´óÏó´«Ã½

The election questions even the experts can't answer

  • Published
The ´óÏó´«Ã½ Wales General Election 2015 tour in Barry
Image caption,

The two-week ´óÏó´«Ã½ Wales General Election 2015 tour started in Barry

It has been suggested that this closely-fought election campaign is dull and uninspiring. Even boring. Or vanilla.

Perhaps as a political anorak I just have a higher boredom threshold than most voters. I'm certainly not surprised people find it dull - election night in 1997 was dramatic and exciting but the month that preceded it was pretty tedious.

Political parties and candidates tend to be on their best behaviour during campaigns, relentlessly trying to communicate their message without committing what we hacks call "gaffes".

I'm currently spending two weeks travelling around Wales as part of our General Election 2015 tour, taking in the "ground war" as well as the "air war" of leaders' speeches and photo-opportunities. Poor broadband and mobile reception in some of the areas we have visited - key issues for the local economy - explains why I've blogged so infrequently.

In seats like the Vale of Glamorgan and Ceredigion, the campaigns are anything but dull. With so much at stake in the Vale, the Tories and Labour are using campaign teams and the latest software to target supporters.

In Ceredigion, the poster war between Plaid and the Liberal Democrats extends well beyond the traditional fields to gardens and windows.

In some of the seats we visited in North Wales, such as Aberconwy, immigration is a big issue but UKIP's impact is difficult to predict.

The overall election result is uncertain and so - unusually - are the policy outcomes. We don't know where the Conservatives' £12bn of welfare cuts will apply, even if their coalition partners have offered a few suggestions of Tory intentions.

'Joe Jordan'

The Welsh government does not know what its budget will be next year, whoever wins. The experts at the Institute for Fiscal Studies said: "It is not possible to calculate exactly what the budgets of the devolved administrations would be in the next parliament under each party's proposed spending plans.

"This is because we do not know how each party would allocate spending between all the Whitehall spending departments, and the Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties have all pledged in their manifestos to introduce some sort of 'funding floor' for Wales."

The IFS said that the Welsh budget depends on the type of "funding floor" adopted. Chancellor George Osborne told us yesterday that the Conservatives - if they win next week - would introduce legislation within 100 days to implement a "funding floor".

The Welsh government shouldn't expect a windfall. Essentially, the chancellor believes Wales is already fairly funded at 115 % of English spending per head and argues that fair funding would be between 113 % and 116 % of the English equivalent.

One more thing: we still don't know who The SNP Leader told Evan Davis: "I support Scotland at football. England/Wales, I don't know, I guess it would...with me, and I, this is, you know, maybe a bit of a...I'm getting into really difficult territory, maybe this is a bit of a woman thing, probably depend on what players were playing and who I liked best on the field."

One might think a Scottish football fan might still feel a twinge of guilt over , but there we go.

And there I go. I'm off to Brecon and Radnorshire tonight as the tour continues, concluding in Cardiff Central tomorrow. You should know by now where to find lists of all the candidates.

We'll be inflating the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Wales tent/igloo/politics pavilion in Queen Street in time for Good Morning Wales at 6am tomorrow.. Do pop in to say hello.