Mark Drakeford warns UK Government not to treat Wales as ‘test bed’ for civil service job cuts
Mark Drakeford has warned the UK Government not to treat Wales as a “test bed” for cuts to the civil service.
Speaking in the Senedd he said that he feared that if 91,000 civil servants were to lose their jobs, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson had said, then about 6,000 of those would be in Wales.
The Daily Mail reported last week that the Prime Minister had ordered the “swollen” civil service pared back by a fifth in order to save £3.5bn.
Last month, Boris Johnson also threatened to “privatise the arse off” Swansea’s DVLA and other public bodies unless they start delivering better services.
First Minister Mark Drakeford was asked in the Senedd by Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price whether the UK Government had communicated any plans to cut civil service jobs or privatise government bodies.
“Has the UK Government shared the detail of their proposals with you as to where their axe is going to be wielded here in Wales, or was the first you heard about this, like the employees in question, via the Daily Mail?” Adam Price asked.
Mark Drakeford responded that “if they decide that Wales is to be the test bed for it, then they will find a strong opponent here, in the Welsh Government”.
“And certainly if they think that we will take a disproportionate share of job cuts, how much that will fly in the face of any claims this Government makes to levelling up big parts of the country outside the south-east of England.”
He added: “The fear is, as the leader of Plaid Cymru says, that we would take a disproportionately high number of job cuts here in Wales.”
“Faced with difficulties of their own making, the UK Conservative Government reaches immediately, in a knee-jerk way, for the sorts of solutions that it has tried elsewhere and that have failed so badly, and threatens some of those agencies full of very hard-working people, who did so much during the pandemic to continue to provide a public service, and threatens them with privatisation,” he said.
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The Tories & Thatcher used Scotland as a testbed for the Poll Tax in 1989 and Wales will be one for any Civil Service cuts in 2022. And no matter how strong Mark Drakeford feels or words his displeasure regarding the Conservatives malicious intentions towards Wales, is powerless to act against Boris Johnson’s pending hatchet job.
It’s not unusual. Unpopular actions are always carried out outside London and the south east by Tories. We know why, the money and support for the party are normally found in these areas. Every day we see UK government action that will somehow affect Cymru, it has been been happening for decades, if not centuries. It is why we are so poor here. No matter how much Drakeford protests, it will be ignored, it is time Welsh Labour woke up and seriously looked at an alternative future for Cymru – one outside the Union.
Don’t you think DVLA have sowed the seeds of there own dimise? Why should we and what is the point of allowing this atroctious service to continue. The Welsh Senedd need to wake up to the reality of their marxist socialist leanings and support the Government in anything they do to rectify this appauling public organisation. Enough has been wasted of the white elephant Cardiff airport fiasco.
Absolutely my friend. Independence
Instead of inane objections against the Government Drakeford should do something about the abysmal situation at DVLA it is not fit for purpose my father has been waiting over two years for his licence to be renewed. It is virtually impossible to contact them and on the odd occassion we’ve tried the calls have been disconnected by incompetent WFH staff. How can this clown justify this continuing it’s not a service and need immediate resolution anything is better than what we don’t have now a private business would not exist.
Or what exactly will you do .. Drake ford. ….plant. More trees and lower the speed limit even more.