Friday, December 15, 2023
Who is the front-runner for Welsh First Minister?
The most depressing thing about the contest to succeed Mark Drakeford is that all the likely contenders announced so far share collective responsibility for his nanny-state, semi-authoritarian style of politics that saw him:
* try to ban vaping in public and now proposes that vapes are only made available on prescription, even though there is no evidence of harm from second-hand vapours;
* waste millions of pounds of public money in purchasing the regularly flooded Gilestone Farm as a new home for the privately run Green Man Festival:
* invest over £120m in the black hole that is Cardiff Airport;
* seek to ban meal deals and multi-buy offers in a move to tackle obesity, a proposal that will hit the poorest, the hardest;
* introduce a minimum price for alcohol despite the lack of evidence for its effectiveess;
* bring in a 20mph default speed limit that is now opposed by over 70% of the Welsh public;
* reduce voter choice by reinforcing party control over elections through a closed list system for future Senedd elections, alongside an overlarge membership of 96 that cannot be justified by the workload of MSs and will cost voters tens of millions of pounds, which would be better spent on public services.
So far there are two possible candidates: the yet to announce Education Minister, Jeremy Miles, who cannot be held wholly responsible for the appalling Welsh PISA scores, but who has not really made any mark at all as a minister so far, and the current Economy Minister, Vaughan Gething, who specialises in arrogant media interviews like this one, presided over the Welsh Government's response to covid as health and social services minister and the near collapse of our health service, while admitting to not having read key documents, and who is currently responsible for the dreadful economic mess that Wales is in after 24 years of Labour management.
The Tories may well be derided for holding up Wales as an example of what Labour Britain could look like, but you have to admit, they do have a point.
* try to ban vaping in public and now proposes that vapes are only made available on prescription, even though there is no evidence of harm from second-hand vapours;
* waste millions of pounds of public money in purchasing the regularly flooded Gilestone Farm as a new home for the privately run Green Man Festival:
* invest over £120m in the black hole that is Cardiff Airport;
* seek to ban meal deals and multi-buy offers in a move to tackle obesity, a proposal that will hit the poorest, the hardest;
* introduce a minimum price for alcohol despite the lack of evidence for its effectiveess;
* bring in a 20mph default speed limit that is now opposed by over 70% of the Welsh public;
* reduce voter choice by reinforcing party control over elections through a closed list system for future Senedd elections, alongside an overlarge membership of 96 that cannot be justified by the workload of MSs and will cost voters tens of millions of pounds, which would be better spent on public services.
So far there are two possible candidates: the yet to announce Education Minister, Jeremy Miles, who cannot be held wholly responsible for the appalling Welsh PISA scores, but who has not really made any mark at all as a minister so far, and the current Economy Minister, Vaughan Gething, who specialises in arrogant media interviews like this one, presided over the Welsh Government's response to covid as health and social services minister and the near collapse of our health service, while admitting to not having read key documents, and who is currently responsible for the dreadful economic mess that Wales is in after 24 years of Labour management.
The Tories may well be derided for holding up Wales as an example of what Labour Britain could look like, but you have to admit, they do have a point.
Comments:
<< Home
Is it not sad that, just like the Liberal Democrat contest which saw Sir Ed Davey elected, Labour party managers have clearly ensured that members will have no more than a binary choice?
Post a Comment
<< Home
