Welsh politicians pass a no-Brainer

Hot on the heels of banning free plastic carrier bags in order to save the Artic penguin or some such rubbish, the bansturbators of the National Assembly on Wednesday passed legislation banning all advertising, trading and marketing by non-sponsors within 500m of the Millennium Stadium to “protect the brand”, during the Olympics.
Wales Online has the full story here

The interesting thing about this ban is that as well as the facepainters, merchandise sellers and hot dog salespeople who are a feature of International days at the stadium, all advertising on billboards, phone booths and bus shelters – except those of Olympic sponsors, such as Coca-Cola, McDonalds and Visa – will have to be removed.

This includes the famous chimney at Brains Brewery and their advertising on a railway bridge in Grangetown.

An explanatory memorandum issued with the legislation on Wednesday warned: “If the regulations are not made it will mean the Host City Contract cannot be fulfilled in Wales and there is a risk that the football matches would be moved to an alternative stadium in England".
Hardly democracy in action when commercial contracts signed in London are able to enact laws in a country which supposedly has its own National Assembly to make laws?

Plaid Cymru AM Simon Thomas who said the regulations would,  “Unfairly disadvantage small traders and businesses here in Wales and are clearly designed to benefit the large, multinational corporate sponsors. These regulations simply do not allow Welsh businesses to maximise the opportunities that might stem from the Olympic games. They will make it virtually impossible for anyone to trade Welsh products aimed at tourists within the designated zone around the centre of Cardiff. This reflects much of the unfairness that has been implicit in the way that the Olympic Games have been managed and designed. Welsh taxpayers are contributing to a public sum of nearly £10bn to deliver the Olympic Games for London. Yet when we have a handful of events in Cardiff, with these regulations, we will not be allowed to promote Wales properly nor gain the associated economic benefits.”

Lib Dem business spokeswoman Eluned Parrott said, “Five hundred metres in the context of Wembley or the context of the Olympic Village or perhaps in the context of Sydney is not a major impact on a city centre, but in Cardiff specifically the exclusion zone encompasses a number of retail premises and a huge number of hostelries, who are used to trading extremely well from major sporting events in Cardiff. We need to make sure that they are clear and they know what they can do and what they cannot do as part of the Olympics.”

The Quisling who pushed this act through the Assembly was John Griffiths AM for Newport East, a constituency in which they do not count the Labour votes, merely weigh them.