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Delyn MP brands Senedd a ‘joke’ and ‘worst thing’ to happen to Wales

24 May 2023 5 minute read
Delyn MP Rob Roberts

Emily Price

Delyn MP Rob Roberts has described the Senedd as a “joke” and the “worst thing” that’s ever happened to Wales in a social media rant branding MSs “second rate politicians”.

The outburst was published to Facebook on Tuesday (23 May) along with a link to a Welsh Conservative post which shared a Daily Mail article about a leaked report describing alleged failings at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB).

Mr Roberts lost the Conservative party whip in 2021 after an independent panel found that he had acted inappropriately after he sought to engage in a relationship with a male member of his staff.

However, he refused to resign as an MP, sitting instead as an independent.

In the post Mr Roberts accused Labour of presiding over “a systematic destruction” of the north Wales health board.

He also criticised opposition groups in the Senedd accusing them of doing “absolutely nothing about it”.

Describing the Senedd he said: “The whole place is full of second-rate politicians doing a second-rate job, sitting for two days a week and stealing a living from the public purse. A fair chunk of them are elected having never actually won a vote, and they want to increase the gravy train even more.

“The whole institution is an absolute joke and the worst thing that’s ever happened to Wales, established on a 50.3% “yes” vote from a 50.2% turnout.

“So because 25% of Wales (thanks Gwynedd) wanted this absolute shambles of a project 25 years ago, we’re stuck with it. Not good enough. Failed in every conceivable way to deliver for the Welsh people. It makes me so angry.”

Responding to the Facebook post, a Plaid Cymru spokesperson said: “Rob Roberts is sinking under the waves of irrelevance and clutching at straws for attention to give some purpose to his political existence.”

Chaos has engulfed BCUHB in recent weeks following the details of a leaked report that revealed accounts of alleged failings.

Welsh Conservative Senedd leader Andrew RT Davies was given access to the report and described it as “damning”.

First Minister Mark Drakeford said the report was being taken seriously but that it “ought not to be in circulation”.

Rob Roberts told Nation.Cymru that opposition parties in Wales are “ineffectual” and although the Welsh Tory leader, Andrew RT Davies has been vocal about issues at BCUHB in recent weeks, it hasn’t been enough.

He said: “Betsi has been in special measures for almost a decade. Perhaps if some more robust challenge would have been going on for years, rather than weeks, we wouldn’t be in the situation in which we find ourselves.

“This is a failure of Welsh Government, and the institution and system that allows them to operate with such a lack of care.”

“Unfit”

He added that there is a “clear misappropriation of funds and wholesale mismanagement” and that 60% of the Betsi estate is “unsafe and unfit” for use in a clinical setting.

On the Senedd and devolution, the Delyn MP said it’s a process he doesn’t care for as he only cares about “outcomes”.

Mr Roberts added: “Outcomes are the only thing that impact on people. The ‘what’, not the ‘how’. People care about what happens, they don’t care about where decisions are made.

“In terms of the outcomes, in 1997, Wales and Scotland had almost exactly the same average salaries. Now Wales is some 20% lower than Scotland.”

Mr Roberts described Wales as being “regularly behind other parts of the UK” in educational attainment and said plans to scrap road building projects and enforce 20mph speed limits are “ludicrous”.

“Outcomes”

He said: “Wales has been falling behind the rest of the UK over the past 25 years, and in the ways that matter most to people – health, education and transport the Welsh Government has a reverse Midas effect, with everything they touch breaking down.

“It is particularly keenly-felt in north Wales which any of my constituents will tell you is the forgotten illegitimate step-child that Cardiff Bay doesn’t really want to acknowledge or deal with.

“The simple fact is that some 70% of the population of Wales lives within a 20-mile radius of Cardiff, so the only thing that the Welsh Government needs to do to consolidate its position is to keep focussing on the south.

“The outcomes are the only thing that matters. Decisions being made in once place rather than another doesn’t mean they are going to be better decisions.”

Mr Roberts also told Nation.Cymru that he feels the media in Wales acts more like a “cheerleader” for the Welsh Government rather than a “scrutiniser” as it doesn’t hold the Welsh Government to account to “anywhere near the same level as the UK Government and MPs”.

Nation.Cymru approached Andrew RT Davies for a response to Mr Roberts comments about the opposition in Wales.

The leader of the Welsh Conservatives did not respond.

Nation.Cymu also contacted shadow health minister, Russell George – he did not respond.


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Riki
Riki
10 months ago

If he does not like it, he can leave for new pastures. I even recall the fact that he wouldn’t even need a Visa or passport to go to his beloved England (Which is ridiculous). The problem with Wales is people like him constantly talking the place and it’s people down.

Fi yn unig
Fi yn unig
10 months ago

He says OUR Parliament is full of ‘second rate’ politicians. Let’s see how the voters of Delyn rate HIM.

Fi yn unig
Fi yn unig
10 months ago
Reply to  Fi yn unig

Embarrassment, shame and humility. Three traits crucial to any human being purporting to be decent, all missing here. Denying a nation and denying its’ right to have its’ own Parliament, suspended for inappropriate conduct, not resigning and not disappearing from public life and wasting Parliamentary time (in my view) by asking in a recent PMQs that the Welsh Government be put into special measures and after Sunak gave him short shrift, he was seen on camera mouthing the words ‘f*** off’, the very phrase the voters in his constituency need to scream at him very loudly. There will be no… Read more »

Marc
Marc
10 months ago

Always good to hear the views of a disgraced sex predator

Gareth
Gareth
10 months ago

He claims the Senedd makes him “so angry”. What makes me, and many people I know angry, is a sex predator, kicked out of his party, for not only going after female, but also male staff, refusing to resign after not only bringing the Tory party and politics into disrepute, but his distain for constituents, especially. Grubby little man.

David Williams
David Williams
10 months ago
Reply to  Gareth

The Torhaide party doesn’t need him to bring their reputation down, they are doing well enough on their own. Obviously, this guy is creating his own publicity here, but maybe he also does have some points too, like why do we need more MSs for example?

Rob
Rob
9 months ago
Reply to  David Williams

For additional scrutiny of the Welsh Government, unless you want them to legislate without any accountability. Scotland has 129 MSPs, Northern Ireland 90 MLAs, so 96 MSs is not as much as some would have you think it is. In terms of MPs however we do have too much of them.

Gary H
Gary H
10 months ago

Embittered wally. And as for the party that thought he would make a goodMP…….

Rhufawn Jones
Rhufawn Jones
10 months ago

He’s the joke. And probably the worst MP Delyn has ever had. Deluded!

Rob
Rob
10 months ago

Has he forgotten the 2011 referendum where his own constituency in Flintshire voted Yes? How many seats did Abolish the Assembly win in 2021? Exactly what is it opposition parties can do when they are not in government? If Keir Starmer wins the next election & leads an incompetent government should we blame the Tories? You blame the Welsh Labour Government and in some sense they deserve the blame, but don’t blame it on the institution. Campaign for them to be voted out!!! Quote: “Mr Roberts also told Nation.Cymru that he feels the media in Wales acts more like a “cheerleader”… Read more »

Last edited 10 months ago by Rob
Gerallt Gymro
Gerallt Gymro
10 months ago

Rob Roberts is the joke in this story. He lost the whip soon after being voted into parliament and then just as disgracefully, his local Conservative constituency party did not have the guts to call for a byelection to replace him.

R W
R W
10 months ago

I can’t decide whether Rob Roberts is a bigger sex pest than he is a clown, or whether he is a bigger clown than he is a sex pest!! 🤔

Julie Jones
Julie Jones
10 months ago

“The worst thing that has happened to Wales”. This Unionist needs to start reading some history. 1277 could be a decent point of entry for him.

Riki
Riki
10 months ago
Reply to  Julie Jones

1485 would be mine. The Tudors were a disaster for Wales and its peoples future, Henry Vlll especially. He basically handed it to the Anglo, alongside our Brythonic identity too. All because they had no legal authority over it (Thank you Owain Glyndwr). Annexation between 1536-42 proves Wales autonomy after 1409.

Richard
Richard
10 months ago

The words ‘ personal implosion’ comes to mind 🤡

He cuts a lonely figure walking through Saturdays Mold market.

Stephen John Owen
Stephen John Owen
10 months ago

He can talk being a joke of an MP himself

Y Cymro
Y Cymro
10 months ago

Utter tosh! Said the man who proposition his female & male staff for sex. Rob Roberts is a vulgar little man, and the best thing besides devolution that’s happened to Wales is when he’s kicked out of office next year. I detest him with a passion.

Andy Williams
9 months ago
Reply to  Y Cymro

I agree with your post, but this bloke, is still being given air time, to voice his rubbish.

Dai
Dai
10 months ago

Senedd the ““worst thing” that’s ever happened to Wales”…besides 1283, 1839, 1847, 1960s, 1970, 1980s…oh, and 15 October 1979 when Robert Joseph Roberts was inflicted himself upon Wales by being born.

Riki
Riki
10 months ago
Reply to  Dai

1485! The Tudors rise and one of them handing Wales over to the Anglo. Resources and Indentity!

Karl
Karl
10 months ago

Leave Cymru, our Senedd done more for me than Westminster. Protect my kids more, my hobby and my culture. What else could you want compared to the pure drunk exceptionalism of Westminster

Windy
Windy
10 months ago

Not all clowns wear facepaint

Owain Morgan
Owain Morgan
10 months ago

Pot. Kettle. Black. Enough said!

Richard
Richard
10 months ago

If he’s thinking about the members of his own party in the Senedd maybe he has a point . . .

Mr Williams
Mr Williams
10 months ago

I’m sure that future historians, writing the history of our times, will not write kindly of this man.

Ann Carey
Ann Carey
10 months ago

LOL You know you’re absolute irrelevance when ReTweet Davies has got nothing to say about you!

Christopher David
Christopher David
10 months ago

So Drakeford want to suppress the report does he. Well that that’s a real reason for us all to read it.

Charles Coombes
Charles Coombes
10 months ago

In all honesty the Welsh Government has more morality than all of Westminster put together. Tories please get out of Wales, go back to your sewers. Let Wales be independent and free of your fascism.

Geraint
Geraint
9 months ago

Two of those ‘second rate politicians’ went on to ‘serve’ in the UK cabinet which resulted in the highest tax rates since WW2, lowest growth rates compared to similar economies, stubbornly embedded inflation and a cost of living crisis that few of us have ever seen.

Orwig
Orwig
9 months ago

“Keep focusing on the South”
Tory mantra! Even the Welsh ones!
Shut up Boiled Ham Man

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