For the good of Welsh democracy we need to break Labour’s stranglehold on the Senedd

I don't think the metaphor of 'mature' is appropriate here for either the Senedd or any other democratic institution. It gives the impression that the first past the post systems employed by the UK and USA are somehow more 'grown up' because they have been around longer. They are certainly less democratic and less representative than the proportional representation employed in Wales and Scotland. The Welsh and Scottish systems are better, because they are more representative and hence more democratic. Can we leave it at that? As for the notion that the two party state system entrenched in the UK and USA are representative of competing ideologies, I'm afraid that that is more of a comforting illusion than the actual state of affairs. Whether it is Democrats or Republicans in the US, or Conservatives or Labour in the UK, there is no real ideological divide, just the illusion of one. The main parties represent different shades of global neo-liberalism these days. The same is true of all political parties here in Wales. This explains why no matter which side 'wins', the rich get richer while the rest of us continue to tighten our belts. One of the biggest problems with the Welsh Assembly is that only a minority of people vote in its elections. Between 55% to 60% DO NOT vote in Assembly elections. (Contrast that with a 72% turnout for the Brexit referendum.) Clearly the true Welsh election result is 'none of the above'. The entire political establishment, including all the parties, have failed the test. Apparently there is a vacuum that needs to be filled.

What is the nature of control that the CEO of Carmarthen Council has over the Senned that they ignore the many concerns of the people of Carmarthen with regard to the workings of said council. I have questioned "what is the point of the Welsh Government issuing guidelines ,protocol,procedures etc. if Councils ignore them?" The response is "we do not have the finance and manpower to police what Councils do". This is unacceptable. The Plaid leader of Carmarthen Council expressed the wish that it would be the most transparent and democratic Council in Wales. This is quite obviously NOT the case. Any criticism of thus authority is met with threats of legal action or officers are instructed not to communicate with certain individuals.If Plaid truly want to represent the people of Wales, all the Plaid AM's, MP's and Councillors need to collectively call for an Independent Inquiry into the working practices of this CEO led Council.Too many people have had their lives severely affected by some of the very dubious decisions of some of the Officers of this Council.There are too many instances where Councillors etc. are NOT prepared to speak out for fear of consequences. By this failure they are complicit and must be held to account for their inaction.

Ever considered it’s the nationalism the majority of people don’t want?

@JD -- first one needs to create a vision of a better Wales before the electorate will break with Labour. Objectively, the best-governed part of the UK now is Scotland. The Scottish Government is ambitious, focused on the interests of the Scottish people, and not hung up with ideological constraints. Nation.Cymru is performing an essential service in demonstrating how Wales could escape the atrophy of Welsh Labour and be doing so, so much better. And Wales has shown its ability in the past to embrace new ideas and radical change -- as with the switch from Liberalism to Labour in the space of 10 years

@JE Lloyd All nice points but most people in Wales don't think in terms of Wales, sadly. I think about my parents who are in their 60s and fluent Welsh speakers yet will still identify as being British first. There is a very long way to go.

"We can’t just blame Labour for winning elections, of course. It’s the lack of a serious challenger as an opposition that allows them to dominate. The opposition is divided between left and right, when a nationalist, liberal, radical opposition would win the support of the majority of Wales." Well, we can blame Labour for winning elections, that's what they do. They win. It may be the lack of a serious challenger that explains it, although the other parties in Wales are all run by professional politicians. Nobody stands against the Labour machine, knowing they'll lose repeatedly for a laugh! They do it out of conviction. And I don't think the second half adds up either. The Liberals are no more the true voice of Wales than any other English party. I am a member of Plaid but we clearly have been placing an alternative before the people of Wales and not winning either. I know the writer may believe the stuff about a tyrannical Welsh state operating in a way that 1950's America described "Red China" but making up a schoolboy's debating society argument in favour of a mysterious "true voice of Wales" is not the way forward. Much as I dislike saying it, of those of us who vote in Wales, most of us will vote for something that resembles the current Welsh Labour Party and I get the impression that the people of Wales are more interested in managing things well than radical visions of a "liberty" that enables a few people to whittle a piece of elder on a public holiday while debating the relative merits of the Catholic Church over Chapel. I wish it was otherwise and am trying to make it so.

I agree that a functioning democracy needs more than a single dominant party. However the choice of compulsory purchase orders as an illustration of an unsympathetic and inhumane 'machine state' is a poor one. Orders of this type are only necessary because responsible Government requires that action can be taken to secure infrastructure and facilities in the wider public interest when that may not be in the interests of one individual or a small group of individuals. Appelaing to selfish sectoral interest is not a responsible way to win elections. Every proposed compulsory purchase order may be contested through a public and transparent inquiry process, with provisison for judicial review. Under the law there are therefore effective means of challenging an inadequate or inappropriate order that cannot be properly justified. It would be very unwise and irresponsible to abolish a legal mechanism that delivers public benefits crucial to the future or an area and/or the nation as a whole. Painting up the CPO mechanism as the instrument of an unthinking, unfeeling state for imposing unpopular and ill-considered schemes on the individual is a crude distortion of reality. Effective democracy requires that political parties put forward persuasive and logical arguments and policies AND THAT THEY WIN THE RELEVANT ELECTIONS. That's what the opposition parties in Wales need to do if they are to contribute positively to a genuine democratic process. I am not a voter for Welsh Labour. However it is self-evident that In that regard the performances to date of parties in Wales other than Labour have not been sufficiently persuasive or successful to make a serious mark on the process.

It's plain untrue that the Labour Party had "ruled Wales for over 75 years" by 1997. They may have had the majority of Wales's MPs, but that is a different thing entirely. Lazy. And that's just the introduction.

There is alot of good stuff in this article but a few critical problems. Labour has long dominated Welsh politics, but for decades this domination did not actually allow them to rule. Wales was instead run by the Tories, through a powerful Wales office. This is why Labour moved from mostly opposing devolution, to mostly supporting it. Related to this is the fact that people will note vote to scrap the Assembly to get rid of Labour, because support for devolution appears to cluster amongst Labour and Plaid Cymru voters. Labour's stifling dominance can be broken if enough opposition parties come together. Currently that would have to include UKIP. At the moment the Liberal Democrat and Dafydd Elis-Thomas prevent this- or Leanne Wood would have become First Minister after the 2016 elections.

Although the Labour party is the largest party in Wales and has been for the last 75 years, it has not ruled Wales because there has been no assembly in Wales until quite recently. Wales has been ruled mainly by UK English Tories. But, since the assembly has been formed the shadow of UK imperialism has always been present particularly in the formation of political parties. The Labour party is large in Wales because it incorporates many that in European mainland countries would be several different parties, from Trotskyists to monopoly capitalists. The Conservative party is an pro-English unionist party, financed and supporting a centralised monopoly-capitalist system based on London/UK/US -Therefore it doesn't have much relevance to Wales as it is a colonial arm of the UK. UKIP are English Nationalists - again no relevance. The Liberal democrats are by nature a de-centralising / decentralised party, their aim is to set up a federal system, each with assemblies elected by STV, good so far, but where will the boundaries be drawn in England? this will down to local opinion and groups: Mebyon Kernow in Cornwall, the Yorkshire party. In Wales, the promotion of liberal democrat views are better delivered as part of an independent state with Plaid Cymru. The only organically grown Cymru/Wales party is Plaid Cymru, which needs to be a broad nation building party to gain our independence, then we can discuss future constitutional and political make-up for Wales independently from the rest of Britain, once we have our own independent nation.

Actually, since 1945 until the present time, there has been a Labour government in Westminster for 30 out of those 72 years. So taking into account the time they've controlled the Senedd as well, I think they've had more than a fair crack of the whip here in Wales.

The main problem I have with current Plaid Cymru leadership is I don't believe they are genuinely interested in independence. Perhaps they are too cosy with the status quo or fear the responsibility. I am 100% certain we would make a success of running our own affairs. I am tired of Welsh labour cronyism, corruption, unionism and their remoteness from Welsh people. Time for change before it really is too late.

We desperately need change and these facts Wales has to accommodate for it to happen. There is only ONE serious full time political journalist of substance in Wales fighting with the pen, and no national Welsh written media of consequence. The BBC as in the UK are the backers of the establishment, being the WRU in sport as they kill rugby, especially north of the M4 and Labour politically. ITV has Sharp End that has raised issues that are soon forgotten so as not to rock the boat too hard. As a result they get scrutinised with little intensity for any length of time despite a high proportion of Paid sympathisers on it's staff as they are afraid to criticise the fragile Assembly because of misplaced independence loyalties. The UK Tories under Cameron were totally different to that which now exists under May. Osbourne has gone and all his dogma too, shown the back door when he left! It is the most moderate Tory government in my lifetime. Macmillan's was perhaps milder as was Major's if not for the "Bastards". The Tories in Wales have always been with a small "c" where Ken Clarke would be most at home and not that different from Labour, other when displaying solidarity for show with the Westminster brand. The vote is Wales in now pretty solid and capable of gaining votes from Labour voters frightened by Momentum. The failure in Wales of Labour, alone and with both PC and the Lib Dems means that support for The Assembly is fragile and more for what it might be, rather than what it is. That does not mean people want more power, AM's or radical policies. It means they want better management and better use of existing power, especially in the NHS. It also means Labour and particularly Carwyn Jones with Vaughan Gething treating AM's, the institution and the electorate itself with the respect it deserves. It is not all the result of what happens in Westminster, stand up, be honest and take responsibility for policies. The corruption of Labour (Think the political nature of Alan Michaels Police Commissioner appointments for example) and all the damage that this has and is now doing could be their downfall. The Welsh Labour leadership has distanced themselves from Labour Nationally and Corbyn who is at least principled if not misplaced with his views. The party in Wales is split and Momentum takes no prisoners when toppling those that resist. The king could be seen to be wearing no clothes very soon if they are not careful. UKIP will die a death if Brexit unwinds as the people instructed. With the odd exception they have behaved without distinction in The Assembly, which was disappointing as the bar was set so low. To who will those disaffected voters now turn? Some went to Labour, but perhaps 6% still remain to find a new home. The Abolish The Assembly Party has amazingly now reached critical mass with guaranteed air time, despite literally being a Six men and a dog outfit. With any sort of coherent organisation they will pick up votes The Lib Dems will no doubt increase their vote a little as it cannot really go much lower, but being in favour of staying in the EU despite the will of the people in the referendum vote in Wales limits any possible gain. We finally have PC. Fundamental activists are so similar in the South to Momentum(where seats and any real potential lie) that it leaves them in a dilemma and little room for policies that will differentiate. Other than for independence for which there is no appetite, the reality is that the brand of left(ish) politics that Plaid (which has two distinct wings) has pushed for lately, has and never will in the foreseeable future be welcomed by more than a minority in Wales. Forget that nationally Corbyn has not been cast aside. That only happened because May ran the worst election campaign seen by a major party in the UK. His success is more a measure of the Tories failure, so a more fundamentalist future is a dead end if change is wanted as Labour nationally is already there anyway. Given the above, what hope is there for change for the better. If despite my personal objections, we get more AM's, we might get a better version of PR than we have now. It has a fail-safe for all the major parties as it is difficult for any to get totally wiped out(although the Lib Dems tried!) From this we might get some Greens(who tend to principled if not practical), Christian(principled and not saddled with political dogma at least) or even independent(that would be a breath of fresh air) AM's. Beyond this the only hope is major shake up of Labour when Carwyn surely goes, but can you see V Gething or Ken Skates voting for Christmas? A happy new year top you all!