It seems that the National Assembly have been dealt a great blow in the fight for further powers. Not only do Welsh Labour and Conservative MPs on the Welsh Affairs Committee want to restrict or deny further powers to the Welsh Assembly, they are dictating how they should use the powers in the present and future. This amounts in practice to the WAC being Wales' second legislative chamber.
I really believe that Rhodri Morgan and the rest of the Labour memebers of Cabinet could have gone to town on this one. It would have been a great display of Labour's belief in Wales. The sooner Rhodri is now replaced, the better. Whether you agree with WAC or not (for the record I don't), you have to draw two conclusions for this debacle.
ONE
That Welsh Labour AMs don't have equal status as the MPs within the party. With Labour the dominant party in Welsh politics and most likely to be in the foreseeable future, it sets a dangerous precedent. Although people can take comfort in an upcoming generation of devoloving Labourites.
TWO
The complete inability of Ieuan Wyn Jones and other PC cabinet members to influence the First Minister. It displays a real weakness on their part and will only isolate their nationalistic supporters further. Maybe it's time for Leanne Wood to do a stint as Deputy First Minister. That would shake things up a bit. I was really hoping back in 2007 that Plaid involvment would help speed up devolution.
Will the coalition last? With the Tories in such disarray, I don't see any other option. It has to stick together. Although, maybe under a new Liberal Democrat leader there might be a change.
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