Tories show themselves to be two-faced

Tory AM Darren Millar started an article on WalesHome today like this:

There can be no doubt that devolution has had a major impact on the Welsh economy. Statistical indicators will tell you that the wealth gap which exists between Wales and the rest of the United Kingdom is fast becoming a gulf – with higher unemployment, lower levels of economic activity and a proportionately smaller private sector than any of the British nations.

He wants to create an impression of cause and effect. Unfortunately for him, that is a rather easily exposed lie, for his fellow Tory AM Alun Cairns knows full well that the real responsibility for the Welsh economy lies firmly with Westminster. So much so, that he's looking to switch jobs and become an MP instead, as he said on Sharp End only a couple of weeks ago:

     

Alun Cairns was asked whether he was sure he was doing the right thing in wanting to be an MP, especially in light of the fact that people in Wales held MPs in much lower esteem than elsewhere in the UK. His reply was:

Absolutely right. My greatest interest is the economy and business and that's where the powers lie for economy and business really, where I'd like to be able to make a contribution to the constituency.

... When you look at the economy and business and in terms of overcoming deprivation, child poverty and those sorts of issues, it is Westminster that has most of the levers and that's really what can make the biggest influence and difference to the Vale of Glamorgan and other constituencies.

Nice try Darren. But if you intend what you write about politics to be taken seriously, you need an attention span of more than a few weeks.

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As it happens, I wrote that a few hours ago. One of the reasons for delay was that I wanted to see what sort of response the original article got, and indeed it doesn't seem as if anyone is taking it too seriously. So my conclusion is that he's just hoping to persuade the anti-devolution minority to vote for the Tories ... as opposed to more exteme alternatives such as UKIP, who are a threat to them because they will split the right wing vote.

His solution is motivated by the knowlege that the Tories themselves are a minority in Wales, and are likely to remain so. There is no way that they can hope to form a majority government in Wales with their present policies, nor hope to enter a coalition with non right wing parties without modifying them. But, rather than do the obvious and tailor their policies to suit what people in Wales would vote for, they prefer to short-circuit democracy and allow Westminster to dictate what our spending priorities should be instead: If we do what they want, we get more money. If we don't do what they want, we get less money. Of course, this wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that they are likely to be in power at Westminster in a few month's time—voted in by a majority in middle England, but only a minority in Wales—would it?

In fact Millar's message is quite the opposite to the way that the Conservatives are moving in Scotland. Tories in Scotland recognize that the only real solution to the problem of being responsible for spending tax money, but not responsible for where that money comes from, is to allow the devolved administrations to set tax rates ... or the rates of at least some taxes. So the only workable solution is to allow us in Wales to do the same.