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For the last month I have been campaigning against the proposed censorship of Assembly Members' websites.I have now received Counsel's Opinion and I am pleased to report that Assembly Members have won the battle against censorship of their websites by the Assembly Commission. The legal advice states that the rules set out in the Guidance would not satisfy the requirements of Article 10 of the Human Rights Act because they lack clarity and certainty. Counsel also concludes that the Assembly Commission would also be vulnerable to Judicial Review. The features of the Guidance which render it vulnerable to challenge on human rights grounds would make any decision to refuse an allowance equally vulnerable to challenge on traditional administrative law grounds in that Guidance would be open to...

I forgot to post this, from last week's Assembly proceedings:The Presiding Officer: Order. That was not guidance; it was a ruling. The reason for the ruling, which I have stuck to throughout my period of presidency so far, is to ensure the independence of local government. Ministers can answer questions on their relationship with local authorities, but we should not be second-guessing what local authorities do any more than MPs in Westminster should try to second-guess what we do..............Leighton Andrews: Llywydd, or perhaps I should say 'El Presidente’—[Laughter.] The Presiding Officer: Order. For the avoidance of doubt, I meant to say 'during my presiding period’. The Welsh word Llywyddu covers both. Leighton Andrews: And 'El Presidente’ is a translation of Llywydd into...

The Western Mail has more on Dafydd El's gesture politics.You are subscribed to an RSS Feed from Leighton Andrews. You can send your views direct to Leighton via...

I am still awaiting the legal advice on the Assembly Commission's rules on websites, so in the interim I am adding a new tag to my posts. 'Likely to be censored ' means I think that the Assembly Commission rules would not allow me to post a specific item on this site.You are subscribed to an RSS Feed from Leighton Andrews. You can send your views direct to Leighton via...

The Wikipedia article for Rhondda’s Labour MP Leighton Andrews is being vandalised. Interesting elements of Andrews’ career are being removed from the article only to be restored by conscientious editors. It is like a virtual tug-o-war played out publically in a small niche of Welsh cyberspace. So what is this Wikipedia thing ? Wikipedia is the world’s largest encyclopaedia and it’s all available for free online. The encyclopaedia was created by a collaborative effort involving people from across the world. If there isn’t an article on a noteworthy subject, then create it. If you want to contribute or edit an article, you can. Thus in the example of the Leighton Andrews article, certain facts have been removed. References to political researcher David Taylor...