Blaming Tories when it all goes pear-shaped

G EDWARDS praises Mark Drakeford for the £500 payment care staff will receive for their work during the Covid crisis, then has a dig at the “money-grabbing” Tories in Westminster because of plans to tax the bonus (“Well done the Welsh Government..”, Western Mail letters, June 8).

These will be the same Tories who moved heaven and earth to finance the furloughing of 8.9 million workers, with monthly payments of up to £2,500.

I’d say that’s pretty damn generous and has saved millions from the dole queue, although there is sure to be pain for many when the scheme unfortunately has to end.

G Edwards also criticises Boris Johnson’s “failure to provide an adequate supply of PPE for health workers” and his “dithering before going into lockdown”.

Well the lack of PPE has been a big issue here in Wales, where the Labour government is responsible for health, so that’s Drakeford’s failure, then.

As for lockdown, if Johnson’s timing was so poor surely Drakeford should have used his devolved powers to shut down Wales earlier. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Instead the First Minister’s lockdown policy seems to be to wait for a Westminster announcement, criticise it for lacking clarity, then introduce the same measures himself a few days later, but with a few tweaks at the margins.

It’s hardly decisive leadership. G Edwards must come from the same school of devolution as Nicola Sturgeon – take praise for the good stuff but when things go wrong blame it on the evil Tories.

Andrew Lewis

Cardiff