Drakeford accuses Boris Johnson of ‘thinly hidden assaults’ on Wales’ autonomy

The First Minister has accused Boris Johnson and the UK Government of “thinly hidden assaults” on Wales’ ability to make decisions for itself.

Writing in LabourList, Mark Drakeford said that Labour in Wales had shown there was “a better way of doing things” – including tackling the Covid-19 pandemic.

In another dig at the Prime Minister, he suggested that the Welsh Government’s decisions throughout the pandemic were not about “looking good in tomorrow’s newspapers”.

He also finished with a broadside at Plaid Cymru, saying that “Welsh Labour is the party of Wales”.

“Today, in this post-Brexit world of newfound British sovereignty, we have a UK Tory government and a Prime Minister intent on turning back the clock on devolution with their thinly hidden assaults on the Senedd’s authority to make decisions on behalf of Wales,” he said.

‘Better Wales’

The First Minister later adds: “The scale of these challenges has been unlike anything we have seen before. But despite all we have faced in the last five years, Labour in Wales has shown there’s a better way of doing things – of keeping Wales safe. Our response to the pandemic has been built on openness, partnership and collaboration.

“We have placed our trust in our public services and social partners and they have delivered. Our contact tracing service is publicly run and locally delivered – and people trust it.

“We have not shied away from making tough decisions to protect people’s health but we have always based these on the latest scientific and medical evidence and we will always take decisions that are right for Wales, not because they make a good headline in tomorrow’s newspapers.”

Mark Drakeford finishes the article by saying that “We have delivered for Wales and will go on delivering for Wales.

“Our policies and our radical thinking have been helping us to build a better Wales for more than 20 years – repairing the legacy of generations of Tory neglect and offsetting the damage caused by the long, lost decade of austerity.

“Everything we do is about and for people in Wales. We have a long and proven track record of delivering for Wales, even in the most difficult of circumstances.

“We have real ambitions for a fairer, better tomorrow as we emerge from the long shadow cast by this terrible coronavirus pandemic. Welsh Labour is the party of Wales.”