Western Mail

Mark Drakeford is the candidate for us

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AS LABOUR Assembly Members, we face a very important decision this autumn as we choose our new leader, who we’ll nominate to be First Minister of Wales at a time of unpreceden­ted political turmoil.

We believe that Mark Drakeford is the outstandin­g candidate – he has the breadth of experience, a forensic grasp of detail and the personal determinat­ion needed to fulfil the role of First Minister.

Mark’s commitment to equality and social justice is at the core of his beliefs. He wants to make sure everyone in Wales has an equal chance in life and we know he will work to achieve a fairer Wales and a more just society.

Mark is a proud Welsh speaker from west Wales and has the understand­ing, principles and policies to serve and connect our country.

Mark has been a superb cabinet secretary covering three vital portfolios – Health and Social Services, Local Government and Finance.

As the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, he has steered through the legislatio­n enabling Wales to raise its own taxes for the first time.

As Health Minister, he ensured Wales was the first country in the UK to lead the way on presumed consent for organ donation with the Human Transplant­ation (Wales) Act of 2013.

And in 2017 he steered through the repeal of pernicious UK Government legislatio­n on trade unions.

His skill as a leader and negotiator on behalf of the people of Wales has been shown during his negotiatio­ns with the Westminste­r Government over Brexit and fiscal devolution.

For these reasons we will be nominating Mark Drakeford for leader and we urge everyone with a vote in the Welsh Labour leadership election to vote for him too.

Mick Antoniw, Hannah Blythyn, Jayne Bryant, Rebecca Evans, John Griffiths, Lesley Griffiths, Mike Hedges, Jane Hutt, Julie

James, Jeremy Miles, Julie Morgan, Rhianon Passmore, Jenny Rathbone, Ken Skates, Jack

Sargeant, Lee Waters have lost contracts because of the 2016 Brexit referendum, based on a survey of 200 British supply chain managers by the Chartered Institute of Procuremen­t and Supply, a trade body.

Almost two-thirds of manufactur­ing companies said they would have to increase prices to offset foreign currency costs, while almost half of those surveyed said they had already passed some of these additional costs on to customers, according to the industry report.

John Glen, an economist at the trade body, said: “It’s becoming clear that manufactur­ers can no longer absorb the costs of Brexit, and so the burden of higher prices is spreading to consumers, to suppliers, to clients and reshaping supply chains.”

How many jobs are the Brexit MPs willing to sacrifice to continue with their “Charge of the Light Brigade” out of the EU. Andrew Nutt Bargoed

 ??  ?? > Miners’ cottages, Cwmparc. Picture sent in by Emma Woodhouse
> Miners’ cottages, Cwmparc. Picture sent in by Emma Woodhouse
 ??  ?? > Mark Drakeford and supporters
> Mark Drakeford and supporters

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