New First Minister's shame

New Welsh Labour leader and First Minister nominee, Vaughan Gething Source: BBC

 Gaining 51.7% of the vote, Vaughan Gething secured a narrow victory over his cabinet colleague to secure the top job in Welsh politics, First Minister of Wales.

It is not an auspicious start. WalesOnline reported that Gething "received a huge £200,000 donation from a man whose companies have been convicted of environmental offences. On the same day that he received the donation, one of the donor's companies submitted an application to build a large solar farm in Cardiff that would require Welsh Government approval." 

The First Minister nominee has refused to return the donations arguing that they were "within the rules". He has since declared another £51,000 in donations.

They may be within the rules but not in the spirit of good government.

Nation Cymru reported that the offences entailed "illegally dumping toxic sludge in the Gwent Levels, a sensitive wetlands landscape near Newport", regarded by former First Minister, Mark Drakeford, as a 'fantastic wild haven' equivalent to the Amazon rainforest for sheer diversity of wildlife.

Toxic sludge to kill off wildlife but not the much needed M4 relief road which Drakeford killed off.

It can only get worse with plans to raise the number of Senedd members from 60 to 96. 

As Penny Mordaunt, Leader of the House of Commons argued, if Westminster were expanded in the way planned for the Senedd it would have more than 2,000 MPs. 

But it gets even worse. Described by the bishop of St Asaph as 'bad news' for democracy, from 2026 votes will be cast for parties instead of individual candidates enabling the Labour Party to tighten its grip in Wales despite its lamentable record, particularly on NHS waiting lists. 

There was a time when Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer regarded Welsh Labour as his "blueprint" for power but no longer. He has twice declined to repeat his claim.

No surprise there. 

Postscript [23.03.2024]

Nation.Cymru reports that "New First Minister Vaughan Gething is facing his first major constitutional clash with the UK Government over a controversial Bill that would enforce a gender-balanced Senedd by law and allow election candidates to self-identify as the gender of their choice."

Self-identifying gender balance! Completely crackpot.

Drakeford's Pride Cymru

Welsh First Minister at Pride Cymru August 2022  Source: Twitter                                  August bank holiday traffic traffic congestion around Newport  Source: ITV 

  
On the left, no doubt enjoying the crush, First Minister, Mark Drakeford, can be seen in one of the "best photos from Pride Cymru" says Wales Online. 

Mr Drakeford prides himself on cancelling the desperately needed M4 relief road around Newport in South Wales. 'That decision is over', he said, as though the decision mattered only to him. He added, 'There is no point in people hankering back to it'. It may be over for him. For others it is still the obvious solution to a desperate problem.

On the right, the usual bank holiday traffic chaos on the M4 around Newport, the gateway to Wales. 

When Drakeford vetoed the proposed extension he said, instead he would be "concentrating on the alternatives" for solving the major traffic problems in the area. 

A "Network of Alternatives" suggested upgrading the South Wales Main Line and building six new stations between Cardiff and the River Severn, improving train services between Cardiff, Newport and Bristol:

"The rail backbone would be supported by new rapid bus and cycle corridors across the region, especially within Newport. Taken together, over 90% of Cardiff and Newport’s population would live within a mile of a railway station or rapid bus corridor if the proposals are taken forward. Many these recommendations can be delivered through upgrades to the existing rail and road network.

As part of their strategy "Ministers believe “road user charging” schemes are one potential way of encouraging people to use public transport, walk or cycle instead of driving but Newport City Council "does not support the implementation of a local toll on the M4".

Removing local traffic from the heavily congested M4 is not going to help through traffic held up by frequent accidents because there is no diversion apart from the inappropriate Southern distributor road, another accident black spot. 

It is not clear to me what Drakeford's strategy would be if/when these additional public transport facilities are provided if people do not use them. Something for him to consider in his retirement as he prides himself for saving a few toads and newts thought to be in danger if the proposed bypass had gone ahead. Also for those people stuck in queues on the M4 because there is no proper alternative way around the many road accidents.

So far there has just been more chaos affecting the Welsh economy with people missing events, finding themselves on the wrong side of the Prince of Wales bridge instead of listening to a pop concert. 

One can only imagine the congestion if Cardiff had pursued their desire to host the Eurovision Song Contest there. 

Others still see the M4 relief road as the obvious answer to a major problem. Drakeford's pride is the obstacle. 

The chaos continues.

A First Minister's strange little world

First Minister Mark Drakeford with former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in Barry, in 2019
Source: Mail Online

Described in the Mail Online as someone who promised to follow 'radical socialist traditions' upon his election, First Minister Mark Drakeford backed Jeremy Corbyn's bid for Labour leadership in 2015. 

More recently Mr Drakeford has been bragging in the Senedd about his industrial relations record of bringing people together compared with the 'entirely absent' UK Government who, he claimed:

 "abandoned their responsibilities and mean that thousands of people are unable to travel due to the dereliction of duty, which is so apparent in their approach to industrial relations. 

"It is a remarkable triple whammy, isn't to have brought the railways to a standstill, to have brought the airports to a standstill, and, finally after about eight weeks, I think, to have woken up to the fact that the 5p that was taken off the price of petrol hadn't been passed on to people in that part of the transport sector as well. It is a remarkable record of failure, and I'm afraid it's people, not just in Wales but across the United Kingdom who are paying the cost of that failure today. "

Despite his claims to have superior skills over UK Government ministers, actually "fewer than 10% of normal rail services were running" in Wales with most of the country having no services at all.

Road traffic is often at a standstill at the M4's gateway to Wales yet the First Minister used his devolved powers to veto the M4 relief road, thus retaining a permanent bottleneck to provide a better environment for wildlife than for the long suffering people who live alongside congested areas of the M4 and are subjected to increased levels of pollution in the atmosphere.

Drakeford's suggested alternative was that people should be encouraged to travel by rail but at the first whiff of heavy traffic as a result of major events in Cardiff, people are urged not to use the railways. 

Train operators asks people not to use its services as fears grew of travel chaos for the recent Tom Jones and Stereophonics stadium shows in Cardiff.

Before the Ed Sheeran show on Friday, May 27, there were 13 miles of queues on the M4 westbound, from the Prince of Wales Bridge to the Brynglas Tunnels in Newport. WalesOnline summed up the situation thus: "Fifteen mile jams, seven-hour trips and massive queues for trains: What people remember most about Ed Sheeran's visit to Cardiff."

When the First Minister was challenged on his decision to scrap plans in 2019 for a new stretch of motorway around Newport, he dismissed claims the road would have helped cut congestion using the bizarre reason that "Even if a decision had been made to go ahead with an M4 relief road, it would have made absolutely no difference at all over the last weekend, because it would, even from today, be another five years before such a road could be opened".

M4 chaos prompts Cardiff event questions. Motorway tailbacks, parking pandemonium and railway station queues. It took one family three hours to get across the Severn Bridge. By the time they got to the out-of-city parking, the shuttle buses had stopped running. They were left about £350 out of pocket.

The First Minister's excuse sounds like a recipe for doing nothing, much like the fate of social care which so desperately needs fixing.

According to the Nuffield Trust, Health and social care account for almost half of the devolved government’s budget but record-breaking NHS waiting lists and the deteriorating performance of the ambulance service and A&E departments are the consequence of a "broken" health service in Wales.

"Vulnerable and elderly patients medically fit to be discharged remain in hospital for longer than necessary because social care support is scarce." 

Another example of Mr Drakeford's weird way of thinking? The problem has not been tackled in the past and it would take too long to resolve so continue to ignore it. 

It may make sense to the First Minister in his strange little world but not to those on NHS waiting lists or in need of social care.  

Latest figures show that there are over 700,000 people across Wales waiting to start NHS treatment. The numbers waiting longer than 36 weeks reached the highest on record - at just over a quarter of a million (258,189) while social care is underfunded and carers undervalued.

'Abandoned responsibilities' or 'radical socialist traditions' First Minister?

Catch up Drakeford

Wales' First Minister Mark Drakeford                                           Source: BBC/Wales News Service

The slogan 'Taking Wales Forward' reminds me of a Latin teacher telling  his class about advertising ploys. He used the example of Craven A which, he alleged, gave smokers a sore throat so promoters used the slogan, "Will Not Affect Your Throat".

Far from taking Wales forward, Latin scholar Mark Drakeford, Wales' First Minister  is set on taking Wales backwards in his decision to block the long awaited M4 bypass around Newport in South Wales often seen as the gateway to Wales.

The long suffering people living along side the M4 around the Brynglas tunnels and motorists have to endure mounting pollution from traffic blockages while the First minister pats himself on the back for saving bugs and beetles on the Gwent levels.

Frustrated by the decision, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he would "do the things the Welsh Government has failed to do" and "unblock the Brynglas tunnels".

A spokesperson for the Welsh Assembly responded "It's an entirely devolved matter and the first minister has made his decision."

Forever playing catch up in Wales Drakeford has prided himself on taking a different route to the UK government particularly on pandemic restrictions claiming to be guided by expert advice.

Another expert, the planning inspector who spent more than a year considering the case for a new M4 route south of Newport gave it his overwhelming backing but Drakeford ignored that expert opinion.

Having spent £114m of taxpayers' money before the scheme was axed including £44m on a public inquiry, First Minister Drakeford axed the scheme because of its cost and impact on the environment.

Boris Johnson's intervention suggests that the cost of the relief road to remove the Bryn Glas bottleneck is firmly guaranteed but Drakeford and his environmentalist friends are more content to leave local residents and motorists fuming as long as creepy crawlies remain content in the salt marshes of the Gwent levels, unseen and unheard of until progress is mentioned.

It would have been better for the long suffering people of Wales if Mark Drakeford had stuck to Latin.

Postscript [16.07.20]

The panel of experts set up to consider alternatives to the M4 relief road has concluded that "some sort of charging mechanism is necessary" to encourage people to use public transport, cycle or walk.

Having scrapped the Severn bridge levy on people entering Wales a new M4 charge is proposed to "provide revenue funding for transport services", including more rail stations between Cardiff and Severn Tunnel Junction, thus increasing the risk of spreading the Coronavirus, Covid-19, on crowded train services.

The alternative to these proposals is to build the relief road as recommended by planning experts but the First Minister of Wales continues to insist on protecting 'rare' birds which would fly to other habitats and largely unseen insects.

With the next Senedd election due to be held in May 2021 there will be an opportunity for realists to dump Drakeford for a politician who puts people before bugs.

Postscript [21.08.20]

Comrade Drakeford has spoken: " 'That decision is over': Mark Drakeford says £1.3bn M4 relief road will not be happening. 'There is no point in people hankering back to it'." The arrogance of the man.

Mark who?

Source: BBC

Whilst congratulating Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford on his election as leader of the Labour party in Wales and likely First Minister in succession to Carwyn Jones, it says much for Welsh politics and devolved government that many people in Wales, not to mention elsewhere, had to be told who he was.

Polling 53.9% of the vote in the second round after Eluned Morgan was eliminated Vaughan Gething the Secretary for Health and Social Services came a creditable second.

One must hope that the realisation of office will enable the First Minister to look beyond such matters as extending the smoking ban to town and city centres and giving the parents of newborn babies a 'bundle of essential items'.

The integration of health services and social care along with ending the M4 bottleneck for traffic coming into Wales need urgent attention. That is how he will put his name on the map, hopefully for the better.

The Ministry of Chaos strikes again

I can't think of a more absurd excuse than the Transport Secretary's for increasing the speed limit to 80 MPH on motorways in England and Wales - 'because so many motorists already break the law and the police don't enforce it'. This from the 'party of law and order'! Police forces have already blamed scarce resources for failure to monitor speed violations so where will they find the resources to fulfil a promise to monitor the new 80 MPH limit with far fewer resources? When they do check, the most common formula applied for giving 'leeway' is '10% plus 2mph' = 79mph before action is taken. If the same formula were applied the actual top speed is more likely to be 90 MPH. 

Good reasons for challenging Mr Hammond's decision are outlined in the BBC report here yet many are in favour of the change. This is hardly surprising if so many people flout the law, illustrated by this Guardian poll which, at the time of writing, shows 68% and rising in favour of the change with two days to go for voting. Surely every shop-lifter, pimp or drug pusher would vote to legitimise their law breaking if given half a chance.

Even if the reason given were legitimate, there is a much better case for reducing the speed limit. The Green Party's chief scientist is quoted in the BBC link (above) as saying that there was a 20% increase in fuel consumption and emissions between driving at 70 and 80. Reducing oil consumption and emissions are important environmental considerations which should be given extra weight. I also question the suggestion that everything must be done at a quicker pace. Consideration for others, on and off the road, is now barely noticeable. If anything, we need to slow down and restore the better mannered culture of 'after you' which was far less stressful. 


Postscript
I have just been reading the news about the M4 being shut this afternoon after a six vehicle crash. Not long ago South Wales was virtually cut-off when the nearby  Brynglas Tunnels were closed after a serious accident. The supposed few minutes saved on journey times by increasing the speed limit will be more than outweighed by the predicted increase in accidents and will cost more lives. The government appears unconcerned with the 1% predicted increase conveniently forgetting that it is 100% for the unlucky ones, often at no fault of their own.