Tories Should Abandon The Union

Mr Dale briefly interviews Mr Heffer on the subject of an English Parliament. According to Simon Heffer the Union between England and Scotland is effectively over, and that only a vocal minority have any real interest in preserving it.

"I think it's just time the Conservative Party owned up to the reality that they've got to start projecting themselves as a party of England."

Some would argue that the Tories have been doing that already for donkey's years. Mr Heffer's views seem to support those expressed by Adam Price in his Golwg column last August:

by the year 2020 the likelihood is that Wales will be independent, either by our own choices or thanks to choices made by our former fellow Britons.

HMJ on the Politics Show

In the Politics Show Wales today Roger Williams MP, Wayne David MP, Darren Miller AM and Helen Mary Jones AM gave their views concerning next Thursday's local elections. One thing HMJ said seemed to be a clear warning to those devosceptics in the Labour Party who are dragging their feet on (or openly opposed to) a referendum on full lawmaking powers for the Senedd:

Adrian Masters: Is it helpful in this climate for your candidates that one of your senior MPs, Adam Price, has said that you as a party would be more than happy to talk to that Conservatives about working together?
Helen Mary Jones AM: Well, we've said that we'd be more than happy to talk to anybody in the event of a hung parliament for the interests of Wales, and what Adam has said is taht obviously it would be easier in some ways for us to work with the centre-left parties, the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats, but that we wouldn't rule out talking to the Conservatives, and a very important step forward of course will be after the next general election, before the next Assembly election, we'll be looking at the referendum on full powers, which is very central to the One Wales deal and we will need to talk to whoever might be prepared to deliver that.

Adrian Masters: That's fair enough but aren't a lot of your candidates going out selling themselves as belonging to a socialist party or at least a left leaning party?

Helen Mary Jones AM: We're not selling ourselves as belonging to a socialist party, we do belong to a socialist party. I was out canvassing yesterday in Llanelli, the very spot where you might think that would be a problem for us -and it wasn't.

Without A Paddle

Lord Levy's attack on Brown which includes the claim that Blair had told him Gordon "can't defeat Cameron" may not be the most credible of stories, but together with today's Telegraph poll -which gives the Tories a 10 point lead- only adds to the portents of doom facing the Labour Party as Thursday's elections draw closer. Miliband's defence of Gordon Brown will do little to help the Labour leader, and only serves to confirm what we all already know by now: Brown is up shit creek without a paddle.