First Plenary for the New Welsh First Minister

Well, as not many people may know, the National Assembly for Wales just elected their third First Minister. The first First Minister lasted for only 10 months and was ousted by a vote of no confidence, but Rhodri Morgan was the leader for 10 years. He only stepped down this December and allowed a new First Minister to take his place. He made the promise to step down two years before his 70th birthday. At the end of those two years, his popularity was still high.

The new First Minister is Carwyn Jones. Following in suit with Parliament in Westminster, Jones is a member of the Labour Party - same as Gordon Brown and the majority of the UK. Labour is in a joint coalition government with my party, Plaid (plaed) Cymru (KUMree). Plaid is the nationalist party, primarily concerned with promotion of the Welsh language and culture.

And their work was fruitful. The country is officially bilingual and all their signage is in both Welsh and English. The Welsh did supply the stones for Stonehenge afterall. They've got a lot of history and culture to grow!

But back to today. The Assembly was on tip toes with excitement, waiting to ask the first installment of new First Minister's questions in almost 10 years. The questions were general, mostly about the amount of snow and how to improve responses to it. The AMs were overall very nice to Jones, but there was definitely still hostility between the parties. The Conservatives are the main opposition to Labour as well as the Liberal Democrats.

The contrast to American politics is stark. The first difference is in the multi-party system. The second is in the way members conduct themselves in Plenary Sessions. They aren't quiet for debates. In fact, outbursts are quite common. The other interns and I determined that we liked the fact that outbursts were acceptable. It lets members say their peace and move on, even if their comments aren't noticed. The third is in the level of involvement the Assembly Members have with their constituents. The intern working for Labour (Matt Schappa) spent the day answering constituent mail. Another difference is in the level of power granted to the Assembly. The Assembly only has secondary legislation powers, meaning they can't make laws that impact the way the government works, only on local issues.

Our level of involvenent is amazing. Two interns work directly for an Assembly Member and two work for the remaining parties. None of us work for the same party. We all enjoy working for the Assembly very much, especially after watching the plenary session today. Looks like there's a lot of work to do over here!