The IWA Podcast takes a look at the recent Welsh Cabinet reshuffle.
With Carwyn Jones re-appointed as the Welsh First Minister, late on Thursday afternoon we saw him assemble his first Cabinet for the fifth assembly.
The ten-strong team sees promotions for Ken Skates and Vaughan Gething, and a surprising inclusion in the form of Liberal Democrat Kirsty Williams as Cabinet Secretary for Education.
Discussing the Welsh Government’s new line up in the latest IWA podcast, Jess Blair is joined by Daran Hill, Julia McWatt and Owen Hathway.
IWA is swamping its website with never ending articles then struggles to find time to read and publish comments. Time to rationalise IWA’s approach if it’s ever going to serve its intended purpose of providing a platform for scrutiny and debate. Also, oberved a significant Y Fro Gymraeg bias and frequnt censorship of comments that do not fit IWA’s editorial agenda – Time for a change?
It’s in the nature of political speculation not to drift too far from current events for fear of being caught out by a change of political wind. But I believe that the position of Kirsty Williams having accepted a Cabinet position in a Labour minority administration could do with a little more scrutiny. She has still to receive the approval of her party and has been promised a degree of independence. Whether she will be allowed that independence over issues such as the M4 relief road is another question.
But more significantly, will she be able to mount a revival of her party from being in the Cabinet of a different party’s government? She is aware of the fate that befell her sister party in England but has still decided to pursue this path. There is no doubting her ability as a politician and the personal following she has in her own constituency. But parties need to have more than personalities for the electorate to have a reason to vote for them. Daran Hill asks the question what are the Tories for given that they have been displaced by Plaid as the official opposition. The same question can be put concerning the Liberal Democrats future place in Welsh history.
@J Protic
I don’t follow the Welsh Language stuff but I am conrned that this site is being used more as a campaign platform than scrutiny in recent weeks. Perhaps this will change when the Assembly get back to work.
There is also al lot of advertising seeming to be going on. From the podcasts you’d be forgiven for thinking Wales only had one Lobbist company. Fairly sure they have a fair few.