Boris for Blaina?

Hey ho, yet another proposal to rearrange deckchairs - this time the Institute of Welsh Affairs' idea for an elected mayor for the Heads of the Valleys. Having presumably tired of their 2003 plans for a valleys development agency, this latest idea is supposed to stimulate democratic debate and tackle 'parochialism'. But these ills are not just peculiar to the valleys.

First, levels of political engagement in almost all parts of Wales are low. Sure turnout in the 2007 Assembly election (the 2008 local election turnout figures are not available yet) were not particularly high in Merthyr and Rhymney (38.9 percent) or Blaenau Gwent (44 percent) - but the figures were higher than in, for example Wrexham (38.5 percent), Swansea West (36.7 percent), Swansea East (34.7 percent) or Newport East (37.5 percent). The problems of lack of engagement are widespread and particularly so in working class communities - so why an elected mayor only for the valleys?

Second, parochialism is also far from unique to the valleys. For many years one of the most parochial councils of all was Cardiff, which consistently refused to get involved in any wider networks or groups on the grounds it didn't need them (but was happy to claim the benefits of capital status). And isn't serving the local population what local councils are meant to be for?

Proposals that put the blame on the valleys' governance are just another version of the 'blame the victim' mentality that permeates so much thinking about the regeneration of the area. What it doesn't do is recognise the devastating loss of jobs since the late 1970s, from which these communities still haven't recovered, and the appalling lack of action until very recently (and the need for more current action). See my pamphlet 'Rethinking Regeneration' at www.bevanfoundation.org/16.html for more.