The statement contains links to two documents setting out the legal advice.
The original 2008 advice can be found here.
The report produced by Timothy Kerr QC in November 2013 can be found here.
This blog will be carrying a summary and commentary which will be published in the next couple of days barring any major new developments.
_______________
This week's South Wales Guardian shows once again why it is the best local newspaper in Carmarthenshire as it examines and explains the issues involved in the crisis at County Hall. The council's bizarre press release - actually there have been several in recent days - seeking to question the auditor's competence and threaten MP Jonathan Edwards - reminds the paper's editor of Gerald Kaufman's description of the 1983 Labour Party manifesto as "the longest suicide note in history".
If you live in the area served by the Guardian, rush out and buy a copy while stocks last because this week's edition is likely to fly off the shelves.
Mr James's rictus grin made it onto the front page of the Carmarthen Journal last week as well (here), but not for any of the reasons readers might imagine.
After a review of the blessings he has showered upon the county, including the evangelical bowling alley, Mr James tells the Journal that what really seems to be top of the wishlist for people in Carmarthen is saving the town's Wimpy and opening a Primark store. He can't make any promises, but he'll see what he can do.
As some websites like to say, readers who are interested in this sort of thing may also enjoy a documentary entitled Mad Dog: Gaddafi's Secret World about the late Libyan dictator and his plans to become "King of Africa", broadcast on BBC4 a couple of nights back.
This week's Journal does cover the meltdown at County Hall. Well, it would be difficult to ignore it in a week which has seen the Wales Audit Office's damning public interest reports, calls for sackings, dismissals and resignations of the council top brass, the announcement that the police are looking into matters, the council's bonkers press releases, Kevin Madge's plans to slash and privatise council services, a 4.7% rise in council tax and a Unison demonstration outside County Hall.
After stories including "Sleuthing pupil goes online to find his lost pooch", the Journal has a two page spread (actual 1.25 page spread if you exclude the ads).
First up is the full text of a council press release responding to the auditor's report. Next, we get a few paragraphs explaining that the leader of the Plaid group is going to push for a vote of no confidence in the chief executive, Kevin Madge, Meryl Gravell and Pam Palmer.
That is balanced by remarks attributed to a "council spokesman", including this little gem referring to Plaid Cymru:
Headline grabbing and power is what they are after, not truth and justice.
We get more of the same in another article which quotes Kevin Madge at length before Jonathan Edwards MP is given space to explain why he thinks the council leadership is not up to the job.
On the next page we get the full text of yet another council press release, complete with lengthy quotes from Kevin Madge, announcing that an extraordinary meeting of the council has been called for 27 February and that Kev aims to put all the facts on the table.
Tucked away under a picture of County Hall are a couple of column inches revealing that the police have been asked to investigate the scandals.
0 comments:
Post a Comment