Friday, April 25, 2008

Plaid Fails to Rule Out Tory Westminster Pact

Plaid Cymru MP Adam Price has added to specualtion about a possible Conservative-Nationalist pact after the next election by saying in a TV interview that there is "no veto" on Plaid Cymru talking to the Conservatives in the event of a hung parliament.

In an interview with the GMTV Sunday Programme, Adam Price, the MP for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, said:

Clearly it’ll be easier for us to talk to other parties of the centre left in British politics, the Labour party and the Liberal Democrats, but there’s no veto. There’s no veto as far as talking to the Conservatives, as we did in the Assembly. We have to put the interests of the people of Wales first and whichever political party can come up with the best programme for Wales, across the whole range of government policies, then that’s the basis that we will be approaching any post-election discussions, and the clear message for the people of Wales and Scotland actually is that we need the strongest possible representation ever in their history for Wales and Scotland... We will talk to all parties on an equal basis.

Nothing like showing a bit of ankle, is there?

8 comments:

Alex said...

Is this a question of "my enemy's enemy" is my friend? Why would Plaid want to form a coalition with Labour if it meant they got trodden down in Wales?

I can see DC coming to an accomodation with the Welsh, probably more along the lines of Enterprise Zones than cash handouts.

Anonymous said...

I would love to see Cameron talking about devolving more powers to the Scottish and Welsh Assemblies and giving them the power to raise and spend whatever they like - as a few Plaid and SNP members could make all the difference in 2010.

Anonymous said...

The Conservatives put the interests of Britain first. When are the English going to be represented in Parliament.

Anonymous said...

This might seem unduly 'tarty', but it is just a reflection of the fact that in that neck of the woods, where I grew up, that everyone knows that Labour have screwed the farmers.

They are no friend of small business, and have pursued policies like the hunting ban, increasing tax on fuel and so on. They've also been no more helpful than the Tories in keeping a lid on Tesco, or minimising the regulation burden on small and medium sized business.

Mind you, Plaid Cymru said that they weren't really interested in a coalition with Labour - but when the Lib Dems couldn't make their mind up [!] Plaid jumped into bed with Labour like a shot..

Nothing like the whiff of power to change one's mind - although they would have to be shameless to prop up Labour in Cardiff, while helping the Tories into power at Westminster...

Luckily shame is in short supply in politics...

Anonymous said...

Hmm, Plaid must really think Labour are loosers.

Anonymous said...

The nationalists would extract a high price for such a bargain, and it won't be enterprise zones.

It will most lilely start at full fiscal autonomy for the Scotland/Wales, followed by agreement to hold and endorsement of independence referendums.

Would the Tories agree to that?

Anonymous said...

Iain, you (rightly) criticise the government for relying on Scottish (and Welsh) MPs to win votes on issues which are devolved to those countries ie. the West Lothian question.

How could you justify a Conservative government which similarly relies on MPs from those countries? (and, depending on how seats work out, may depend on these MPs' votes even more than Labour relies on its own non-English MPs).

Would you expect PC MPs (and perhaps SNP MPs) in such a coalition to abstain from votes on English-only issues? What if the government relied on thos votes for its majority?

David Morton said...

I don't think PC will have the numbers to make much differnce but if the SNP make a westminster break through then politics really is getting interesting. Perhaps like Spain where big party's often have to trade with nationalists.

Price is on the economic rather than cultural wing of PC. If they asked for enterprise zones with reduced Corp tax rates it would still be pork barrel but tax cutting pork barel so perhaps the tories could live with it?

I'd expect plaid to walk out on laBOUR IN CARDIFF BAY AS SOON AS THE COALITION TRIGGERS THE REFERENDUM PROMISED UNDER THE 2005 ACT. where did those capitals come from?