MORNING SERIAL
THE first question tackled a frustration for many people in Wales that when announcements were made by Westminster, they apparently paid no attention to the realities of devolution. When you live in Merthyr Tydfil and hear the Prime Minister you voted for say “UK schools/pubs/ businesses” are opening next week you quite naturally assume that information applies to you. Throughout the coronavirus crisis there was a consistent misrepresentation by the UK Government where they portrayed announcements for England as announcements for the UK. This was then compounded by a Londoncentric print media which also often failed to make the distinctions. If someone in Wales simply consumes their news by watching the Downing Street briefing, putting on the 10 O’Clock News to see the headlines and buying a Daily Mail it is only natural that they are going to assume that Englandonly policies apply to Wales.
The second question was actually two questions. Simply bolting on a third question with a polite “if I may” is a great way of getting more bang from your buck because there is not really a way that a politician can say on live TV, “no you may not”. About two hours before the briefing I received a call from the press office at Number 10 inquiring what questions I was going to ask. As a reporter, when someone asks to see your questions in advance it sets alarm bells ringing. It gives them a chance to prepare an evasive answer or get all their ducks in a row – there is no chance of catching people out, and it is not considered good practice. There are occasions when I think it is useful to do this, however, and it very much depends on the individual situation. There have been (rare) occasions where I have told the Welsh Government one of the questions I am going to ask in advance because I want a specific detail. There is no point in me requesting a figure out of the blue in the press conference and the minister saying they don’t have it to hand. This leaves you with one less question to ask and your readers are no more informed than they were before you asked it.
CONTINUES TOMORROW