Mark Drakeford has said Welsh Labour is preparing for a snap general election as soon as early 2023. The First Minister made the comments in an interview with The Guardian, saying he believed the UK government could be “overwhelmed” and forced to call a snap UK election "at any time."
The UK government has come under increasing pressure due to its handling of the pandemic and related scandals such as Partygate, culminating in Boris Johnson's departure and the disastrous reign of Liz Truss, who stood down just 44 days into the job which included a much-maligned mini-budget that sent the markets into panic.
And with the most recent polls putting the Labour Party ahead of the Tories, Mr Drakeford admitted his party was readying itself for a possible election and was "pressing ahead" to make sure it had candidates in the field and "working on the policies we would promote in a general election." You can get more politics news and other story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
Mr Drakeford - who told WalesOnline in an interview in December that he intended to step down as First Minister in 2024 - claimed the Conservative government in Westminster was "staggering" and that Welsh Labour needed to be ready. The next UK general election is due to be held no later than January 25, 2025.
"We do not need 18 months of an exhausted government that has lost credibility and cannot command even the support of its own MPs, staggering on,” he said, adding that he felt the UK government needed a "fresh start."
Asked if he was preparing for a UK election, he said: “Absolutely. A general election could come at any time. A bigger issue could come at any moment and completely overwhelm the government. We are pressing ahead, making sure we have candidates in the field. We are working on the policies we would promote in a general election and looking forward to Wales making the maximum contribution we can to having a Labour UK government.”
Mr Drakeford said he felt the UK was at a “low ebb” after a "decade of austerity" had kept people's wages low, resulting in workers taking industrial action in recent months. He also said he believed that the UK government had damaged the reputation of the union but that Wales' success, notably by its football team reaching its first World Cup in 64 years, had made the differences between the different UK nations more obvious internationally. He said the draft budget the Welsh government announced in December had been the hardest so far but that his government would continue to fund "genuinely radical things” such as a basic income pilot for care leavers, announced in June at a cost of around £20 million.
The First Minister admitted that while this winter would be difficult, he remained hopeful for the future. "This is going to be a very tough winter for many families in Wales. But there is a better future and Wales is well placed in many ways – our fantastic natural resources, for example; the way in which, in a renewable energy world, we are going to be able to play a part that hasn’t been possible for us maybe for half a century since the end of coalmining and steelmaking.
"You have an obligation in the job I do to be hopeful about the future. Even on the worst day, what you shouldn’t do is put your head in your hands and despair." A People Polling survey for GB News last week put Keir Starmer’s Labour party on 45%, the Conservatives on just 19% and the Lib Dems on 8%, reported the Mirror.
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