Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ BLOGS - David Cornock's blog
Β« Previous | Main | Next Β»

Peter Hain meets the belly dancer

David Cornock | 17:47 UK time, Thursday, 15 April 2010

cornockmanifesto226.jpgWhen it comes to public services, for Labour guarantees are the new black.

It seems only last week, it was only last week, that the Prime Minister offered his "direct guarantee to every single citizen of Britain" on public services.

Many of those services, such as health and education, are not run by Labour, in Scotland, or run by Welsh Labour (and Plaid Cymru) in Wales.

So are the guarantees worth the paper they're not written on?

Here's what the PM said outside No 10 last week: "I want to give a direct guarantee to every single citizen of Britain that when you need the police, when you need help with cancer care, when you need your GP at the evenings or at weekends, when you need as a child to have personal tuition in your school, then these public services will be there, directly guaranteed to you as an individual citizen when you need them and accountable to you and your family."

Did he mean "every single citizen of Britain" or "every single citizen of England?" Does Gordon Brown understand devolution?

I'm still searching the Welsh Labour manifesto, launched today, for the guarantee that you can see your GP at the evenings or weekends. I've yet to discover the offer of personal tuition in school so I asked Welsh Secretary Peter Hain to square the circle.

"The Prime Minister was making a commitment that we'd give the best education for young children in Britain, that obviously extends to Wales but it has to be taken forward in Wales in different routes....that is what devolution is about."

So perhaps the PM misspoke. I didn't spend my whole day discussing manifesto minutiae with political anoraks. The photo shows me chatting to Charlotte David, a member of Ishtar Belly Dancers from Swansea.

She's one of the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Wales 10 of Clubs we're talking to throughout the election. Find out what happened when the belly dancer met the Secretary of State for Wales on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Wales Today this evening.

Comments

or to comment.

Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ iD

Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ navigation

Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Β© 2014 The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.