A Telegraph columnist has criticised First Minister Mark Drakeford for making Wales "a testing ground for all the most ridiculous ideas in politics" and for expecting England to "subsidise his projects".
Journalist Kara Kennedy argues that although Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and London's Mayor Sadiq Khan may get "all the attention", Mr Drakeford is the "worst devolved leader of the lot".
It's not the first time this week journalists in London have weighed in on Welsh politics. On Tuesday, Ms Kennedy described the Welsh Conservatives as being "in a dire state" and that the party was a "sinking ship", you can read more about this here. On Wednesday, British broadcaster and Telegraph columnist, Iain Dale, also denounced the Welsh Government for introducing the "mad" 20mph speed limit rule, while incorrectly claiming that they were "abolishing" the 30mph speed limit.
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In her most recent column, Ms Kennedy criticised the Welsh Government's policies on trans ideology, speed limit legislation and lockdown restrictions. Although she said she was "proud" to come from Wales, which she described as the land of Richard Burton and Snowdonia, she said she feared that the First Minister was turning Wales into a "laughing stock".
"This week has brought yet another example – a new website, backed by the Welsh government, to give advice about menstruation," she wrote. "But NHS Wales appears to have decided that its target audience isn’t women – you know, those who actually get periods – but “people who bleed”. It represents yet another example of the erasure of female biology by a public sector body." See more on that here.
"Wales obviously isn’t the only part of the UK where trans ideology has taken hold. Nor is it the only place where 20mph zones are spreading insidiously. But under Mr Drakeford, there has been a tendency to take everything to extremes. Last month, the Welsh government announced that it would seek to reduce the speed limit to 20mph – not just where that might be appropriate, but to all formerly 30mph roads in built-up areas.
"The Welsh Covid lockdowns lasted longer than almost everywhere else in the UK, and the devolved government seemed to glory in introducing the most ridiculous of restrictions. And as if people haven’t spent enough time at home being paid to do nothing, now Mr Drakeford wants to trial a universal basic income – long a dream of those who put economic equality ahead of wealth creation. Perhaps this is unsurprising given that the First Minister was a lecturer in social studies before entering politics. But if the trial is extended, all it will do is universalise welfare dependency and sap what is left of Wales’s enterprise economy.
She added: "Mr Drakeford expects England to subsidise his projects. This is bad enough, but too many on the Left seem to regard his experiments as a model for the whole of the UK to follow. That way lies madness."
The column has received widespread attention on social media, with many Welsh people criticising Ms Kennedy for her views. In response to the piece, Twitter user, Jamie Evans, said: " "I'm proud to come from Wales" but you can't get your facts right and call it a principality?... Something isn't adding up here."
Twitter user, James, wrote: "Kara, do you realise that the budget of the Senedd (~£19bn) is entirely covered by Welsh tax take? (~£28bn)? Do you also realise that England is in deficit? English tax payers are not subsidising the Senedd at all." Claire Vaughan responded with: "What a shame that it's such a terrible, biased, uninformed piece of writing."
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