First Minister Mark Drakeford has been the worst first minister in the history of Wales and you will find few that can argue against that. So far during his short tenure, he has not only placed bizarre restrictions on people during the pandemic but also underfunded the Welsh NHS in favour of vanity projects designed to bring his 99p Corbynism to Wales.
The latest scandal sees Mark Drakeford having accepted five-star hospitality, worth thousands of pounds, from a country he claims to criticise for human rights abuses. A package which was rejected by the UK Government.
So, in addition to this, here are our five reasons why Mark Drakeford should resign (if he had a shred of decency).
Qatar
Qatar has terrible human rights records which Mark Drakeford said made it an uncomfortable decision to attend but this did not stop both Mark Drakeford and Vaughan Gething from accepting hospitality from the Qatari government of staying in the Ritz Carlton, a five-star hotel at a cost of thousands of pounds per night.
The Welsh Government claim that this gave Drakeford and chums a platform to discuss Qatar’s human rights records but not only have Qatar shown contempt for what the world has to say, accepting thousands of pounds in gratuities is hardly a platform to criticise!
Mr Drakeford also claims to be a friend to the LGBQ community however it is illegal to be gay in Qatar.
Welsh Labours’ connections with Qatar didn’t start there though, a few years ago the government gave Qatar Airways a huge package of promotion and gratuities for launching a flight between Doha and Welsh government-owned Cardiff Airport as well as the construction of a five-star hotel in South Wales.
The Doha flight was dropped at the beginning of the pandemic and Qatar Airways have no plans to resume it. As for the hotel? not even plans have been drawn.
This shows that despite a continued record of human rights abuses, Welsh Labour has been keen to align itself with Qatar and has been continually used by Qatar at significant cost to the taxpayer.
Oh, and the flights to Qatar for the Welsh Government for the world cup? £13,000.
Supermarket Gate
During the pandemic, restrictions were placed on shopping, and rightly so with shops having reduced hours across the UK but not to be outdone by the rest of the UK, Mark Drakeford went one stage further and decided that stopping you from buying baby clothes would help you beat the pandemic.
On the run-up to Christmas, when people had to stay at home, You could walk into a supermarket in Wales and find aisles such as Baby Clothes, Toys, Books and other “non-essential” items blocked off under the orders of Mark Drakeford.
You were of course free to go to the next aisle and buy essential Vodka, Wine or any other alcohol you wanted (before 10pm of course).
Coronavirus Scrutiny
Despite calls from all sides of the political spectrum in Wales the First Minister has told us there will NOT be an inquiry into his handling of the Coronavirus pandemic. In fact, he tells us that we have moved on and should “get over it”.
This was a time when not only did his health minister Vaughan Gething break the rules, Mark Drakeford himself was heard saying that he hoped the Welsh public were too stupid to question it.
England is holding an inquiry, and Scotland is holding an inquiry so it begs one question, what does Mark Drakeford have to hide?
Missing NHS Millions
Welsh Labour control the Welsh NHS and keep telling us money is tight but it seems unable to fund it properly (see reason 5) and also doesn’t appear to have control of it either.
On Mark Drakeford’s watch, £122 million has gone missing from the Welsh NHS. Simply vanished, not accounted for and no one knows whose pocket it’s gone in.
The missing money is under investigation and it remains to be seen how long it will take before Mark Drakeford blames the UK Government for it.
Welsh NHS
Under Mark Drakeford and the Welsh Labour Government, the Welsh NHS (a devolved issue) has been consistently underfunded and recently Vaughan Gething told nurses that there was simply no money for a payrise.
This will be a bitter pill for Welsh nurses to swallow given that Welsh Labour is bringing in changes to the Senedd which will see many more Welsh Ministers created at a cost of around £100 million to the Welsh taxpayer despite almost universal objection outside of political circles.
Despite the Welsh NHS being fully devolved, the Welsh Government continues to blame Westminster for its funding issues so let’s finish this post by showing how Welsh Government has wisely spent its budget…
- £100 million for more Welsh Ministers
- £30 million for 20mph zones
- £120 million spent so far on loss-making Cardiff Airport (so far)
- £122 million lost by Betsi Cadwalader Health Board
- £17 million written off by the near collapse of Government funded Cardiff Aviation
On those five things alone the Welsh Government has lost or wasted £389 million of Welsh taxpayers money.
Still, think you are getting good value for your vote? So we are calling for you to do the right thing Mark for once in your life. Resign.
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