Grandstanding

Adam Price's front page article in today's Western Mail threatening to sue the Assembly Government if they introduce top-up fees in Wales is the finest piece of spin dressed up as principle I have seen for a long time.

Mr. Price has written a letter to Education Minister, Jane Hutt telling her that her plans are unlawful. His reasoning for this is that it is in breach of the One Wales Agreement, which he says links the issue to the lifting of the cap on top-up fees in England. He says that this is an event that now looks unlikely to happen.

Of course if it were unlawful to breach the One Wales Agreement then Plaid Cymru's own Minister would be in court for failing to deliver the promised daily Welsh Language newspaper.

Adam Price also lists a lot of other factors such as the nature of the consultation but his prime objective appears to be to try and distance Plaid Cymru from decisions by its own Ministers in the hope of limiting the electoral damage. Once more he is trying to have his cake and eat it.

There is no doubt that there is a deep split within Plaid Cymru on this issue. One Assembly Member I spoke to yesterday was deeply troubled by the decision to ignore party policy. However, Plaid Cymru are in government and as such the party has to accept responsibility for the decisions that are made.

As many of us suspected, a party that has built its reputation on protest and easy popularism is having major problems adjusting to the responsibilities of power, chief amongst them being to keep your manifesto promises.