parliamentary Candidate ...

Wales wants Welsh laws
2/2/2010 - Wales is seking to hold a referendum on new powers for the Assembly on whether laws which affect the people of Wales - the laws under which our government works - should be made in Wales. The Assembly Government has ta...

Welsh democracy goes live on the pod
29/1/2010 - A new pod enabling visitors to the Senedd access to live and on demand coverage of UK and European national political institutions has been installed. The pod is part of the BBC’s Democracy Live service, which was la...

Hain cautiously optimistic of upturn
26/1/2010 - Secretary of State for Wales Peter Hain has welcomed figures published today that show the recession is over. Figures published by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) reveal the UK’s production and service sector...

Assembly needs to buck up its business
26/1/2010 - The Assembly Government still needs to improve the way it makes key decisions if it is to achieve a sustainable Wales and fulfil the aspirations set out in its One Wales: One Planet scheme, published last year. This is...