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IN just one month, public confidence in the Welsh Government’s handling of the coronavirus situation has dropped by 21%.
Only 45% now believe the situation is being handled well here, with trust in First Minister Mark Drakeford also dropping by 11% (to 44%) over the same period.
The figures were released in a YouGov poll this week, at the same time the Welsh Government announced a third lockdown to start on December 28th.
Gwlad leader, Gwyn Wigley Evans said the figures were not surprising since the trust built up at the start of the crisis had now been squandered entirely.
‘Surely, I’m not the only one to think that this form of Presidential diktat from Drakeford, where he’s by-passing the Senedd, entirely is very alarming’ he said.
‘But what’s worse is that he is still refusing to show us the clear evidence to justify locking everybody down again for the third time.’
‘Where’s the transparency and openness for the Welsh public in this process?’
‘I’m talking all the time to people who own small and medium sized businesses here, and they just can’t understand why draconian decisions are being taken which are fast wiping them out – without the evidence for those decisions being presented.’
‘There’s surely a case to seek a judicial review of this decimation of their livelihoods’.
Mr. Evans said the lack of real engagement and scrutiny over the latest decision was a huge concern for everybody in Wales, whatever their political views
‘The only one who seems to be asking hard questions on behalf of the Welsh public is Neil McEvoy, and the Bay bubble seem to be hellbent on silencing his voice’ he said.
A big increase in new ‘positive’ cases is expected to be announced by Public Health Wales today, which could be seen as justification for a further lockdown.
Although it must also be remembered that there has been an 81% increase in testing in Wales over the last month, facilitated by the mass army testing which has gone on in the south.
It’s frightening how easily the prison language of ‘lockdown’ has been introduced and accepted into public discourse in Wales this year.
The lack of creative thinking to come up with other instruments to manage the virus has also stood out like a sore thumb.
Along with gross mismanagement as well, as seen with the £166 million spent on building field hospitals for Covid patients – which have remained unused because there was no staff available to man these hospitals.
Which has meant that Covid patients have not been isolated from general hospital patients for months on end.
Little wonder that coronavirus is now being termed an ‘NHS virus’ , with a significant portion of new cases actually seeded in hospital settings.
Once things improve, the people of Wales surely deserve a full and wide ranging public inquiry into how this year-long crisis was handled by Welsh Labour.