Good Afternoon and welcome to my blog here on the Western Telegraph website. It has been an eventful few weeks in the Assembly. I along with other Plaid colleagues decided not to accept the 8.3% pay rise that has been awarded to National Assembly Members as I feel that it would be a huge slap in the face for public sector workers. At a time when the public sector is faced with a 1.9% pay award an increase in excess of that amount would and should be greeted with dismay across Wales

I fully accept that the workload of Assembly Members has increased following the implementation of the Government of Wales Act 2006 and we are now undertaking primary legislative work and as a trade unionist I have campaigned for an increase in pay when workers workloads increase.

I also support the principle of aligning the pay of AM's to politicians in the Northern Irish Assembly and Scottish Parliament, but when the financial settlement is so tight across Wales I do not believe that we should be receiving the recommended pay rise. As i said I personally have not accepted the recommended rise and have accepted 1.9%.