The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, relishes the dogfight of the election campaign and in Cardiff yesterday he warned apathetic voters in Wales that the Welsh nationalists, Plaid Cymru, would "tear up" inward investment if it won a majority in next Thursday's elections to the Welsh assembly.
Six days before voting, Mr Blair went to Cardiff to boost Labour's election campaign in the face of growing fears of apathy and confusion about the voting system, which political analysts believe could translate into a low turnout among voters.
Labour senses victory in Wales. But it also faces the possibility of losing key votes to Plaid Cymru, the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives in a backlash against the Welsh Secretary, Mr Alun Michael, who many members believe was parachuted into the leadership post by Mr Blair at the expense of the popular figure of Mr Rhodri Morgan.
Plaid Cymru has deliberately played down its nationalist credentials during this election campaign, preferring instead to talk of a "self-governing" nation within the European Union. But Mr Blair told business leaders that the best guarantee of a stable economic future in Wales was to build a constructive partnership between the Welsh assembly and the British government. He dismissed the policies of the three main parties competing against Labour with a derisive summation of their manifestos. The problem with the Liberal Democrats, he said, "is that their programme is not costed". The Tories were "a shambles" while Plaid Cymru "are promising the Earth without saying how they would pay for it".
Indeed, Mr Blair's positive comments were reserved only for Mr Michael, whose election as the assembly's first secretary is far from secure due to the top-up system of voting in the elections. Heaping praise on Mr Michael, the Prime Minister told the audience: "He is somebody who we can trust to make the right decisions."