Welsh Government unveils plan to strengthen protections for ancient woodlands
At an extraordinary meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council on June 2, Independent Group leader Cllr Huw Murphy called for no confidence in Councillor Paul Miller to remain as Deputy Leader & Cabinet Member.
Cllr Murphy had made the call, which was ultimately unsuccessful, partly due to comments made by Cllr Miller at an April meeting of the council's Cabinet in which he moved an amendment with regards to Welsh Education Strategic Plan (WESP) to request officers collect data from parents of children electing a Welsh medium education.
A bone of contention for Cllr Murphy was when Cllr Miller commented with regards to parental choice for Welsh medium school Ysgol Caer Elen: '…all of them that I know who send their children to Caer Ellen honestly couldn't give a toss whether it was Welsh or English'.
'Comments such as this in 2025 are unacceptable and serve to create a perception of bias when it comes to the delivery of Welsh medium education, something that generations have striven for, namely equality and fairness,' Cllr Murphy has previously said.
'For a Deputy Leader of Council to make such comments and then refuse to retract when he has had ample opportunity to do so makes his position untenable both as Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member.
The matter was reported to the Welsh Language Commissioner and was called in to the May Schools O&S Scrutiny Committee, ultimately returning to a May 21 meeting of the Cabinet, hearing a proposal by Cllr Miller to now collect data on all languages and additional information, before the special extraordinary meeting of June 2.
Responding at the special meeting, Cllr Miller repeated previously made comments, saying there had never been an intention to collect the information through a formal schools process.
He reiterated the 'couldn't give a toss' comment was one made by a mother in his ward which he had repeated, apologising if he had caused upset.
He added: 'I believe Cllr Murphy should be deeply ashamed of his actions, he is trying to create division in the county of Pembrokeshire where no division exists,' adding: 'To suggest that either I personally or the administration is anti-Welsh is simply not true.'
He was not the only one to take umbrage at Cllr Murphy's call, with Conservative Group Leader Cllr Di Clements saying: 'This is nothing more than petty political point scoring which we want no part of,' and council leader Cllr Jon Harvey saying it was 'creating division where none exists and political opportunism at its worst.'
The no confidence call in Cllr Miller was defeated by 28 votes to 16, with 11 abstentions.
There are 11 Conservative Group members in the council.
Commenting after the meeting, Plaid Cymru county councillor for Tenby, Cllr Michael Williams who said he 'in no way condoned Cllr Miller's comments,' described the meeting as 'a complete waste of time and money'.
He added: 'Cllr Murphy seems to think Local Government is a game and submitted absolutely no arguments to support his motion.'
He went on to describe it as 'a pathetic waste of time,' saying: 'I hope lessons will be learnt, but I doubt they will. It amounted to an abuse of a democratic forum for personal promotion.'
Cllr Murphy said he still felt he had made the right call, saying Cllr Miller 'never once showed contrition for his comments'.
He added: 'The fact Cabinet have now been compelled to amend their position through the call-in and Welsh Language Commissioner's intervention shows the value of these challenges as otherwise Cllr Miller would be requesting data from less than 20 per cent of Neyland parents for wishing to send their children to Caer Elen over the 80 per cent sending their children to Haverfordwest High or Milford Haven which would suggest clear bias against Welsh medium education.
'As Leader of Independent Group I have no regrets in requesting a call in and then an EGM and if such behaviour is repeated by Cabinet members it won't be the last time such a meeting is requested under the constitution. Neither did we canvass support from any other political group.'
He finished: 'The fact the Conservative Group, through abstaining, threw Cllr Miller a lifeline will not be lost on Pembrokeshire voters who will draw their own conclusions on such a decision where the Conservatives have effectively supported Labour and the administration on this issue.'
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Wales Online
2 hours ago
- Wales Online
'We were right on 20mph, Brexit was wrong and Nigel Farage would be a disaster for Wales'
'We were right on 20mph, Brexit was wrong and Nigel Farage would be a disaster for Wales' Departing Welsh Government cabinet member Julie James gave her no holds barred take as she prepares to leave frontline politics Julie James meeting school children at Lisvane and Llanishen reservoirs in 2021 (Image: Patrick Olner) When Julie James speaks, people listen, not only in terms of her Senedd contributions, where she is more than happy to put her opponents in their place, but her cabinet colleagues too - especially since First Minister Eluned Morgan made her "minister for delivery" a year ago. It is the sort of title possibly more suited for a spoof sitcom, but it's also the sort of job you can only give someone you know will ruffle feathers if that's what is needed. A member of Labour for almost 52 years, she also holds sway in the political party. She was, after all, one of the resignations on that July day last year that signalled to Vaughan Gething he could not resist any longer, and within hours he had quit as First Minister of Wales. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here . Her official Senedd biog reads: "Julie is a committed green campaigner, environmentalist and a keen swimmer and skier. Julie is a member of Unison and is also a member of Gray's Inn" - a varied mix indeed. She has lived around the world, but moved back to Swansea to raise her three children. Professionally she has worked as a lawyer, been assistant chief executive of Swansea council. Now, the clock on her time in frontline politics is ticking, as she is one of the 13 Labour Senedd members who will not seek re-election in May's election. Article continues below Entering politics was a long held ambition, and she finally did it at 53. Brought up in a political household, her father was a Labour Party councillor and trade unionist and, in her words, both her parents were "both crazy climate change activists". It's probably no surprise she is also a lifelong vegetarian, something she describes as being "very bloody weird" when she was growing up. "I've always very firmly been of the view, right from when I was 16, if you want to change something, you have to stay in it. 'Perseverance is everything' "It's a conversation we have all the time, if you've resigned from the Labour Party in principle, then you can't vote for the candidate or make sure the people who believe what you believe are the ones who represent you. So, well done with your principle, but now you don't have a voice. "I've always thought having a voice is important and I've also thought, perseverance is everything. I'm nothing if not persistent. "Some things take a long time. I've been a member of the campaign for one member, one vote, [an internal Labour party voting system] since I joined, we got that in 2018. Fifty years is a long time to be persistent. You get there in the end. I've always been like that." During the pandemic, Julie James was Mark Drakeford's climate change minister (Image: Patrick Olner) Before standing for election to the Senedd she had what she calls a "perfectly good career". A former environmental regulation lawyer, she admits her time in the cabinet "hasn't worked out as quite the little retirement job I had in mind". But had always wanted to do it, when her predecessor in the Swansea West seat, Andrew Davies, said he was standing down "serendipity" saw her selected, and then elected. But six months after being elected, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She kept working. "What are you going to do if you're not working? Sitting at home looking at the wall wondering if you' that's no good for me at all," she said. She had four operations during her treatment, but once she was better, told Carwyn Jones she was ready to join his cabinet. She is now serving her fourth First Minister, with roles like skills and science, local government all on her CV, but the role created for her by Mark Drakeford, whose leadership election campaign she chaired, is her passion despite some very vocal opponents. In his tenure Mr Drakeford axed the M4 relief roads, placed a ban on new roads, set new targets for recycling and net zero, and who can forget it her department, and her deputy Lee Waters who brought in Wales' 20mph law, for example. Public opinion didn't deter her. "I suppose I always felt we were doing the right thing. You get a lot of crap from people who want you to do something that isn't the right thing. "I put a lot of stock by having done the right thing. So yes, we did things that were unpopular. The 20mph is a classic because it has saved tens of lives. It has stopped thousands of people's lives from being changed across Wales. Everyone in Wales now has at least a 10% drop in their insurance, that's the most successful policy we've ever had and sod it, some people didn't like it I did," she said. 'Sheer hypocrisy' The brief was massive, and her deputy, Lee Waters, has since admitted the toll, fronting that policy took on him personally. She says she tried to persuade him from fighting every battle. "There were some people you can persuade and there are lots of people you can't persuade. Don't try, just stick to your guns quietly, carefully, sluggishly, persistently and you'll get there. You don't have to do the warrior thing but it suits some people. "I'm quite happy to quietly do it in the background." For those who watch Senedd regularly, her contributions are the ones you turn your head to watch. She cannot hold back, particularly when the Conservative opposition speaks. She cannot, she says, bear their "hypocrisy". "The Tories spend a lot of time telling us that we should do things faster, whilst also we should cut all the taxes and we should pump a lot of money into businesses that don't need it, take it away from people who do need it, and at the same time we should have done a lot more on, I don't know, salt marshes or something. "That doesn't add up and it's just the sheer hypocrisy." Julie James MS speaking to Conservative Andrew RT Davies MS during the first day of Welsh Parliament at the Senedd in Cardiff Bay in 2021 (Image: Ben Evans/Huw Evans Agency) "The Tory group in the Senedd does my head in a bit because they backed the UK Government big time. Lots of them backed Liz Truss, lots of them publicly. They backed Brexit and then at the same time they stand up in the Senedd and they shout at us about the fact that austerity is cutting our money, crippling our communities, knackering our health service. Brexit has done our trade in. "I can't bear it." But the threat in 2026 to Labour isn't the Tories, they face their own battle to get any seats, but Labour faces a two pronged attack from Plaid on the left, and Nigel Farage's Reform on the right. She knows the threat Reform brings. "It's the same thing as Brexit, isn't it? We failed on Brexit and we failed on Brexit because we didn't understand that a lot of people, just taking Swansea for an example, a lot of people in Swansea could see the largesse of the European Union, they could see the universities they could see, but they had no share in it. "They can see that some people are doing alright out of it, but they aren't. Many worked, for example, in facilities in the university, for example but they were having their hours and wages cut while they could see in their world other people very well out of it. "If you don't share it out, then obviously the people who aren't getting a share are angry, rightly angry, and that's what's happening across the Western developed world and with Reform. 'Taken down a path' "We have a society that, on the one hand, is getting technologically more competent, wealthier, with nicer lives, longer lives and so on and a huge section of that society is sick and poor and struggling and they're bloody hungry. "They're being taken down a path by demagogues who are doing it for their own purposes, and they're going to make their lives worse. "Brexit is a perfect example of that. Nobody can point me to anything that Brexit has done isn't a disaster and of course, if you put that to some of the people who backed it, they say, 'well, it wasn't done properly'. What an absolute nonsense. Isn't that the same as Reform, what they're promising might, on a very surface level, make some sense." Get daily breaking news updates on your phone by joining our WhatsApp community here . We occasionally treat members to special offers, promotions and ads from us and our partners. See our Privacy Notice She speaks of a Reform pledge to give non-doms a chance to avoid paying some UK taxes, by paying a £250,000 fee, and income from the measure would be transferred annually tax-free to the bank accounts of the lowest paid 10% of full-time workers. "Until you talk to people about it and you say, 'well, actually most non-doms would be paying a great deal more than that, they should be paying 40% of their income all the time, and ask 'Do you know how many people in Wales are on the minimum wage?' Think how much it is to give them £10 each per week, which would have to be the absolute minimum for it to make a difference. "When you do that on the doorstep, some people will listen to that but lots of them won't and they'll say they've had a gutsful of 'you lot'. "Until we can get some trust in mainstream politics we've got a problem. We've had 14 years of people shouting at each other, a lot of misinformation. There's no trust in that, people promising them the 'Big Society' or whatever the hell the Johnson one was. it doesn't mean anything to anyone." But, I put it to her, UK Labour has been as guilty, promising change but delivering it via a series of policies which have been deeply unpopular. "Absolutely," she concedes. "UK Labour have come in and they have made a series of decisions which have undermined trust in mainstream politics. They're new. They have four more years to fix it. They will fix it," she is. "But, Labour here is bearing the brunt of that," she said. As deputy skills minister in 2015 Julie James said she was passionate about women in science (Image: Western Mail) When we met, a poll had not long put Labour's support in Wales for the Senedd election at 18%. That is not, she said, being projected on the doorsteps to such a degree but there shouldn't be a lot of hope taken by Labour by that. "In the 80s we used to have 'shy Tories' where people would swear blind they weren't going to vote for Thatcher and clearly were. And we're getting those but for Reform." Her Swansea patch can, broadly, be split into the northern part of the constituency which is mainly social housing or council homes, and the south, with people who work in the university, the hospital or council. It is a patch which tells the story of the threat to Labour in Wales, quite succinctly with the Reform threat in the north, but the Plaid, Green, Lib Dem threat in the south. "What people might think is, 'we don't need Welsh Labour because they're going to win so I can indulge myself in a protest vote', so I spend a lot of time reminding people what happened in Gower when 1,000 people voted Green and they got a Tory MP for the first time in a hundred years. "I personally rang up quite a lot of people and said, 'how's that working out for you?'" The signs are all there that Labour will have a tough time in the election for which she won't be a candidate. "What we've got to do is give people something positive to vote for. I do not want people to vote Labour because it's the least worst option. We've got to do something that means you actually believe in us, which I think we can do. And secondly, we've got to persuade them that even if they're a bit sceptical about that, swapping to a different party and splitting the progressive vote, will put a Reform government into Wales." One of the many narratives she says she cannot tolerate is about immigration and limiting immigration, particularly in Wales. 'This immigration thing does my head in' "In truth, my own view is that Wales should have its arms wide open and say, 'Come, come, come, come, come in numbers' and if you're young, working age, of breeding age, come. We need those people, we need a lot of them. The more highly skilled, the better. And by highly skilled, I mean skilled in care as well as skilled in technology. "The immigration thing just does my head in. I just don't understand why anyone in Wales is even remotely worried about immigration. It's tiny and the immigrants who come to Wales have hugely enriched our society. "Without the Ukrainians where would our care system be?" She is one of those who has seen a new, upstart party come into Welsh politics. In 2016, she saw the Ukip contingent arrive in the Senedd and admits the challenge posed by a new, inexperienced party, was probably good for the institution - in some ways. "For the first time in ages we had to argue from first principles why we were doing what we did," she said. "We didn't have a broad consensus that we could build from. We had people saying that they fundamentally didn't agree with it and I think that's actually quite a decent discipline to have to do". But she saw the weaknesses too. As the group splintered, they did not pull their weight on committees, she says. "They were really disruptive and not because they had an ideology we didn't like but because they were chaotic. "Actually an enormous amount of the work of the Senedd, like any Parliament goes on in the committee rooms behind closed doors and it's long and boring and tedious and very important indeed. On a visit to Coleg Gwent as deputy skills minister in 2016 (Image: Coleg Gwent) "You have to spend hours and hours going through long, awful documents and acts and they didn't show up and the Senedd is tiny so the burden on everybody else is high." She has seen the government machine, first hand for years, what, I ask her, would it mean for the government - away from the political people - if a party like Reform took over. "There's some danger anyway because there's a lot of us leaving," she said. "Even if Labour had its normal share in the polls and whatever, we'd have a lot of new faces coming in." There is work in the government buildings preparing for a new administration, about providing advice and briefings. "You want a government that's got the right information in front of it and so on." But they have also, she said, been putting measures in place so laws cannot be rowed back on easily. "We've been trying to embed a lot of things. We'll make them harder to get rid of, if I'm absolutely honest. I spend a lot of time working through legislation, making sure it's been implemented, and it would have to actually have primary legislation to repeal it so it would be much harder to just turn the ship back the other way. "In the end, we can't prevent them from doing that, but we can make it harder. "I think a Reform government would be a disaster. If they were to do any of the things they're saying, and who knows whether they would, because their policy platform is fluid, at the moment. They're saying that they would abolish the NHS and replace it with an insurance based system. That's pretty disastrous for an old, poor, sick country like Wales, where most people have a pre-existing condition, probably couldn't get insurance or afford it or whatever. "They would absolutely, definitely stop free prescriptions, free parking at hospitals. They would stop the nationalisation of the trains and the buses. "You'd go backwards very quickly. I suspect they would, as they have done in some of the councils they've taken control of, try to stop, as they have done in America, the diversity, inclusion and equality programmes. Article continues below "They would afterwards realise what they'd done and try to scramble to put them back. I think they'd starve public services of money. We protect our local authorities. Most people in Wales do not understand how bad the local authority situation in England actually is."
Daily Mirror
7 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Kremlin releases photo of Donald Trump and Putin talking without US interpreter
Donald Trump was criticised during his first presidency over a meeting where Trump, Putin and Putin's interpreter were present - but not a US interpreter. Now he appears to have done it again The Kremlin has released photographs of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin speaking privately ahead of their joint press conference last night - without a US interpreter present. Donald Trump was heavily criticised during his first presidency over a meeting where Trump, Putin and Putin's interpreter were present - but not a US interpreter. It was feared Putin would use the opportunity to influence Trump, without any officials from the US there to record what had been discussed. And last night it appears to have happened again. It comes after Trump looked tired as he returned to Washington after the summit. READ MORE: Donald Trump plans Zelensky and Putin meeting but there's a special condition The photos show Trump and Putin deep in discussion in a corridor at the Anchorage air base, before taking to the stage to make statements to the world. Three men appear in the photo - Trump, Putin, and a third man carrying a leather hold-all and an A4 note pad. He's understood to be the interpreter Putin brought with him to Alaska. He was seen earlier in the visit, sitting to Putin's left in the meeting room before talks kicked off. John Bolton, Trump's former National Security Advisor, noted last night on CNN that Putin speaks English, but often waits for his interpreter to deliver his translation so he has more time to consider his answer. At the G20 Summit in Buenos Aries in 2018, Trump met with Putin for around 15 minutes without a US note taker or translator present to keep an official record. The White House downplayed the significance of the talks. But the New York Times reported at the time that "people familiar with the conversation said it appeared longer and more substantive than the White House has acknowledged." Earlier the same year, Trump and Putin met with interpreters on both sides, but the US President confiscated the US interpreter's notes after the meeting. And after his arrival in Alaska yesterday, Trump invited Putin to ride with him in his limousine from the airstrip to the meeting venue - with nobody else present in the vehicle. Posting on Truth Social this morning, Trump indicated a second meeting with Vladimir Putin could follow if talks with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday go well. He made the statement on his own Truth Social website, following hours of talks with Putin in Alaska, which ended with no apparent progress towards a ceasefire - and a lengthy phone call with Zelensky and world leaders. Trump said the meeting with Putin "went very well, as did a late night phone call with President Zelensky of Ukraine and various European leaders, including the highly respected Secretary General of NATO." He went on: "It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreemen, which often times do not hold up." Russia has consistently rejected the idea of a ceasefire, insisting Putin would only agree to a final treaty to end the conflict. And Putin last night gave no indication he'd given up on his long-held belief that Ukraine is not a real country, and is entirely Russian territory. At a press conference following the talks, he repeated his position that it is "sincerely interested in putting an end" to the war in Ukraine, but for that to happen, "all the root causes of the crisis ... must be eliminated." "All of Russia's legitimate concerns must be taken into account, and a fair balance in the security sphere in Europe and the world as a whole must be restored," Putin said. Following a call with President Trump, Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on X: "In my conversation with President Trump, I said that sanctions should be strengthened if there is no trilateral meeting or if Russia tries to evade an honest end to the war. "Sanctions are an effective tool. Security must be guaranteed reliably and in the long term, with the involvement of both Europe and the U.S. "All issues important to Ukraine must be discussed with Ukraine's participation, and no issue, particularly territorial ones, can be decided without Ukraine." Get Donald Trump updates straight to your WhatsApp! As the world attempts to keep up with Trump's antics, the Mirror has launched its very own US Politics WhatsApp community where you'll get all the latest news from across the pond. We'll send you the latest breaking updates and exclusives all directly to your phone. Users must download or already have WhatsApp on their phones to join in. All you have to do to join is click on this link, select 'Join Chat' and you're in! We may also send you stories from other titles across the Reach group. We will also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose Exit group. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Putin last night gave no indication he'd given up on his long-held belief that Ukraine is not a real country, and is entirely Russian territory. At a press conference following the talks, he repeated his position that it is "sincerely interested in putting an end" to the war in Ukraine, but for that to happen, "all the root causes of the crisis ... must be eliminated." "All of Russia's legitimate concerns must be taken into account, and a fair balance in the security sphere in Europe and the world as a whole must be restored," Putin said.
Powys County Times
8 hours ago
- Powys County Times
Mortgage lenders under fire from Mid Wales MP David Chadwick
Mortgage lenders are under fire from a Mid Wales MP for treating homeowners as 'cash cows.' Welsh Liberal Democrat MP David Chadwick, who represents Brecon, Radnor, and Cwm Tawe, has criticised lenders for keeping mortgage rates high, despite recent cuts to the Bank of England's base interest rate. Mr Chadwick said: "It's really disappointing to see that hard-working homeowners in Brecon, Radnor, and Cwm Tawe and across Wales are being used as cash cows by mortgage providers, particularly in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis tightening so many people's purse strings." Research from the House of Commons Library, commissioned by the Liberal Democrats, shows that mortgage rates have not fallen in line with the Bank of England's base rate. As a result, homeowners are paying more than £1,000 extra each year. The average monthly payment on a new two-year fixed mortgage has dropped by just £90, from £1,279 to £1,189. On a five-year fixed mortgage, the monthly reduction is only £26, down from £1,204 to £1,178. If mortgage rates had fallen by 19 per cent, in line with the base rate, homeowners would be paying £41 less per month on a two-year fixed rate and £87 less on a five-year fixed rate. This would mean annual savings of £492 and £1,044 respectively. Mr Chadwick has called on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to take action on behalf of homeowners. He said: "The Government has been far too timid and wrong-footed in tackling the cost-of-living crisis. "Mortgage rates are crippling homeowners, and spiralling energy bills leave people wondering how they will put food on the table.
