Milford Mercury | Local News, Sport & Entertainment

Merc puts candidates on the spot

From the Milford Mercury, first published Thursday 21st Apr 2005.

THE GENERAL Election is now just a couple of weeks away, and by common assent, the race for the Preseli Pembrokeshire seat should be an excitingly close affair.

But, while we all know basically what the main parties stand for, how well do we know the people standing on those tickets who are asking us to give them our own personal endorsement?

With this in mind, the Mercury asked the four candidates from the main parties to answer some questions we felt were on subjects that matter, and which would give an insight into their own characters.

We would like to thank all four candidates for their co-operation in putting this article together.

Key: Stephen Crabb (Conservative): SC Dewi Smith (Lib Dem): DS Sue Hayman (Labour): SH Matt Mathias (Plaid Cymru): MM

1. Put these issues in order of importance: hospital cleanliness, jobs, anti-social behaviour, quality of school meals, civil liberties, the environment, global terrorism, the Euro.

SC: Civil liberties, jobs, environment, anti-social behaviour, hospital cleanliness, school meals, global terrorism, the Euro. Liberty is the starting point; without freedom we are prisoners. Jobs are still the major issue for our county. Too many of our new jobs are poorly paid. How we balance economic development with preserving Pembrokeshire's natural beauty is a major challenge. Anti-social behaviour and MRSA are both of increasing importance in our county. Meals served in local schools seem pretty good. Tony Blair wants us to be more in fear of terrorism than we should be. As for the Euro, it offers zero benefits to Pembrokeshire.

DS: Civil Liberties, the environment, anti-social behaviour, hospital cleanliness, school meals, jobs, global terrorism and the Euro. All of the above are worthless if we don't have civil liberties and the environment in which we can live in a meaningful way. Everything else follows on and will occur as a natural result if we are prepared to invest and allow nurses and teachers to get on with their jobs. Global terrorism will never be resolved if we in a leading democracy feel that we can justify going to war illegally. The Euro will be decided by a referendum.

SH: Increasing the number of good quality jobs for Pembrokeshire people and tackling anti-social behaviour in our towns are top priorities for me. But it's impossible to rate these issues in order of importance; for example, you can't equate the quality of school meals with the fight against global terrorism. All of us want our children to be healthy, but we also want to live in a safe society free of terrorism. Civil liberties are equally important, as is the standard of care and cleanliness in our hospitals and the debate about whether to join the Euro.

MM: Jobs (but not at any cost!), environment, anti-social behaviour, hospital cleanliness, quality of school meals, civil liberties, global terrorism, the Euro.

2: Has there been adequate assessment of the risks surrounding LNG?

SC: The Port Authority, the council and the developers say `yes'. The `Safe Haven' group says `no'. For some of the campaigners, there will never be an adequate assessment of the risks because they are opposed to the entire project full stop. If there has been adequate risk assessment then the developers have failed to communicate this in a persuasive way to allay the concerns of the local population.

DS: No, of course not. People in the locality still don't know what LNG is. It is bad for Pembrokeshire economically, environmentally and it puts 20,000 people at risk. The project should have been looked at in its entirety, considering the effects on industry, tourism, agriculture, transport etc. Instead of which we have failed to recognise the danger and most incredibly decided to reduce the local fire fighting capacity. It would be much safer and make more economic sense to invest in locally produced renewable energy like the tidal stream project, which was offering long term jobs to local people.

SH: LNG is bringing major investment and hundreds of jobs to Pembrokeshire, but the safety of workers, ships and communities must be paramount. An independent risk assessment carried out for Dragon LNG found the level of risk was within HSE guidelines. A navigational risk assessment has been done with the Port Authority, which showed the tankers can be managed safely. The LNG sites must meet COMAH (Control Of Major Accident Hazard) regulations and provide a safety report to the HSE before operation. I have visited South Hook LNG and I will work hard to ensure that safety remains a top priority.

MM: No. There is certainly room for concern as LNG installations in Mexico have been built eight miles offshore to keep them away from centres of population. We all want jobs to come to the Haven area but I worry that LNG has been given the go-ahead too quickly and easily. We seem to be missing an opportunity to ensure the maximum benefits for Pembrokeshire in the rush to develop LNG. I want to see a Community Investment Trust established, funded by an "LNG Royalty" charged on every load of gas offloaded in the Haven. This is what happens in Scotland.

3. In its top layers of management, the County Council has over 20 heads of service, six directors and one chief executive. Only two heads of service are women. Why do you think this is, and does it matter?

SC: Yes it matters if (a) female applicants are being unfairly denied appointments even though they are qualified, or (b) delivery of council services is somehow suffering because of the lack of female input at a senior level. Generally I do not believe that artificially trying to achieve a 50:50 quota of men and women leads to better performance. No-one would seriously try to argue that Parliament has been improved by the army of `Blair Babes' who, selected on the back of women-only shortlists, sit in silence week after week in the House of Commons nodding through Blair's legislation.

DS: It is the case because the council is dominated by an exclusive male club, which relies on its lack of accountability by refusing to produce any kind of manifesto for the Independent/Conservative group. The end result is that the chief officers work hand in hand with the senior councillors and produce a closed-shop scenario, which will never allow women to gain fair representation.

SH: It is up to the Council to decide who it employs but of course I would like to see more women taking up senior management positions. Getting more women into senior management positions does matter because it sends a very powerful signal out to young women and to girls that there should be no limit on their aspirations and their ambition. They can be a powerful role model for local girls in particular.

MM: I am sure that a lot of inequality of opportunity exists for women in the workplace. Possibly the local authority has a male-dominated atmosphere which might make it an unattractive place for women to consider developing a career. There are many women in key roles in other sectors in Pembrokeshire, such as in the voluntary sector so it is certainly not down to a lack of ability. It matters a great deal that women are equally represented in top jobs as they can be role models for young girls and also bring balance and sensibility to management and decision-making.

4. Should parents be allowed to smack their children?

SC: Yes, but obviously within clear boundaries. Teaching a child the difference between right and wrong is the best gift a parent can provide. Based on life in the Crabb household, a controlled smack on the bottom can be effective with young children.

DS: I do not want to see a society where we start telling people what they can and cannot do in such circumstances. Smacking if done in a restrained way i.e. back of legs or hand can diffuse a situation and is often less harmful than some prolonged shouting match or psychological warfare. If, however, it goes beyond this into the realms of bullying or causing bodily harm, then I most certainly oppose it.

SH: Labour has brought in the Children's Act, which recognises that a parent can give a child a gentle smack - "reasonable chastisement" - but protects children from violence and abuse from those who might cause them harm. My personal view is that we all have a duty to protect children, and anyone who causes a child injury or harm should be prosecuted. Children need to learn discipline as part of growing up and there is a big difference between a gentle smack, which should not be criminalised, and spanking or beating a child, which should not be tolerated.

MM: Yes, in certain circumstances, but that is not the same as having the right to inflict pain or humiliation on a child. Cruelty towards children should never be tolerated. It is right that all parents are forced to think hard about the implications of smacking. It is an issue that should be continually discussed I think.

5: Key county employers, such as Oakwood, say they are having to recruit abroad to fill their vacancies. Does this mean that anybody unemployed in Pembrokeshire is unemployed through choice?

SC: I believe most people want to work and do not freely choose to be inactive. But the benefits system removes that choice for many people. There are currently 6,000 people receiving incapacity benefits in Pembrokeshire. This is the hidden unemployment problem. Too many of the jobs being created locally pay minimum wage and may be suitable for young, single Eastern Europeans but do not provide adequate income for a local family. The incentive is not strong enough to come off benefits and enter the labour market.

DS: It means that we are employing cheap labour from abroad. It means that we once again are failing to provide quality jobs for Pembrokeshire people. It means that once again there is no vision within the leadership in the county to truly take us forward and provide long term jobs that are well paid to the extent that we earn enough money to buy houses and live a decent life without having to work unreasonably long hours to make ends meet. I think that the Independent/Conservative council should not be giving £30k of our money to promote this business.

SH: Pembrokeshire's economy is booming and there are more people in work locally than ever before. But we can get more local people back into work by providing more opportunities for training and learning new skills so they can take full advantage of the jobs market. Local businesses need a well-trained local workforce, and Labour will make basic skills training free (for numeracy and literacy) and get more people into training and work. Labour will also appoint a champion from industry to look at vocational qualifications in Wales and to help make sure they meet the needs of business.

MM: No, I don't think that the statement holds water. There are very complex reasons as to why some people cannot find work to suit them and it is very wrong to generalise. Anyone who thinks that being unemployed is fun should try it for a few months to see how they like living on a pittance.

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