OT: Corrupt Swansea council leader resigns after backlash

I agree with you there, Swansea has always been short changed by more powerful people in Cardiff and London. But Hammerson were bringing their own money which required no public financing, I find it quite refreshing how a company has caused such chaos in the council boardroom by one little phone call to the Evening Post... mind you it is a very big company, hell hath no wrath like of developer scorned!

 

I agree that the WAG are complicit in disregarding not only us but the rest of Wales but you'd have thought with that knowledge the powers to be in County Hall would be more wary about wasting the funding that we do receive and stop wasting it on stupid pointless schemes and address the real issues regarding the rapidly failing City Centre

 

I dont think there is a single council in wales which ever party have control can do the job that they actually intend and want to do and its frustrating that money has been cut back to a level now that council workers are in fear of losing their jobs. If i had my way i would scrap the welsh assembly all together and share the millions between the various councils. The welsh assembly is the biggest drain and white elephant that we have in wales. the old welsh office can do just the same job on a fraction of the money. ..The welsh assembly actually want to increase the number of AMs and where is that money going to come from.....the councils again will bail the brunt.....get rid of the gravy chain for the selected few in the welsh assembly and give back the councils the money they need to do their job properly...

 

It's like inventing the Nuclear Bomb , once created you can never go back , even now the WAG is demanding parity with Scotland even if they don't get independance ,so your hope that the WAG will be dissolved will never happen ,(unless of course Government feel threatened by WAG as in the case of Scotland's current situation ) too many fingers in the pie

 

Firstly - You are a Labour Party supporter. They are responsible for devolution and the setting up of the Welsh Assembly. Ron Davies estimated the annual running cost of the Assembly to be £15-20m....it is in actual fact, today, £50-60m. About as good as one of your predictions that
Even so, that figure, divvied up amongst the Welsh councils would make hardly any difference to their budgets.

Secondly - Swansea Council receives only a 3rd of it's budget (roughly) p.a. from the Welsh Assembly and that figure is....you guessed it....up this year on last year (keeping with the trend). The Welsh assembly has not cut funding to Swansea Council. In fact Swansea Council's funding is up across all it's income streams; Council tax, Business rates, Fees etc. and European grants....all up.
If City and County of Swansea were wound up tomorrow it would be in the black by £355m (ish) and is worth £200m more this year than it was last year. Have you got that? Spending across 90+% of services they provide is up this year on last. Check their accounts.

Thirdly - the Council's revenue from the Welsh Assembly will indeed go down in the future and this could lead to some redundancies (I write "could" because they are already in a healthy position have increased council tax above inflation already and only receive 30% of their funding from that source anyway).....even if there are redundancies, why would it be so? I'll tell you why....because the money the Assembly receives from Westminster will go down because the country is running a deficit which needs to be brought under control....otherwise we will see foreign investment pulling out a la France.
The Labour Party you supported and voted for is largely responsible for this state of affairs along with the Thatcherites before them. What this country needs is a plan to build an economy of the future...technical, high skilled jobs selling top end goods and services.... sorting out the deficit and education has to be the priority along with re-balancing the economy to create more employment in the private sector.
Building a better future is possible but reading the tripe you have written above, and from a supposed "Politics graduate" to boot, makes me weep for education and our democracy (as the people making decisions at Swansea council are of a similar standard/quality as yourself).

Let's have less of the f**ing excuses and blame (aimed at different coloured parties, the Assembly, Westminster etc.) and more building for the future.....and if that means a few thousand council employees have to leave the security of working for the council and find jobs in the private sector let's f**ing get on with it.

 

So the Labour Party and the Thatcherites before them are "largely" responsible for the near global recession? Hmm. You've forgotten a third party.

 

Nope, but they do share a large part of the responsibility for our balance sheet and the structure of our economy when it hit.....also they have been totally disingenuous ever since.
They proposed similar policies to Francois Hollande in France....check out how that is going for them....and have opposed every single effort to reduce the deficit (they've voted against every proposal to make cuts at Westminster).
They treat the voters for mugs, especially in Wales....they can do this because most of the population don't have a f**ing scooby.


I'm ashamed of "Welsh democracy". Since the Welsh Assembly was formed in 1998 the Labour party has been in control....what are we f**ing Cuba? China? Russia?
Where is the accountability?
There is none because the average Welsh person looks for excuses....see Dai and Phillip's usual speel;
"Evil Tories....unnecessary cuts while they look after their mates in the city etc."

It's all excuses.
The Labour party in the Welsh assembly have been deciding on how we spend our money here in Wales (for 16 years!!!), they have been taking decisions regarding public institutions....strategic decisions....and in lots of areas they have f**ed up, and f**ed up very publicly.....but I will give you a 1000/1 that they will secure the most seats and select the administration in the next Welsh Assembly.
Why? Because us Welsh don't f** sheep, we are sheep.
Carwyn Jones could smoke crack and admit large scale embezzlement on live TV and the Labour Party would still win.

 

But politicians don't run the country!

 

Don't they help shape the business environment through regulations and taxation?
Don't they effect the private sector by the state's own recruitment and the wages/terms and conditions the state pays people?
Don't they help shape the economy of the future through their management of education?
Don't they decide on how much we spend (ie. running a constant deficit, the excuse being "the country needs investment for it's future"....well, now is the future New Labour was planning for and we've got a structural deficit and much higher debt to GDP than we would have had if they weren't running a deficit during the "good times".....they took risky decisions, we and our children will be paying for for quite some time)?

 

They are only allowed to do what their paymasters allow them to do.

 

terror first of all im a socialist and have never been a member of new labour, secondly even if i was a labour supporter what has that got to do with anything ? the yes vote for the assembly was very close as members from all parties voted no. and thirdly I don't think you have a clue what the hell you are talking about..

 

I'd post a link to Swansea Council's accounts presented to audit committee so you could see that I know exactly what I am talking about but let's face it....you wouldn't understand them. Ignoramus.

So feel free to carry on spreading bullshit but I have spelt it out (in my post above) for anyone who is really interested.
Swansea council has not had their funding cut.
All revenue streams are up.
Their balance is in a very healthy position.
Any cuts in their funding from Westminster (via the Assembly) in the future will be negligible.
Any cuts in staff they have made already is down to the priorities the Council has set (as spending across 90+% of departments is up).

Now, if you don't mind, I really do have better things to do than explain this to you over and over again.

 

terror i dont think you can tell me of all people anything about politics. I have been an active member for over 30 years..

 

**** me this is what I was talking about and what we all fear!

 

An active member of what?
The Socialist party?
Swansea council?

 

What a terrific post .

 

So funding has not been cut. So everything is hunky dory? Yes?

What has happened to demand for services?

 

Have you seen Swansea city centre? The councilors are either corrupt,incompetent or most likely both.

 

But you can always put yourself up for election to sort it out

 

Looking at it as an outsider,the city centre is in a hell of a mess. Just compare it with Cardiff which has had massive investment,and where the puppet Welsh Assembly have pumped the whole of Wales' budget,and you can see what's wrong.
Not that Swansea is unique,look at the run down centres of Neath,Port Talbot and Bridgend,charity shops,phone shops and building societies are all that survive. Why would people want to visit a run down town centre,and pay high parking fees,when they can go to the many shopping outlets to get everything that they want,plus free parking.