‘I’d serve a full second term to see Covid out’
MARK Drakeford has suggested he could serve a full second term as First Minister.
Mr Drakeford had previously said he would not be First Minister for the whole of the Senedd term which will run from 2021 until 2026.
His predecessor, Carwyn Jones, stood down partway through the term, something Mr Drakeford has always said he would do.
In an interview with ITV Cymru Wales ahead of May’s election, he was asked if he would carry on as First Minister.
“If the pandemic continues and it may do, does that mean you’d have to carry on?” he was asked by Adrian Masters.
Mr Drakeford replied, “Yes it would do, I think”.
“The thing that motivates me is public service. I do the job I do because I think I’ve had the experiences, I’ve got the insight, and I’ve got the knowledge of how government works so I can put it to work on behalf of people who need it the most.
“While there’s a pandemic on that would still be needed and I want to finish that job.
“I hope we will certainly be well past it by the end of the Senedd term, but this has been an experience full of twists and turns, and if we were still having to grapple with it, I wouldn’t walk away from the job while that was still going on,” the First Minister said.
In a Labour Party press conference yesterday, Health Minister Vaughan Gething said he did not think that the pandemic would still be as all consuming in five years as it is now, but he repeated that he thinks there will be a continuing impact on the economy and health service.