Labour’s record is not all praiseworthy

I READ that it is Mark Drakeford’s intention to fight the forthcoming May elections on its successful handling of the pandemic.

This raises some issues for me. Firstly the Welsh Government has not been, in my humble opinion, any more nor less efficient than the other three home nations and whilst Mr Drakeford et al have throughout seemed eager to stress they have been first to undertake praiseworthy actions, when things have not been as positive (eg the speed with which we came out of the autumn lockdown) this is always the fault of someone else.

Secondly this election is not a vote to see how well the pandemic has been handled. It is a vote to see how best Wales might be governed and as voters we must surely look to the record of the last 20 odd years of Welsh Labour government. Why after all this time do we still have the ongoing and expensive debate about the future of the M4? Why are we still too far down the Pisa tables? Why do we still have significant areas of deprivation and consequent ill health and under achievement? Why does the current government seem not to have any plans to assist and promote SMEs?

I noted the 10 points Mr Drakeford highlighted as Welsh achievements and acknowledge that some of these are commendable, eg free school meals and the provision for child care.

Thirdly, after 20 years of this government I find myself disillusioned and cynical. I remain concerned about the calibre of the people in “power” and continue to believe that until we have the right people in the right jobs things will merely continue to stagnate. Surely if we look at other countries we would be concerned that one party had been in government for this length of time. I am not anti-devolution but under the current regime I don’t think that Wales is getting that which it rightly deserves. Would change be such a bad thing or do Mr Drakeford and his colleagues really believe that they are the only people who can guide us through? If so I find that attitude patronising if not downright insulting to the intelligence of the Welsh people.