Clarification Required From Two Labour AMs

Regulars here will know that I’m not always a fan of the rumour mill, but some rumours are simply too significant to ignore. Stay with me on this one, as it certainly deserves clarification.

A Plaid source from the south east has informed me that its worth looking into the connections between a business-man called Bernard J Llewellyn and the first couple of Welsh Labour, Huw Lewis and Lynne Neagle. Huw Lewis is the Labour AM for Merthyr and his wife Lynne Neagle the Labour AM for Torfaen. They are both long standing representatives of their communities; areas with some of the biggest social challenges in Wales.

Bernard J Llewellyn may not be all that familiar to many of us. He is a successful businessman and one of 3 major players in the Ffos y Fran opencast mining site in Merthyr. To say that the Ffos y fran development has been controversial would be a rather large understatement. Local residents have raised very serious concerns over many years about the proximity of the site to local homes as well as about the effects on residents health, running a campaign against the development. What has always been missing from their campaign is the full support of their local AM, Labour’s Huw Lewis.

Mr Llewellyn seems to have a variety of other business interest (and by the way, I have no reason to question any of them) one of which is a company called Glamorgan Power. This is a company that has been trying to turn land at Varteg Hill into an opencast site scheme. You’ll be forgiven for not knowing in which constituency you would find Varteg Hill. The answer – Torfaen. Again, local residents have huge concerns about this development and what has always been missing from their campaign? The full support of their local AM, Labour’s Lynne Neagle.

So what is the connection?