Mark Drakeford is bringing Wales to its knees

 The Welsh First Minister's pitiful record is surely all the evidence needed that devolution is a disaster

Source - Daily Telegraph - 28/12/22

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Sterling crashed to its lowest level in years. Inflation hit rates we have not witnessed in half a century. Prime ministers came and went with embarrassing regularity, and Harry Kane even fluffed a penalty at the World Cup. All things considered, 2022 was not exactly a great 12 months for anyone.

And yet, with just a couple of days left until the calendar closes the door on the year forever, we finally have at least one piece of good news. Mark Drakeford has said that he is planning to step down as Welsh First Minister by 2024. Sure, he will cling onto power for a while yet before he heads into retirement. But we should celebrate the approaching end of his time in office nonetheless – since in his quietly shambolic way, the sanctimonious former academic has come to embody everything that has gone wrong with devolution.

Drakeford has never been the most high-profile of the leaders of the UK’s devolved administrations. He doesn’t have the manic fury of Nicola Sturgeon, the populist panache of Manchester’s Andy Burnham, nor the energy for 24/7 virtue signalling that characterises London’s Sadiq Khan. But he has something else going for him. If ever a really bad idea is under discussion, you can rely upon Drakeford to champion it.

Over his four years in power, Wales has been turned into a laboratory for the kind of half-baked policy ideas that don’t usually make it out of the seminar rooms of second-rate universities. 

A four-day week? Sure, that will revitalise some of the worst public services in the developed world. A universal basic income that pays you a salary regardless of whether you work or not? That’s certain to restart a stalled economy and get people back to the office or factory. A standard 20mph speed limit? Heck, why not? It is not as if businesses ever need to get stuff anywhere quickly. Second-home owners and holiday rentals? Instead of embracing the money they bring into the country, the First Minister has pandered to the most narrow-minded instincts of his nationalist rivals by trying t bully them out of existence. At times, Drakeford has appeared to be waging a one-man war against any form of productive activity.

During lockdown, he championed the kind of petty authoritarianism for which the pandemic was the perfect excuse. Schools were closed at the first sign of a cough, and, memorably, even though supermarkets were allowed to stay open, they were banned from selling non-essential items, creating the ridiculous spectacle of Tesco and Sainsbury’s sealing off the clothing and entertainment aisles. Drakeford’s Covid police seemed to be more worried about stopping the free market than the virus.

And of course, all of his failures are merely blamed on London. He is currently complaining that he is unable to pay striking nurses any more, because the UK Government will not give him the money. He is doing so while refusing to use his own powers to vary income tax, which might well enable him to pay for it himself. Drakeford represents the worst of devolution. He glories in all the trappings of power, but avoids any genuine responsibility.

The tragedy is that Wales could use a genuinely creative, bold leader. It is one of the poorest parts of the UK. Educational standards have collapsed, with the Pisa international comparisons showing it has the worst schools in the UK. The benefits bill has soared, while a worrying proportion of people are economically inactive. A real leader would be hustling for new industries, cutting taxes and regulations to out-compete England, and taking on the power of the unions to drive school standards higher. Drakeford doesn’t seem to be interested in any of that.

Over a hundred years, Wales has produced some of Britain’s greatest leaders. David Lloyd George, Nye Bevan and Roy Jenkins were all major figures, capable of reshaping the political landscape. They were reformers of vision. Devolution, however, has elevated political pygmies to positions of power and influence. Drakeford will leave behind a legacy of failure, whinging and division. Wales is capable of much better – and if devolution can’t produce more inspiring leaders, we would be better off without it.