‘Boris has lost all respect for truth’
FIRST Minister Mark Drakeford has launched a blistering attack on Boris Johnson’s government, accusing it of telling multiple lies and abusing power by proroguing Parliament.
Mr Drakeford’s scathing denunciation came during an emergency plenary session of the National Assembly yesterday, which was recalled following the decision to prorogue Parliament.
Meanwhile, as hostilities at Westminster showed no sign of easing off, Mr Johnson said he would “rather be dead in a ditch” than ask the EU to delay Brexit beyond October 31.
Addressing the Senedd, Mr Drakeford said: “If Members of Parliament are to be denied a voice, then it is all the more important that we here should be able to speak up for Wales, for our economy and our future.
“When our motion says that the actions of the Prime Minister are an outrage, we mean exactly that.
“In a few short weeks, we have seen a government turn its back on the fundamental decencies of a functioning democracy – an utter disregard for the truth, an utter disregard for Parliament, an utter disregard for the services of those senior women and men in his own party who dare to disagree with him.”
The First Minister said he had been in politics “long enough to know that the same object can be described in different ways from different perspectives, but when the Downing Street official spokesperson is put up to say that the Prime Minister has no plans to prorogue Parliament, when a Scottish court discovers that he had already decided to do just that, that is not just telling your own version of the truth”.
Mr Drakeford said: “Let us call it what it is: it’s a lie, a deliberate, intentional lie.”
Welsh Conservative Assembly group leader Paul Davies, who did not agree with the decision to recall the Assembly, said: “When the people of Wales voted in 2016, they made it abundantly clear that they wanted to leave the European Union.
“Fifty-two and a half percent of voters in Wales chose to leave the EU, and all but five areas of the country delivered a ‘leave’ result from their counts.”
He added: “Of course, since that time, we’ve had many debates on the intricacies of Brexit, its implications for Welsh businesses and communities and how the Assembly can best prepare the country for life once we finally leave the EU.
“In that time I’ve asked many questions of the First Minister about Wales’ preparedness for Brexit, the ongoing discussions he and his Government are having with UK colleagues, and how we can work together to avoid a ‘no deal’ Brexit. Sadly, Labour, Lib Dem and Plaid MPs in Westminster are making the negotiations tougher with their actions.”
Mr Johnson yesterday acknowledged a Brexit split with his brother, Jo, who quit the government saying he had been “torn between family loyalty and the national interest”.
Jo Johnson, who had been a senior minister attending meetings of his brother’s Cabinet, said it was an “unresolvable tension”.
The Prime Minister said his brother “does not agree with me about the European Union because it’s an issue that obviously divides families and divides everybody”.
But he maintained his uncompromising stance over the October 31 Brexit date, saying he would rather be “dead in a ditch” than go to Brussels to ask for a further delay.
Jo Johnson announced on Twitter he was quitting his role as Universities Minister and would stand down as MP for Orpington.