Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

As I was saying, my blog is going to a new home, but its departure has been delayed due to what we'll call circumstances beyond my control.

So, for the moment at least, do keep reading on a day when Wales, if not exactly centre stage at Westminster, is certainly headlining the fringe.

Westminster Hall, the second Commons chamber, is hosting the closest thing we will get this year to a St David's Day debate. You may (or may not) remember the row earlier this year when March 1 came and went without the traditional (since 1944) Welsh day debate.

Labour's Paul Murphy teamed up with Plaid Cymru's Elfyn Llwyd to try to get a debate scheduled by the backbench business committee, a committee of MPs that now plays a powerful role deciding what MPs get to talk about in the Commons.

The consolation prize is two debates on reports from the select committee on Welsh affairs; one on the Severn crossings toll, the other on "the constitutional implications for Wales of the government's proposals for constitutional reform".

The latter may not be the sort of title that features on many bestseller lists but it refers to the arguments over the cut in the number of Welsh MPs from 40 to 30, a cut to take place at the next general election.

Messrs Murphy and Llwyd are continuing their campaign for a proper St David's Day more than two months after the event.

With that campaign so far unsuccessful, Mr Murphy has promised to highlight a Welsh saint of the day in question to maintain the tradition.

Tuesday belonged to Madron, a sixth century monk and disciple of Tudwall, or so I'm told. Saturday belongs to the sixth century hermit Collen.

There is no Welsh saint whose day falls today, May 19, so the former secretary of state for Wales is going for geographical proximity.

So a happy St Dunstan's Day to all of you who choose to celebrate a day belonging to a saint from Glastonbury.

As I write this, Kenneth Clarke is still justice secretary, Chris Huhne is still environment secretary and my blog is where it's been for the last year or so.

By the time we next, things may be rather different. Mr Clarke is struggling to explain his comments about rape sentencing, Mr Huhne is waiting for Essex police to corroborate his version of events and my blog is about to move to a new home.

From tomorrow, if the technology works, you'll be able to visit my new page. Over time it should become home to my work reporting politics in a variety of media. As with other Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ blogs, it will have a fresh format and a more up-do-date photograph of the author (sorry).

The reasons for the change can be found here. If someone above my pay grade presses the right buttons tomorrow you should be able to follow me here.

It looked more like an episode of Casualty than the House of Commons as MPs gathered for the parliamentary treat that is questions to the secretary of state for Wales.

Labour's Chris Bryant hobbled in, his leg still in plaster after a recent rugby injury. Tory MP Glyn Davies, recovering from a back operation, arrived on crutches, which he propped against the back of the bench in front of him. It made an interesting backdrop for the Prime Minister, occupying that bench, as he answered MPs' questions.

The warm-up act was provided by Cheryl Gillan and her deputy David Jones, taking time off from their twitter duties to field questions.

There was a reminder, or two, of last week's election results but as an event it did little to fill bulletins or newspapers.

The Press Association reported subsequently that the system for electing Welsh assembly members could be changed, leading to a surge of excitement from those who feel we don't do nearly enough constitutional navel-gazing in Wales.

Plaid Cymru MP Jonathan Edwards suggested that the cut in Welsh MPs at Westminster, from 40 to 30, be used to shake-up the voting system used in the assembly. "Considering the opposition of the Labour Party to decoupling Westminster and National Assembly constituency boundaries, would it make sense to make the next make-up of the fifth National Assembly based on 30 regionals and 30 constituency AMs?"

Cheryl Gillan: "That's a very interesting thought. I'm taking his question
as a recommendation and I will look seriously at his recommendation we have 30
first-past-the-post seats and 30 on the list system."

A review of voting systems would doubtless prompt calls for the assembly to have rather more members to cope with their extra legislative workload.

The UK government is already committed to looking at ways of increasing the assembly's financial accountability - its budget is currently set at Westminster.

Tory MP Mary Macleod, a Scot who represents an outer London seat, is on the case: "A priority in Wales and elsewhere is to make sure the deficit is under control. But now that ministers from the Welsh assembly have more power, is it not right they are financially accountable for those powers as well?"

An issue that will be looked at by a commission later this year. Politicians come and go but in Welsh politics you're never too far away from your next committee.

Ah well, back to the day job. As the process of government-building continues in Cardiff Bay, this election correspondent is back at Westminster trying to shake off withdrawal symptoms after five weeks on the campaign trail.

Fully forty per cent of members of the fourth Welsh assembly are new to the job, including three of the five Liberal Democrats. Their leader did accuse me, during the election, of being always "upbeat and positive" so I won't mention the 17 deposits lost by the Lib Dems in the 40 constituency seats.

Those who love elections have the possibility of two leadership races to cover. Plaid Cymru's Ieuan Wyn Jones says he's getting on with the job, although you would not put your mortgage on his long-term job prospects.

The Welsh Tories certainly need a new leader. Here at Westminster the suspicion is the defeated Nick "victim of his own success" Bourne will shortly be joining us. Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth, anyone?

One intriguing rumour doing the rounds is that he could find himself in government, representing Wales in the Conservative/Lib Dem coalition.

This may just be mischief-making among Westminster Tories, as it would be unprecedented for the secretary of state for Wales to sit in the Lords.

A department of the nations might make that easier, but that is a story that fills plenty of newsprint but has yet to deliver. David Cameron has also ruled out a reshuffle this year.

But the Wales Office spokesman in the Lords is currently represented by the Scottish advocate general, Liberal Democrat Lord Wallace. A fresh voice for Wales, to coin a Tory election slogan, may not be so far-fetched.

Stranger things do happen in politics. Cheryl Gillan has joined, not a sentence I thought I'd ever get to write.

Tweeting is now allowed in the Commons chamber so it will be interesting to see tomorrow if she combines answering MPs' questions with summaries of 140 characters or fewer.

Should you find yourself in a pub quiz racking your brains for famous Belgians, you may want to add Victor d'Hondt to Eddy Merckx and Plastic Bertrand.

Victor, a mathematician by calling, gave him name to the electoral system used to elect regional list members of the Welsh assembly.

That system, which compensates parties which fail to win first-past-the-post seats, is responsible for the Welsh Tory leader's failure to win a seat in the assembly despite leading his party to its most successful electoral performance.

Monsieur d'Hondt's system allowed the Conservatives to rebuild themselves after they were wiped off the political map during the 1997 UK general election. Nick Bourne's failure is the price they pay for their success.

It was grim night for Plaid Cymru, who lost a deputy leader, Helen Mary Jones, and a rising star, Nerys Evans.

Imagine yourself a fan of a relegated football team whose season is condensed into eight hours and you get a sense of the sort of evening experienced by Plaid's director of elections, Ian Titherington, their representative on the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio Wales election results programme.

He blamed Plaid Cymru's defeat on the way Labour had turned the election into a referendum on the UK government and taken ownership of the assembly powers referendum in March.

You can see his point, although Plaid Cymru have themselves used UK issues ("Blair lied, vote Plaid") in a Welsh context. Mr Titherington was gracious enough to stay until the end of the show, when others would have taken the opportunity to beat the traffic.
Liberal Democrats Jenny Willott and Roger Williams also took the flak for their party without complaint.

Another programme guest, retiring Labour Minister Jane Davidson was magnanimous in her party's victory, praising Helen Mary Jones's contribution to Welsh politics.

Even before the polls closed, the spin doctors moved to lower expectations. Labour stressed how difficult it would be to get a majority, the Lib Dems reminded us it would always going to be a difficult election for them, and Plaid Cymru confided that they didn't expect to make any gains.

As I write, there are 13 (out of 60) results still to come, along with a Tory leadership election and a Plaid Cymru inquest, quite possibly followed by another leadership election.

Monsieur d'Hondt has long gone to that polling station in the sky, but his place in the list of notable Belgians appears secure.

The end is nigh. The political parties have only hours left to convince us to support them; and little more time to rehearse their lines for when the results come in.

Some, I suspect, will be better-rehearsed than others, despite the absence of some regular alibis for below-par performance in Welsh elections, Messrs Brown and Blair.

It's not difficult to see which party will be first to share "this was always going to be a difficult election for us", a polite version of blaming Nick Clegg.

The referendum on the parliamentary voting system should offer a handy excuse for those who feel that distraction inhibited their ability to get their message across.

We can probably add bank holidays, Easter and the royal wedding to the list of options for parties seeking to mask electoral disappointment. Oh, and the weather's been far too nice for politics.

The London media can always be blamed for failing to enthuse their readers with exciting tales from the Welsh campaign trail despite suggestions that devolution doesn't sell quite so many newspapers as the death of the world's most wanted man.

"Someone stole my placard" probably belongs to "the dog ate my homework" school of excuses, although you may yet here it before dawn breaks in Cardiff Bay. The phrase "dirty tricks" may yet appear on election night programmes.

Few are predicting a big turnout. Voter fatigue in our second trip to the polls this year could be used to explain that one.

Honesty may be the best policy after all. Perhaps the disappointed could borrow the phrase of the American political strategist, who greeted one setback with the phrase: "The people have spoken - the ***".

Join me, and Sarah Dickins, as we try to guide you through the night on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio Wales as the polls close at 10pm on Thursday night.

Your starter for ten. Which member of Labour's shadow cabinet is on record supporting the idea that the Welsh assembly should have tax-raising powers?

If you guessed, then take a bow. The shadow chancellor told a 5Live audience six years ago (when he was a backbencher) that tax-raising powers would help accountability.

It's an argument that's increasingly winning friends on the Conservative benches at Westminster, although there's a distinct lack of enthusiasm for the cause among Labour MPs.

This is what Mr Balls said on the publication of the government of Wales bill: "Personally I'm in favour of more powers for the Welsh Assembly. If you are going to have an elected assembly, then it's important that you get the powers for it right... I think that should include tax-raising powers too.

"If you are going to have people elected and accountable it's important they have the power to make decisions for which they can then be accountable and if they get the decisions wrong they can be thrown out."

Mr Balls was in Cardiff yesterday and my colleague Carl Roberts caught up with him in a supermarket cafe. Now he's shadow chancellor, can we expect his backbench views to become party policy?

"There's been a debate here in Wales, there was a referendum [on law-making powers], that's been sorted out. I do think the issue here is making sure that funding is fair for Wales".

Were Sir Alex Ferguson ever to swap Old Trafford for the Welsh assembly campaign trail he would doubtless describe this period as "squeaky bum time".

It is that time of the campaign when the big issues are decided, when one slip from a candidate or party can jeopardise years of hard work.

It is also a time when rivals tend to get rather tetchy, when parties play their "taking legal advice" card: when even the police are called in.

In Caerphilly, the cops have been kept rather busy this week by a row over the strange disappearance of party placards. Political parties tend to view their placards as if they were rare Picassos, to be viewed but not touched by their opponents.

So Plaid Cymru have complained to the police after the local Labour MP admitted taking down some Plaid placards from front gardens in the constituency.

Plaid say Wayne David told one of their supporters her placard was illegal and offensive and intimidated her into allowing him to take it away. (His constituent didn't recognise him but an identification process involving his black Audi and an encounter with a former TV executive on the Plaid campaign put a name to the face).

Plaid councillor Anne Collins told me: "He did have her permission but it was a funny way to go about it. This behaviour is beyond belief".

Mr David, accused of theft by Plaid, and of an unusual approach to his constituency duties by other candidates, accused Plaid of trespass in posting their placards in gardens of Labour supporters and says he too has complained to the police.

The Plaid candidate in Caerphilly is Mr David's predecessor as the Labour MP, Ron Davies, the former Secretary of State for Wales. The two are not friends.

Mr Davies, who believes Mr David may have breached the Representation of the People Act, invited us to film him in a street with an impressive (untouched) array of Plaid Cymru placards in the front gardens.

Unfortunately for him, the first door we knocked on belonged to a Terry Fullick, who had been a bit annoyed to return from holiday to discover a Plaid placard in his garden.

Mr Fullick has always been a Plaid Cymru supporter but, to put it mildly, isn't a fan of their candidate. "I was away on holidays, I came back, I've seen that and I thought "no"."

The police say they're looking into reports of electoral irregularities in the Caerphilly area.