Route map to a financial future

Which way Wales' financial future?

I'm up to my eyes - and over - but keen to know what visitors to this page make of Carwyn Jones' statement this afternoon, where he laid out what he called his "route map" for the way Wales should be funded in future.

It's 'yes' to:

reforming the Barnett formula asap

borrowing powers

stamp duty

landfill tax

air passenger duty

aggregates levy

A kind of 'really not sure but not a no' to:

Corporation tax

A definite 'no' to:

Powers to vary income tax.

The statement got a broad welcome in the chamber, though Plaid Cymru's Ieuan Wyn Jones thought it "frankly a bit incoherent" to want to borrow but not to want to aim for tax varying powers, even in a future where the Barnett formula would have been reformed. Surely real accountability, he argued, comes with having a real stake in what you raise as well as what you spend.

The former Chair of the former Holtham Commission - his eye for detail there, not mine - has just told me that ... He was far too polite to use the term "peanut taxes" but that was what I read into his take on the government's proposals.

When will we know whether the UK Government is prepared to put peanuts' - and more - on the table?

The Chancellor George Osborne aid today that "We made a very clear commitment that if the outcome in Wales was a yes (vote) we would set up a Calman-like commission....we are engaging in that process now".

Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan said: "The Government is committed to a Calman-like process for Wales and will be putting forward proposals on that process. As we do that the priority remains to bring the public finances back on a stable footing in order to support growth, help keep interest rates low and protect jobs in all parts of the UK."

A key question then: will reforming the Barnett formula be a part of this process? Welsh Conservatives and Welsh Liberal Democrats are quite clear that it should be.

If it's not, the pressure on them will only grow.