Teledu a Radio Meirionnydd | News from Merioneth and beyond

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Steward Pugh announces cabinet reshuffle
Tuesday, 19th March 2019

TREGANNA — Today the Steward, Wynfor Pugh, announced the largest reshuffle of his Stewardship which he called a 're-alignment of the governments priorities'. As part of the reshuffle the Steward handed control of the Department of the Treasury to the Liberal Democrats, a move which drew some criticism from members of his own party.

In his speech to the Assembly Mr Pugh said that 'this government needs to focus on getting people in to work and paying taxes. It's been 18 years since employment was below 4% and that is an embarrassment to this nation. I have faith that my colleagues in the Liberal Democrats can help us to fix the issues in our economy that desperately need addressing. I know that many in my party will disagree but I know that in the long-term this move will benefit the nation.'

The Steward also replaced the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, 68-year-old Berywn Perry, with 35-year-old Branwen Merrick. Ms Merrick is the youngest Secretary of Foreign Affairs ever but Mr Pugh said that he had faith in her due to her experience working in the Foreign Service from the age of 22. Ms Merrick said she wants her term to be about expanding Merioneth's outlook.

Mr Pugh's reshuffle has had many, including commentators, confused. 'Mr Pugh has handed control over the economy to a party known for it's sometimes radical free-market policies despite his parties long history of staunch left-wing economic policy. To some Labour may seem unrecognisable to the party that took part in a national strike which brought down the monarchy for 5 years between 1922 and 1927 or the party which caused a political crisis through it's policy of seizing control of private industry with no compensation.'

The commentators were united in one question, 'with elections just a year away and the Labour Party's polling at it's weakest in a long time will Mr Pugh's gamble pay off or will it just alienate the party's traditional voters?'

 

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Air Merioneth announces overhaul to 'boost profitability'
Saturday, 23rd March 2019

TREGANNA — Today Lewella Bevan, the CEO of Air Merioneth, announced an overhaul of the airlines businesses with the hopes of boosting profits for Merioneth's struggling flag carrier. The measures include selling of aircraft, closing down unprofitable routes and cutting jobs.

Air Merioneth's problems began in 2003 when the airline was privatised under the government of Bedwyr Powell. The airline struggled to enter the green due to the restrictive measures put in place by the government over the newly independent company. All route changes required government approval meaning that new routes which were popular couldn't be added and old routes which had few passengers couldn't be removed. On top of this the comfortable wages offered by the airline when it was under government control meant that the business had a large wage bill to pay and risked the ire of unions if they were to cut pay.

In 2005 when the airline market in Merioneth was liberalized Air Merioneth faced another blow. Traditionally it had only faced 4 major competitors but the influx of low-cost air carriers saw it's market being swallowed up by cheep and cheerful airlines. The airline couldn't do much to react to this as price cuts would only further deepen the airlines troubles even if only for the short-term.

Once the economy entered into recession again between 2010 and 2012 the airline was once again hit hard. In one year bookings fell by 27% and the airline stood on the brink of collapse until a government bailout saved them. After this the government set in place a 4 year plan to slowly remove the restrictions on the airline and allow them to make a profit.

In June 2018 Mrs Bevan became the CEO of Air Merioneth and began to explore ways to cut costs and boost profits. This has led the airline to today's announcement. The airline will begin by cutting 700 jobs including 32 pilots and 350 air stewards. They will also be announcing routes that will be closing in the coming days and will be selling 10 aircraft and cancelling 15 ordered aircraft.