Wales@Westminster newslog

It's Wales@Westminster Newslog, BBC Wales' Parliamentary correspondent David Cornock's diary on political life in London. It's a two-way process though, so add your comments too.

Wednesday 17 September

Question time
posted by David | 1647 BST | Add comment
Today, it was MPs' chance to question the secretary of state for Wales.
Once a month Peter Hain and his deputy Don Touhig answer questions on issues for which they have no responsibility.
It's one of those occasions that invariably generate more heat than light, but at least it allows MPs to debate decisions that affect their constituents - even if they can do little to change them. In politics, there is no monopoly on talking shops.

----------------------

Making your mind up
posted by David | 1528 BST | Add comment
Ieuan Wyn Jones used to be indecisive, but now he's not so sure. It's an old joke, but Mr Jones isn't exactly a new leader.
Plaid Cymru's travails provided much mirth for Labour MPs in the Commons during the first Welsh Question Time since the summer break.
It took place 24 hours after Mr Jones announced that independence was a 19th century concept rejected by Plaid Cymru - and one hour after he confirmed that, after all, he was quite relaxed about the term. He was just unsure whether, at this weekend's Plaid Cymru conference, to vote for independence, full national status, or self-government.
The current option has always seemed an unlikely rallying cry. Imagine the scene. "What do we want?" shout the masses. "Full National Status" "When do we want it?" "Not yet, but after a referendum, and after the Assembly is turned into a Parliament, and with the consent of the Welsh people". Hmm....

----------------------

Plaid's double act
posted by David | 1005 BST | Add comment
Ieuan Wyn Jones faces, by his own admission, an impossible job - leading a group which has no confidence in its leader.
Few AMs admit voting for him and, under more traditional votings systems, Helen Mary Jones would be leading Plaid Cymru in the Assembly.
The leadership of Dafydd Iwan and Ieuan Wyn Jones promises to be an entertaining political double act in the tradition of Kinnock and Hattersley, Blair and Prescott. The prospect of the fun ahead proved a worthy distraction from the traditional monthly knockabout of Welsh Questions in the Commons.

You can add your comment or question by using the form below.