Thursday 13 January 2022

WELSH LABOUR'S HYPOCRISY

Welsh Labour continue to snipe at the Westminster Tory government, following Mark Drakeford's extraordinary attack last Friday.  Welsh government minister Vaughan Gething tweeted on Wednesday to brag that his government 'had never had a VIP lane' and that 'the same rules applied to everyone'.  This is a bit rich coming from Gething, who was Welsh health minister when he was photographed eating a meal at a picnic table with his family during the first lockdown.  Gething, of course, had done nothing wrong according to the Welsh government - but ordinary Welsh folk could potentially have been fined for doing the same thing.

Then there was the Senedd drinking scandal, when three assembly members were revealed to have consumed alcohol in the parliament building days after an alcohol ban was slapped on Welsh pubs.  Two of them were Tories, the other was Labour.  Apologies were issued all round, including from Alun Davies - the Labour member involved in the breach who was also suspended from the Labour group in response to the scandal.  Davies was later readmitted to the Labour group, but look who retweeted Gething on Wednesday...


Short memory or selective memory Alun?

More recently there was also Mark Drakeford's Diwali knees-up in November.  At a time when he and his government were beginning to ramp up their Covid rhetoric, the First Minister was filmed dancing among an indoor crowd at a Diwali celebration in Cardiff.  Despite the never-ending mask mandate in Wales, there were no face masks to be seen anywhere in the footage (see below).


The Welsh government later said that no rules were broken as it took place in a premises where food and drink were being served.  A month later the same government ordered nightclubs in Wales to close.  It's safe to dance in a crowd when you're the First Minister, but ordinary Welsh folk must be careful!