Leighton Andrews AM

Old Rhondda photographs

I've recently added a series of old photographs of the Rhondda to my Pinterest board.  The photographs include Treorchy, Pentre, Ferndale and the old Glamorgan Colliery at Llwynypia.  They can be found here.  

Remembering the Burberry Workers

The Burberry factory in the Rhondda closed five years ago today, the 31st March 2007, despite a fantastic campaign led by the GMB.

Here is the footage of the workers leaving the factory behind the GMB banner:

The workers' proud final march was applauded through the streets of Treorchy: We didn't win the campaign to keep the factory open, but a mass campaign supported by celebrities like Ioan Gruffydd, Rhys Ifans, Bryn Terfel, Max Boyce, Boyd Clack, Tom Jones, Sir Alex Ferguson, The Automatic, The Alarm, Gruff Rhys, Michael Sheen, Charlotte Church, Rachel Tresize, Steve Jones, Ben Elton, Emma Thompson, Irvine Welsh, the late Stuart Cable, and many others won an extension of the factory for a few months, additional redundancy pay and a trust fund for the Rhondda. Shop Stewards from the factory like Joan Young
and Gaynor Richards have been trustees.
Both individuals and local organisations have benefitted.

Thinking Allowed on Radio 4 has Jean Jenkins of Cardiff Business School talking about the consequences of the closure of the Burberry factory in next week's edition (April 4 at 4pm). Today the BBC has this.

Remploy

Recently I have paid two visits to the Remploy factory in Porth to discuss the options for its future with the workforce. As Assembly Member for Rhondda, I have supported Remploy workers in Porth as they faced months of uncertainty over the future of their jobs. The Remploy factory in Porth is important to the local community. It has an excellent record for employing disabled workers and supports a highly specialised skill set - computer recycling and data cleansing to international standards.

The Welsh Labour Government is profoundly disappointed with the decision by the Conservative-led UK Government to reduce its current subsidy to Remploy, resulting in the closure of Remploy factories in Wales. This has wide-reaching implications not only for the lives of individuals, but also for families and communities across Wales. It is clear that Wales has been disproportionately hit by the closures announced.

The UK Conservative-led Government accepts proposals for the closure of seven Remploy factories in Wales—in Aberdare, Abertillery, Bridgend, Croespenmaen, Merthyr, Swansea and Wrexham, with 272 workers affected. I understand that the factories in Porth and in Neath are considered, in the words of the UK Government, to be 'potentially viable’.

We understand that Remploy will now proceed to a 90-day consultation on the closure of the affected factories. I have asked the UK Minister for full details of the background to this decision, including the publication of any studies undertaken on the viability of the factories. There needs to be an immediate discussion regarding the Remploy assets in Wales so that the Welsh Government can work in a meaningful way with disabled people, the relevant trade unions and others wishing to form social enterprises.

The Welsh Government is exploring with Remploy what may be done to maintain the factories in Wales. We have set up a task-force to look at the possibilities for protecting jobs. We want the UK government to transfer the current subsidies for Remploy factories in Wales to the Welsh government. We want to protect Remploy jobs.

More photographs of the visits can be found on my Flickr website.  The video below was taken on a visit to mark the factory winning a contract from Rhondda Cynon Taf Council .

 

 

 

 

 

Tylorstown RFC re-development project

 

I welcome the announcement by the Minister for Local Government and Communities Carl Sargeant that the Community Facilities and Activities Programme (CFAP) will help fund a project at Tylorstown Rugby Football Club.  The Programme will help to fund the re-development of the old tennis courts including installing flood lights, re-opening unused footpaths and laying a new synthetic surface that can be used for other sports and activities in all weathers. 

This will enable the courts to be brought back into full use to the benefit of the local community.  The refurbishment will expand the range of high-quality, accessible sporting facilities available to the community and encourage participation in sports.  In turn, this will improve the well-being of the community by encouraging active and healthy life styles.

The Community Facilities and Activities Programme previously supported other Rhondda projects, such as the Ferndale Skate Park. I urge other Rhondda organisations interested in developing community facilities and services to apply to the programme.  Further information can be found on the Welsh Government’s website.

The Community Facilities and Activities Programme was launched in 2002 and to date has funded 831 projects totalling over £92.3 million. This latest bidding round will fund 29 projects totalling £5,761,997.39 over two financial years. The programme is open to community and voluntary organisations and provides funding for the provision of facilities within communities and for activities engaging local people which will help promote the regeneration of communities.  One further round of CFAP is open to applications with a closing date of 31st July 2012.

 

Reflections on the Plaid Cymru leadership

It may come as a surprise to some, but contrary to popular opinion, I like Leanne Wood! True, we have had our rows in both the Rhondda and the Assembly Chamber, and no doubt will again. But the Assembly is a small place and it is rare for members to fall out personally for any length of time. (And those involved in the Yes for Wales campaign will remember that we put our political differences aside to campaign together for a yes vote in the Rhondda last year - see the picture above.) So, I congratulate Leanne on her success, but what should we read into her victory?

Clearly, for Leanne personally, the victory was a significant achievement. No-one saw her as the favourite, but she unquestionably ran the liveliest and most distinctive campaign. Her online campaign was streets ahead of the other candidates. Leanne’s story was presented in a compelling way. Tactically the campaign was astute – she rolled out supporters over time representing different wings of the party with different geographic bases.

The result appears to demonstrate a serious lack of understanding of the grassroots membership of Plaid by the other candidates and by many commentators, who thought it would be a close result, but that Elin would edge it. Telephone canvassing was said to be placing Elin ahead with Leanne in third place. Leanne, it was said by some, had performed poorly in hustings.

To the outsider, it looks as though the Plaid membership has opted for the politics of protest. This was an outsider’s campaign. When I congratulated Leanne about her website and campaign a couple of months back, I remember her saying ‘well, I’ve got nothing to lose, have I?’

She had the support of only two Assembly Members, but a wide range of supporters in the party including figures as diverse as Dafydd Iwan and Gwenllian Lansdown. Her list of supporters also included a long list of those with roots in Cymdeithas yr Iaith Cymraeg. (Nothing wrong with that – bluntly I find it’s often a lot easier to have a frank discussion over priorities for the language with Cymdeithas than with some of the organizations funded by the public purse).

However,  some of Leanne’s supporters may turn out to be her greatest liabilities. Adam Price’s backing may have been a curse rather than a blessing – the leader over the water (some in Plaid suspect) was backing a caretaker candidate. And while Elin Jones and Dafydd El were magnanimous in defeat, some of Leanne’s supporters were not exactly magnanimous in victory. After Dafydd Tristan spoke warmly of Leanne’s victory on Radio Wales on Friday morning, one of her supporters, Bethan Jenkins AM tweeted

Listening to Dafydd Trystan on #GMW you'd swear he was a Leanne supporter all along. What a difference a day makes! #ymlaen!

Not exactly the unity message that parties normally strive for after a leadership election.

What are the implications for the Labour Party? Well, contrary to the views of the BBC’s political editor, it was not ‘the worst result of the three’, but like most other people, it was probably the result we did not expect. However, it does nothing to change the position adopted by Carwyn Jones in his conference speech last month. 

This is not to say we should be complacent. Leanne’s success does demonstrate a different character to Plaid Cymru. However, the impact may be experienced more in the challenge to recruit activists than in electoral success.

Labour in the Assembly has been highly successful in electing women candidates and promoting women to senior Ministerial positions. Labour in Parliament has elected more women than any other party in Wales. But the election of a relatively young woman as leader of Plaid offers a new role model in Welsh politics to young women, and we as a party must be seen to be taking seriously those issues and that challenge anew in the future, not least in candidate selection.

That offers some challenges to the male dominance of constituency, council and trades union politics. Meanwhile, the active involvement of young people in Leanne’s campaign was obvious. Welsh Labour’s recent conference had a very youthful profile, but we must be careful that our party structures lend themselves to the informal dynamic engagement of young people at a grassroots level, not the structured careerism that is sometimes seen to characterise Labour student politics.

Ultimately, Plaid's leadership election shows that they have rejected any sense that they could do a future deal with the Conservatives. They may have learned that lesson from the last Assembly election, where the refusal to rule this out clearly handicapped them throughout the campaign. Whether they have learned the other strategic lesson from the Assembly election - that spending your time attacking your recent Labour coalition partners, rather than talking up your successes, is counter-productive - time will tell. Leanne's local career of course has been all about trying to lead the anti-Labour opposition. Leanne’s supporters may think she can lead a more aggressive challenge to Labour, but the evidence is rather different.  We have been fighting Leanne and her friends in the Rhondda for some time. Their appeal is limited and their occasional successes have been achieved when Labour has been in mid-term crisis as a Westminster government – notably in 1999. 

When the novelty has worn off, we have to remember - the Official Opposition in Cardiff Bay is the Conservative Party. The government in London is Conservative-led. Defeating them is our priority and our focus.

Mzansi Cymru: Torchbearers

Rhondda-based Valleys Kids are spearheading a major arts project, Mzansi Cymru, linking the communities of the Welsh Valleys with those of Cape Town in South Africa.  It will culminate in a joint spectacular performance of ‘Torchbearers’ in The Donald Gordon Theatre, at The Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff on the 20th and 21st of July 2012.

The performance will feature Valley voices, musicians and performers with groups from South Africa such as Zip Zap circus, Dance for All and the Fezeka Choir. 

For more information, see the Wales Millennium Centre website.

Congratulations Bodringallt Primary School!

As Assembly Member for the Rhondda, I was pleased to read Bodringallt Primary School’s inspection report. I congratulate staff at the school who have been commended for their consistently high standards of teaching. I was delighted to read the inspectors’ praise for the school’s positive ethos that values all pupils and ensures equality of opportunity. It is clear that the school has succeeded in creating a caring and inclusive culture within a high-quality learning environment. Congratulations also to the pupils at Bodringallt, who are noted in the report as making very good progress in their learning. This good report is a testimony to the hard work and dedication of both the staff and pupils of Bodringallt Primary School.

Community Facilities and Activities Programme

I welcome the announcement from Minister for Local Government and Communities Carl Sargeant that the Community Facilities and Activities Programme (CFAP) will continue during 2012-13.  The programme has provided over £92 million to help community and voluntary organisations offer new facilities and services for their communities.

The Minister has decided to continue the programme under its current remit for a further 12 months while an an internal review explores how the programme can be more closely aligned to other Welsh Government grant schemes and Programme for Government priorities.  One further round of CFAP is open to applications with a closing date of 31st July 2012.

The programme’s positive impact upon Welsh communities and the lives of Welsh people can be seen in the Rhondda where it has previously helped projects such as the Ferndale Skate Park.  I urge other Rhondda organisations interested in developing community facilities and services to apply to the programme. 

Further information can be found on the Welsh Government website.

Advice Surgeries

I will be holding advice surgeries on the following dates in February and March:

• Friday February 3^rd - Noddfa Day Centre , Treorchy
• Friday March 2^nd – 3pm – Wesley House Day Centre, Ferndale
• Friday March 9^th – 4pm – Alec Jones Day Centre, Porth

Please ring my constituency office on 01443 682550 or 685261 to book appointments in advance.

For any urgent enquiries, or if you are unable to attend a surgery, please contact my constituency office.

Ystradyfodwg Art Society in the Pierhead

I was pleased to welcome the Ystradyfodwg Art Society to the Assembly's Pierhead Building where they are holding an exhibition of their very diverse and interesting work over the next four weeks in the Upper Gallery. If you are visiting the Assembly, do pop along and see it!