Hot Seat South Wales West st MS

SO HERE it is Merry Christmas – in the words of that song that seems to be played in every shop over the festive season. But the sentiment remains real.

This is the time of year when we all tend to look back at the events of the past 12 months.

In Wales, we have had an eventful year at the Senedd as we confronted the many problems that we face.

Our health service is still in chaos with 700,000 people on waiting lists – one in five of the population.

Educationally, Wales has slipped even further down the

Pisa rankings which means that our young people are not getting the start in life that they need to help Wales compete for the jobs of the future against the very high educational standards being achieved by kids in the Tiger economies of the Far East especially Korea and China.

But the biggest issue of all this year – and one which will doubtless blight Mark Drakeford’s legacy – has been Labour’s catastrophic blunder in bringing in the default 20mph speed limit.

Labour has achieved something that few of us involved in politics thought possible – arousing the sleeping giant of the Welsh electorate to an awareness of what the Welsh Labour Government has been doing to the country for the past 25 years.

When nearly half a million people sign a petition out of a population of just three million – you know something seismic is happening.

Sadly, the Welsh economy will also take a hit reckoned to be at least £4 billion – using Welsh Government’s own figures. That will destroy jobs and living standards and will deter companies from setting up here as well as having a massive impact on Welsh tourism which provides one in seven jobs.

So, the prospects of a prosperous new year are receding day by day.

Nevertheless, I wish all Gazette readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Peace on Earth and goodwill to all men may seem a distant aspiration with war in Ukraine and the Middle East but people of all faiths will pray for this outcome.