Plaid Cymru’s ‘change’ government must not be wrecked by the conservatism of the Civil Service

Martin Shipton

Running a government is not an easy undertaking, as I imagine the Plaid Cymru ministers who took office in May are finding, if they didn’t know already.

History is littered with governments that were voted out of office because they found they couldn’t change people’s lives for the better as quickly or as easily as they hoped.

Sometimes it seems that ministers who were initially well-motivated get so frustrated by the challenges they face that they moderate their ambitions to a point where nobody notices any improvement.

In the current circumstances, Plaid’s opponents are cutting them no slack. Reform may be content to bang on about the Nation of Sanctuary to their heart’s content, but no one beyond their diminishing cohort of racist followers is impressed by such embittered culture war nonsense.

The nine-strong Labour group has decided to blame Plaid for every negative talking point in Wales, as if May 7 wasn’t just polling day, but a kind of Day Zero when every failed Labour initiative of the last 27 years was erased from the record. Nobody is buying it.

Meanwhile the Welsh Conservatives veer from credible scrutiny to a default position where some MSs play Copycat Reform.

For the time being, then, Plaid Ministers don’t need to worry too much about the opposition. After some more sabre rattling, a Budget deal will be reached.

But this doesn’t mean that Plaid faces no obstacles.

The biggest challenge is making sure that Plaid’s ministers are in charge rather than the Civil Service. With one exception – Finance Minister Elin Jones – none of the ministers appointed by Rhun ap Iorwerth had any prior experience in government.

It would be foolish to underestimate the scale of the change for those personally affected. For years, in some cases for decades, they had been used to operating in opposition, able to criticise those in power – sometimes trenchantly – but without having to take responsibility for their arguments in the way they would have to in government.

It’s been pointed out this week that a number of current Cabinet members vehemently criticised the previous Labour government for its attendance at arms fairs. Now, without a word of explanation, they are supporting the Welsh Government’s involvement in the very activity they previously denounced.

They will argue that they have to back existing and potential jobs in the “defence” industry for Welsh workers, but when discussing this issue, there’s a fine line between job creation and hypocrisy.

Comfortable

So far as civil servants are concerned, a general point often made – sometimes by ex-ministers – is that they tend to be conservative with a small c. In other words, they are comfortable with the existing way of doing things and are not fond of change.

This mindset in itself presents a problem to ministers in a new party of government who want to implement change. They are likely to encounter resistance from long-serving and entrenched senior civil servants who will seek to persuade them that the changes they want simply won’t work. A minister needs courage, determination and the ability to be assertive to overcome such resistance. Given that the ministers, certainly at this stage, will have less experience than the civil servants, the politicians need to make it clear that they are in charge.

This is where well-chosen special advisers come into play. They should be policy experts, not just party apparatchiks on an upward career trajectory.

One of the Plaid ministers who does have prior professional knowledge of her brief is Anna Brychan, who has the Education portfolio. I am hearing from reliable sources that her SpAd will be my old Western Mail colleague and friend Gareth Evans – now Dr Gareth Evans – who has been working as Head of Education Policy at the University of Wales Trinity St David.

He’s been openly critical of Welsh Labour’s handling of education for many years, and I’m sure he and his minister will be prepared to ruffle feathers (in a respectful, but effective way, of course).

Coalition government

In my forthcoming book about Welsh Labour, I include an anecdote told to me by Dafydd Wigley that illustrates the conservative tendencies of the Civil Service . He was at a dinner in the National Museum in Cardiff in the Spring of 2007 when he received a phone call from Dafydd Elis-Thomas.

Elis-Thomas was excited because it appeared that a non-Labour coalition government was about to be formed following the recent Assembly election. Someone who turned out to be a civil servant eavesdropped on the conversation and said to Wigley that it sounded interesting. Wigley replied: “Yes, it was. It looks as if we’ve got a change of government.” The civil servant went ashen white and said: “Good God, I hope that doesn’t mean any change of policy!”

The performance of the NHS is, of course, a vital issue in Wales, which has had unacceptably long waiting lists and waiting times for many years. Labour is currently criticising the Plaid government because the figures have got worse for three months in a row.

Securing lasting improvements is not easy and the government needs all the help it can get in terms of funding and knowhow. Such help must come from all quarters.

Fresh ideas

I’ve been talking to some health campaigners – they’re largely retired clinicians – who want to help with fresh ideas to solve . They’ve told me that they had a good dialogue going with Mabon ap Gwynfor when he was Plaid’s health spokesperson in opposition. But since he became the Health Minister, the dialogue has dried up.

One of the campaigners raised the matter with one of his local Plaid MSs, who also happens to be a minister with a different portfolio. He says his local MS told him that he couldn’t expect to have the same kind of relationship with ap Gwynfor now that he is a minister, As a result, the campaigner has stopped trying to contact him.

This is very bad, shouldn’t be happening and is one of the reasons why trust in politicians is at a low ebb. I know Mabon ap Gwynfor and have had quite a few fruitful conversations with him over the years. I don’t believe he would favour such a counter-productive and alienating way of dealing with people. From my interactions with him, it appears totally against his nature.

Are senior civil servants actively trying to erect barriers between ministers and those who may upset the status quo? It seems that way to me.

If ministers become unapproachable for those who could help change things for the better, trust is lost and the remoteness of government from people becomes accentuated.

Plaid Cymru must guard against this or goodwill towards its government will wane.

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