Pausing for thought

Only occasional lightening interrupts the ground war

Fighting an election campaign is like being involved in a skirmish on the edge of a battle in a wider war. You’re aware of your immediate surroundings, your friends on either side of you, and your opponents immediately ahead. But as to what is happening overall, who is winning and who is losing, you have little idea.

The circumstances of the present Assembly election only serve to underline this truth. In particular it is being overshadowed by another vote, little more than a month after 5 May – the EU referendum on 23 June. The broadcast news is full of it, giving little space for the Assembly election. UKIP is standing in the Preseli and Carmarthen West and South Pembokeshire constituencies for the first time in an Assembly election. No one believes they can win, but equally no one knows how well they will do and at whose expense.

Walking the streets on Plaid Cymru’s behalf I encounter the occasional UKIP supporter. They rail against what they see as the imposition of rule from Brussels. “Do you realise how much we’re paying them every week,” they demand. There’s no point my responding with a return question, ‘Do you appreciate how much they’re investing in Pembrokeshire, and how much our farmers depend on European subsidies and markets?” They’re just cross.

Media coverage is the air war in the election. Most of it comes from Cardiff or London and barely touches Pembrokeshire. It’s like distant rumblings of thunder with occasional flashes of lightening that momentarily light up the landscape. People are aware of it but don’t take a lot of notice.

Of real importance, however, is the ground war. This is the extent to which the parties can get their message across directly. Leaflets, posters and placards are their ammunition. Social media also count. But most important are the conversations. These have real impact and are capable of changing minds. The trouble is it’s not possible to talk to everybody.

On some occasions voters contact candidates directly. Most days I take a few calls. Standing in the centre of Fishguard I reached for my mobile phone. “I only have one question, what is your position on Trident missiles?” a woman asked. “I’m against them,” I answered. “They’re very expensive and I don’t see what they are defending us against. If you’re worried about defence it would be much better to spend some of the £100 billion or more you could save on conventional forces.”

I get e-mails as well. One asked me whether I had any background in science and engineering and my views on nuclear power. I wrote back that I couldn’t claim to be a scientist though as a journalist I was used to grappling with complex topics. On nuclear power I was conflicted. I could see it was a way of reducing carbon emissions and so was good for tackling climate change. On the other hand there was a huge problem in dealing with nuclear waste, which was also a source for making nuclear weaponry. On the whole I favoured the German approach of concentrating on renewables.

A woman in Milford rang to say that her husband was a lifelong Labour voter, but thinking of changing this time. On the other hand she was a lifelong Conservative supporter. Could I reassure her? Of course I could. At the end I wished her good luck with her forthcoming operation for which she was travelling to Glangwili in Carmarthen.

As I move around the county I’m constantly asked how the campaign is going. The people of Pembrokeshire are thinking, I say.

Exam question for Pembrokeshire

Politicians hate elections. They think of them as the equivalent of end-of-term exams. They swot up, of course, but fear the unexpected questions. They dislike being judged on what they have achieved. They worry about the results and whether they will match up to what is expected of them.

But just as exams concentrate the minds of students so, too, elections are good for politicians. If they are to be successful they must develop an intimate knowledge of their constituency - its needs, worries, hopes and fears. More than anything else, elections force politicians to come up close and personal with the people who might vote for them.

 

Withybush - first question on the exam paper in this election

In the process, the politician learns what is uppermost in the minds of their electors. In Pembrokeshire there is no doubt about what that is. I have been walking the streets and lanes of this fair county for weeks now, pushing leaflets and letters through doors and in the process encountering a diverse range of people.

I say I am calling by because there’s an election for the National Assembly on 5 May and that I’m hoping they might support me as Plaid Cymru’s candidate. Invariably, I’m told about experiences they or their friends or relatives have had in relation to hospital services. More often than not these relate to having to travel out of the county to Glangwili in Carmarthen to be treated, with all the attendant dangers and inconvenience.

“My daughter had problems when she went into labour and was taken up the road,” one lady in Milford told me. “My grandson is lucky to be alive.’ Another woman, in Haverfordwest, told of a neighbour who had a heart attack and had to wait hours for an ambulance. He also ended up in Glangwili and he, too, is “lucky to be alive”.

Just below the surface in the voices recounting these experiences is suppressed fear and anger. ‘Those people in Cardiff Bay think Wales ends at Carmarthen,’ a man in Uzmaston said. “It’s as though we don’t exist for them.”

‘What can you do about it?’ I’m asked regularly, to which I reply, “It’s what you can do about it is the real question and this election is the opportunity. It’s the one chance we have to make the change we need. If Plaid wins in Preseli as well as in Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire, Labour can be forced out of power in Cardiff. Then we can put a different government in its place, one that has an awareness of the realities of living in rural west Wales.”

This is what Plaid’s leader Leanne Wood has stated: "I can commit that Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales will restore the 24 hour, 7 days a week Accident and Emergency Department at Withybush hospital, including consultant led maternity services and consultant paediatrics. I have listened to the people of Pembrokeshire who depend on these services which have been removed by Labour, and I think it’s vital that Withybush is upgraded for the sake of the safety and care of the local community."

I reckon that, on this basis, Leanne deserves to pass her exams in Pembrokeshire at this election.

Give change a chance in this election

It’s less than three weeks until the elections for the National Assembly on 5 May and postal voters start casting their ballots next week. Yet moving around Pembrokeshire you would hardly know an election was underway. A few placards have appeared to be sure, but most of them are located along the roadsides in farmers’ fields, and fields don’t vote.

Springing up like Spring flowers

I should declare an interest. I am standing for Plaid Cymru in the election. The overriding issue is the future of Withybush hospital in Haverfordest. It is essential to restore the maternity and paediatric services that have been lost in the past couple of years. If we don’t, then other specialities will be undermined at Withybush with the provision of a 24-hour Accident and Emergency service at stake.

So how best can we get these vital services back? Labour’s Health Minister Mark Drakeford who has overseen the downgrading of Withybush, stated in February that he would not reverse the decision. Preseli’s Conservative Assembly Member for the past nine years has been ineffectual in preventing the downgrading of Withybush. Plaid Cymru is the only party committed to restoring paediatric and maternity services to Withybush and also has a chance of being in government to put this into effect.

So what are the priorities? First, we must press Hywel Dda Health Board to restore 24/7 paediatric consultant cover to Withybush as a matter of urgency. In March I met with the Health Board Chief Executive Steve Moore who admitted that removal of the cover in August 2014 had been a mistake.

Secondly, we need to campaign for the restoration of consultant-led maternity care at Withybush. Steve Moore had no answer when I put it to him that a woman in labour at Withybush who is suddenly found to require a caesarian operation constitutes an emergency. Plaid Cymru is committed to hospital-based Accident and Emergency services, including maternity consultants, being within an hour’s reach of everybody in Wales. That means that in an emergency you will reach hospital within an hour of calling for an ambulance.

And thirdly, we need an improved ambulance service in Pembrokeshire. Hywel Dda Health Board only has 15 ambulances, the lowest ratio of ambulances to population of any Health Board in Wales. We need at least 20.

It is also vital to defend other essential services that are threatened in Pembrokeshire. For example, we must persuade the council to stop it taking sixth forms away from secondary schools so that students can choose where to study.

Preseli Pembokeshire urgently needs a stronger voice in Cardiff Bay. The county has been let down by the Labour Government for the past 17 years - far too long for just one party to be in power. Only a change in government will give Pembrokeshire a fair deal. The London parties are divided and quarrelling amongst themselves. If Plaid wins in Pembrokeshire it will become the main opposition party in Cardiff Bay and Labour will lose its overall majority. Plaid will then challenge the other opposition parties to support Leanne Wood as First Minister rather than handing Labour another five ineffective years in power.

Pembrokeshire farmers deserve a break

Pembrokeshire’s farmers, already badly hit by plummeting milk prices are about to be hit again, this time with new regulations on the way they spread slurry on their land. Bear with me on this question which on the face of it is not one to gladden the heart. But believe me it has the potential to do enormous harm to farmers and our way of life in Pembrokeshire.

 

Farmers should have the option on when they spread their slurry

Every four years the Cleddau river catchment, which covers about 80 per cent of Pembrokeshire’s land area, is tested for nitrates that are largely caused by farm waste flowing into the water system. If they are too high they cause the growth of algae and other harmful organisms. In turn this upsets the fish and plant life that depend on the health of the waters in Milford Haven and the Marine Special Conservation Area beyond.

When the rivers were last tested in 2012 the nitrate levels almost reached the point where the Welsh Government would have been obliged to impose severe restrictions. The farming unions are resigned to this happening at the beginning of next year. Any day now a 12-week consultation period will be launched, followed by an appeals period, with restrictions likely to come into force from January 2017.

If a Nitrates Vulnerable Zone is declared it will have had a massive impact on the 1,800 Pembrokeshire farms that operate within the river catchment area. Farmers will be prevented from spreading slurry on their land between October and February, the winter months when most rainfall occurs. They will be required to ensure they have a capacity to store six months worth of slurry produced by their farms. And they will have to keep strict records of their nitrate discharges.

These new obligations and their costs could be enough to tip many farm operations, already running desperately close to going under, over the edge. Irreparable harm would be done, not just to the lives of the farming families but also to Wales’s agricultural industry. After all Pembrokeshire produces 25 per cent of the Wales’s dairy output and 50 per cent of our potato crop.

So what can be done? In the first place the Welsh Government must produce firm evidence that it is farm slurry that is the sole cause of the harmful nitrate levels. There could be other contributors, such as the Pembroke Power Station which abstracts water from the Haven for cooling, returning it at higher temperatures.

If restrictions are imposed they should be done voluntarily, in ways that mitigate their impact. There could be a collaborative approach between the farmers, the Welsh government and Natural Resources Wales. Farmers could be left to decide themselves when weather conditions allow for spreading slurry on their land. After all July and August can be exceedingly wet months and there are times when October or January can be relatively dry. There should be greater efforts to separate clean and dirty water on farms. For instance, rain run-off from the roofs and yards of farms should be prevented from flowing into slurry containers, with the result that they fill up and overflow.

Such an approach would be less easy to monitor and enforce than the imposition of strict controls. However, the gains for the farmers and the Pembrokeshire’s economy would make it worthwhile. Our farmers deserve the chance to make it work.