This week, Carwyn Jones was, yet again, in the Siambr of the Senedd at First Minister’s Questions. Week after week we see him give poor answers, avoiding the questions and as ever, comparing his little Wales to mighty England (tiresome as it has now become).
But this week, he has descended to an all new low.
After the opening questions, the highlight of First Minister’s Questions arose where the Party leaders have a chance to question Carwyn and his tired Labour Government poor performance as, what seems to me, a party desperately fighting quietly to keep control for 5 more years.
After the comical turn of the Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies had passed, where the two took it in turn to play the blame game, like children in a playground, attention then turned to Leanne Wood, the formidable leader of Plaid Cymru (the sister Party of the SNP).
Her question was of a much more serious matter. Poverty in Wales. Without any winding up to the question, she went straight for the kill with her first question:
“First Minister, how many children in Wales live in poverty?”
The First Minister looked back at her with some glee and twinkle in his eye and said the most pathetic response imaginable.
“Too many.”
No figure, no explanation, just “too many” was his response. This is unacceptable for a response as a First Minister to such a serious question which is plaguing so many in our Nation.
To have the gall to come out with such a phrase is simply astonishing! If that has been David Cameron in the House of Commons or Nicola Sturgeon in Holyrood, there would have been absolute uproar from the opposition benches and not least, from the public.
After a look of bewilderment to the question, Leanne Wood gathered her composure and spat the answer out, clear for all the chamber to hear. One third.
I agree with Carwyn in the fact that this level of poverty is “too much”. Not one percent of children should be in poverty in Wales. But his simple failure to respond correctly to the question given just shows he simply doesn’t care anymore.
It is under his Party’s government since the creation of devolution that Wales is now the poorest nation in the UK and one of the poorest in Europe! So much for a legacy…
We can’t have this in Wales. The First Minister of Wales must be always on the move with the people of Wales at the forefront of their mind. And that is exactly what Leanne Wood and Plaid Cymru have. Us, the people of Wales in her mind.
We can clearly see this in Nicola Sturgeon, whose recent visit to the United States of America was regarded as a triumph for the people of Scotland and was documentary greatly in the media.
Now don’t get me wrong. Carwyn Jones has also been to the USA but instead of going there to meet officials at the White House and appear on the Jon Stewart Show, which was televised right across the United States and the UK, Carwyn went there to ring a bell on Wall Street. Not quite the same, is it?
But there are also events closer to home where Carwyn simply doesn’t represent the people of Wales well anymore.
At the 24th British-Irish Council Summit, held at Dublin Castle, the summit was reported widely in Scotland and Ireland, but what about in Wales?
Nothing.
a third of people are believed to be living in poverty
Even the Welsh Government neglected to issue a press release about the summit – unlike the Scottish Government.
The only hint that he was there, were 8 tweets on his account. Four in English. Four in Welsh. That is how far Carwyn Jones, and to a further extent, the Welsh Labour Party are prepared to go to promote Wales’ interests.
And this coming from a Party which claims to be “Standing up for Wales” as well as the “True Party of Wales”.
It’s time we in Wales got rid of this tired Party with painful excuses as to the failure of their government. If we want to be recognised on the world stage, we should take a leaf out of Scotland’s book and put us, the people of Wales, at the forefront of our political life.
And the only party who will put us first, is a party that isn’t a branch office of Westminster. Plaid Cymru. The Party of Wales for the people of Wales.
Now is our chance to let the Labour Party rest, and let the real Party of Wales get on with the job of cleaning up after this exhausted Party and getting Wales back on track.
picture of cardiff city centre link
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