I'm not one whit wiser. It seems to me to have been the biggest non-discussion since Tony Blair organised his Big Conversation with the people. I can't even remember what that was about. The 'establishing committee' of Labour and Plaid AMs and MPs have completed their work and have today announced what Sir Emyr Jones Parry is going to do. Seems to me that all that these recommendations have done is deprive Sir Emyr's Convention of the main decision I thought it was being set up to take - how it would consult on the public mood for a referendum. Seems that these 16 fine people have outlined precisely how the consultation is going to be carried out.
What we really want to know is what the Convention is going to consult on. It seems bizarre that a convention should be established, at a cost of £1.5 million, to report by Autumn, 2009, simply to tell the Assembly Government what Welsh people think of devolution and how they will vote in a referendum. It would be the most expensive opinion poll in history. I haven't read the full report from the Establishing Committee yet, but I hope there's a lot more to it than the BBC has been able to find.
2 comments:
At least reserve judgement until you have seen what the establishing committee has done. I know people who have worked really hard on that, and they certainly haven't had a pay rise!
bethan - all I've seen is the linked BBC report, which I would have expected to cover the significant recommendations. There's nothing wrong with the ideas for consultation, but that should have been a matter for the Convention. I would have thought that Sir Emyr's team would have come up with all that and will have some extra ideas of its own as well.
Please tell me what you think the Convention is going to do - and don't smother it is jargon - though I'm off to Rhyl at 7.00 in the morning, so will not be able to read it for a while.
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