Minister’s speeding fines show ‘disregard for law’
HEALTH minister Eluned Morgan set a “very poor example” when she was caught speeding four times, the Senedd’s standards commissioner has reportedly found.
A leaked report by standards commissioner, Douglas Bain, said Mrs Morgan, the Senedd member for Mid and West Wales, demonstrated a disregard for the law, according to BBC Wales.
Ms Morgan pleaded guilty to a speeding charge in March and was banned from driving for six months – something she was, according to the report, fined £800 for. At the time she said: “This is not something I am proud of and I apologise unreservedly.”
The report says that before that offence, she had already been convicted in Mold on September 26, 2019, June 30, 2020 and April 24, 2021.
The report has not yet been published and is yet to be considered by the Senedd’s standards committee who will decide on any disciplinary action – but the code of conduct says Senedd members must always conduct themselves in a way that will not undermine the public’s trust and confidence in the Welsh Parliament.
In the report, Mr Bain said: “Although some would regard the offence in the present complaint as not being particularly serious, when taken along with the three previous convictions for the same offence it demonstrates a disregard for the law and a failure to take action to avoid repetition of unlawful conduct.”
He found that it breached the code of conduct’s integrity and leadership principles, and breached a rule saying members must not act in a way that brings the Senedd or its members into disrepute.
A spokesperson for the Office of the Senedd Commissioner for Standards said: “The law prohibits the commissioner from admitting or denying that a complaint has been received and from making any comments in relation to any complaint that has been submitted.”
Ms Morgan said she cannot comment and the Welsh government said it did not comment on leaked reports.
The Welsh Conservatives said the Labour minister “has said that politicians should lead by example but has failed to do that herself”.
Plaid Cymru called for Eluned Morgan to refer herself for investigation under the ministerial code.
First Minister Mark Drakeford said he has dealt with it under the ministerial code, the matter is closed, and said there is no “equivalence” with Partygate.
He added it was right the matter was taken seriously, and said: “She didn’t make the law that she has broken. She admitted it, immediately. She has been dealt with by the courts.
“There is no moral equivalence [with] the prime minister in making laws himself that he went on to break, denying that he broke them, provoked a long and expensive police investigation to reveal the fact that he had himself had indeed broke the laws that he had made.”
Mr Drakeford said he had not seen what the standards commissioner had said. “I have dealt with it under the ministerial code and the matter is closed,” he added.
A Welsh Conservative spokesperson said: “Labour are clear that politicians who break the law should step down – unless of course they’re Labour Ministers in Wales.
“Baroness Morgan has said that politicians should lead by example but has failed to do that herself.
“The standards commissioner and the standards committee must now be allowed to complete their work on this issue.”
A Plaid Cymru spokesperson added: “Whilst it is very worrying and regrettable that the report has entered the public domain before the investigation process has concluded, the standards commissioner’s comments, were they to be confirmed as accurate, would raise some serious questions about Eluned Morgan’s judgement. The best way forward, under these circumstances, would be for Eluned Morgan to refer herself for investigation under the ministerial code.”