Plaid Cymru urges Drakeford to axe health minister
Plaid Cymru has called for Eluned Morgan to be replaced as Health Minister and has accused Labour ministers of acting with “same arrogance” as Tories in refusing to shoulder responsibility.
Plaid Cymru Health spokesperson, Rhun ap Iorwerth, made the comments in the aftermath of the announcement on Monday that Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) was again being put into special measures due to growing concerns regarding safety.
Members of the board agreed to step down due to serious concerns from the health minister regarding the board’s performance, leadership and culture.
Speaking ahead of his speech to Plaid Cymru’s Spring Conference in Llanelli, Mr ap Iorwerth broadly welcomed the placing of the board back in special measures this week and said it should never have been brought out of special measures in 2020. But he attacked the decision to “humiliate and effectively sack” the Independent Members of the board.
Confidence
Last week, Mr ap Iorwerth called on the Health Minister to consider her position and she said she’d remain in post “as long at the First Minister had confidence” in her.
Ahead of his speech today, the Ynys Môn MS and candidate for the upcoming Westminster election, repeated his belief that the Minister had lost the confidence of people served by the health board, and given the Minister’s refusal to take accountability, it was therefore up to First Minister to “do the right thing”.
“The people of Wales have lost faith in the Health Minister. Time and again, she’s evaded scrutiny and shifted blame onto others when challenged with the disastrous outcomes of her own policies, he said.
“This is particularly true in the north. The patients and staff of Betsi Cadwaladr deserve better from their government. The least they deserve is an apology, but what we all need is the government to step up and take responsibility for this mess.
“In a democracy, the authority to govern flows from the people. It’s clear Eluned Morgan no longer has that authority. If she’s not willing to take responsibility now, the First Minister should do the right thing on behalf of the people of Wales, and remove his Health Minister”.
“We fought for devolution so we could design a politics that was different to the elitist politics of Westminster. Conservative Ministers – and Prime Ministers – have been rightly derided for their shameful arrogance towards the public,” he added.
“But here we seen Labour ministers also acting as if they are beyond reproach, shielded from scrutiny.”
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She was a mistake from day one, admit it MD and explain why she was foisted upon us.
Rhun speaks for a great many of us…
I’ve been hot and cold on Rhun for a while, but he stepped up to the plate on this issue. Nobody, however, is doing a good job in pointing out the obvious – WG minister steps in to pressure the independent board tasked with oversight to step down in the midst of a crisis. “Criminal” is bandied about far to liberally nowadays, but this should be looked at closely. That’s more proof that we have a careerist ‘political class’ rather than public servants. The NHS has long been a loved institution here; what is being done to it by our… Read more »
Plaid Cymru, for once standing up for our nation in the Senedd. This woman is dreadful, she is totally out of her depth.
Call it what you like MD, just move EM somewhere where her skills match the role, by whichever way that saves face even, but a ministerial position is way beyond the lady’s abilities.
Fightingly, while at the GP’s I noticed they have to suffer a photo of the lady on all the health board connected PC’s. Rather autocratic or what.
Every member of the Welsh government looks tired and worn out. Wales needs a change of government with people who don’t look like they don’t want to get out of bed in the morning. Wales deserves better, but we know they’ll get re-elected because people would rather vote Labour just to keep out the Tories than vote for what’s best for the country. Einstein said “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing yet expecting different results.”
I’m not so sure. General election next year with a big Labour win? Usual honeymoon period, Labour continuing to be mediocre at best in Wales. Eighteen months of London Labour not doing particularly well and no one else to blame, then a Welsh general election! Could be a perfect storm for them.
Yes, We really do need a Plaid Cymru government at Cardiff and to proceed towards independence.
With Welsh Labour having too much faith in UK Labour, if we stay in the UK we could be in the same position within 10 years as the UK/English political system is so unstable and could easily fall backwards towards another Tory dictatorship.
An independent Wales could apply to join the EU and the Single market as an independent state.
We could even wake-up the English to the opportunities lost under their Tory dictatorships.
Guess the First Minister will not like to be seen to be pushed around by Plaid Cymru, so her position should be quite secure for the moment. Having said that, when he retires, I would think following her inability to effectively deliver the health brief which is plain for everyone to see she will no longer be in the running for the top job. A new FM will be able to easily sideline her without loss of face when the new ministerial team is selected.