Tuesday 14 April 2020

A "National" Government in the Senedd? Only if Adam Price led it.

 The row hthat  broken out over a significant delay in the Welsh government’s plans to dramatically increase the number of Covid-19 tests. continues
Welsh ministers had promised that by 1 April it would have been able to carry out 6,000 tests a day, which would have helped keep more frontline NHS staff at work.
But the health secretary, Vaughan Gething, said on 31 March that a private company had pulled out of a contract to provide 5,000 of the tests, leaving Wales only able to carry out 800 tests a day now – and no more than 1,100 a day by the end of the week.
Gething said he was disappointed, and admitted getting more tests done sooner would have helped the fight against coronavirus, but refused to name the company involved.

Now a care home owner in North Wales fears staff at two homes will be forced to wear bin bags as aprons after being blocked from buying vital protective equipment by Public Health England (PHE).
Ceri Roberts, managing director of Cariad Care Homes, in Gwynedd, said she went online to buy Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) from two major suppliers, amid the coronavirus outbreak.
But she was told they were only delivering to care homes in England.

This looks  like an argument that can be made  against devolution but as  Ben Gwalchmai, co-founder of Labour4indyWales points out 

 Notably, this isn’t just a Welsh issue. They’ve taken PPE away from Cornwall in efforts to ensure Kent has it. This is structural, not national. We’ve seen it when a care home can’t get supplies because they’ve been told ‘England comes first’. One of the worst UK Governments in a century has shown the detailed, life-threatening cracks in the UK constitution.

Indeed  you can't help getting the feeling that if we did not have devolved government  , then  we would be low priority  and it will be interesting to see how different , received testing kits and PPE during the crisis after the it is all over. Though we should knowreally  now.

But our own Government in Cardiff bay are not helping whe we learn that a drive-in testing centre for key workers at the Cardiff City Stadium was shut on Bank Holiday Monday, prompting criticism from opposition politicians.
Public Health Wales said it was due to the "low number of key workers anticipated to be working" that day.
But Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price said the decision "beggars belief".
But the Welsh Government said the opposition comments showed a "lack of understanding" of how the system worked.
Meanwhile the Welsh Conservatives said there was no valid reason to have closed the centre.
The Cardiff City Stadium centre is one of four drive-in testing centres planned to provide testing to key-workers with symptoms - it is the only centre operating so far, having opened last week.

There also seems to be a certain reluctance among Labour politician to accept that  others may , be useful  in working to solve the problem

Eluned Morgan #StayHomeSaveLives@Eluned_Morgan
All initiatives that might assist the Welsh Government in the fight against Covid 19 are welcome but the First Minister has made it clear that any formal actions undertaken for the WG on the international front will be taken by the department that I lead.
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Adam Price
@Adamprice
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The First Minister has authorised me to explore international cooperation in the battle against COVID on behalf of Wales and I will now ask that officials pursue this opportunity as a matter of the utmost urgency. /Ends


Some may argue that Adam Price is using the crisis to promote the fact that he is the man to sort out Wales' response  to the virus and that he's making political capitol.

However with the piss poor  response from our government in Cardiff bay especially First Minister Drakeford and Health Minister Gething , any argument that we should have a national government  in the Senedd building would probably only respond effectively if Adam Price led it as First Minister.



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