91Èȱ¬

So they're back: , of MPs returning to Westminster. Bang, slap in the middle - the new MP for Aberconwy, looking as though he can't bear to hear another word about those public spending cuts.

Still no queues in the canteen in Cardiff Bay but when Assembly Members do flock back after their break from these offices, they'll find the very same problems waiting for them. Those cuts and how they deal with them top the list.

As the Chancellor, his party and just about everyone else prepare to deal with the outcome of the Comprehensive Spending Review in October, the 91Èȱ¬ will be on Cuts Watch and inviting you all to join in. How does the Chancellor plan to balance the books? What will decisions taken in the CSR mean for us here in Wales? Where would you cut?

That last question has only partly been answered by this morning's 91Èȱ¬ opinion poll results. I say partly because it's always - inevitably - easier to make up your mind about what shouldn't be cut than what should. It's the should bit that hurts.

Six out of ten people think it's right to cut the deficit but if that means cutting health? Not so keen on that. Education, military spending? Not those either. A pretty hefty chunk of the budget out there then. A lot of help the public are, grumbled one Assembly Member. Do it but oh no, not like that. Or that. Or that.

So what about the politicians, the ones whose parties are in power in Westminster and those who are in power here, the-mutually-exclusive-club as you might know them. The Tories will remind you this is Labour's mess they're sorting out, Labour will continue to show the red card to "savage Tory cuts", now being waved through by their "partners in crime", the Lib Dems. And who's the Minister in charge of the Welsh economy? Plaid leader, Ieuan Wyn Jones.

At last, suggested one Welsh Conservative, Plaid are getting their act together on this stuff. Their - much as they have already with Northern Ireland - showed Plaid were stirring "at last". He seemed to recognise the makings, at least, of a punch being landed, even it hadn't got there yet.

So where would they - any of them - cut? Who'd get rid of free bus passes for pensioners, or free prescriptions? The Tories would get rid of free school breakfasts but fiddling about at the edges of cuts to bus passes and prescriptions doesn't actually make any worthwhile financial gains, does it? If David Cameron talks tough, then will we hear just the same from Nick Bourne, or will his narrative be ever-so-slightly less tough? Not much wriggle room there, granted but then Mr Cameron doesn't have an election to fight in eight months' time.

Will the Welsh Liberal Democrats use every inch of wriggle room they do have to send out a message that has 'it's the Westminster lot, not us' written between every line? I get the feeling they might, ever more formally, as the months go by.

And how will the Cardiff Bay coalition rise to the challenge ahead, as a team of two but a partnership that's about to break ranks and punch the living daylights out of each other in the run-up to the Assembly election?

It must be tempting for Labour to talk 'Tory cuts,' do little to dull the blows other than point down the M4. The 'Tory cuts' strategy worked very well for them in the General Election, after all. It must be equally tempting for Plaid to take their daily pick between 'Tory cuts' and 'Labour mess' but as I've mentioned before now, there are key figures in both parties who simply don't think that will do. If you want to keep on governing, you have to sound and campaign like parties of government.

Come the Assembly election they will all have to come clean. Just bear in mind that the manifestos are being written right now - and keep your ears open.

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