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Friday July 21st 2023 For up to date news please check our social network channels www.pembrokeshire-herald.co.uk
Governments’ Covid disclosures questioned
• Westminster chaos unveiled • SNP Minister deleted evidence • Welsh Ministers “hiding in the shadows” by Henry Tufnell Housing is a hot issue for many people in Pembrokeshire. Not only is it becoming more and more difficult for first-time buyers to get on the housing ladder, but there are also challenges in social housing. We have a social housing waiting list of around 5,000 households, which has seen an increase of more than 50% since 2018. In Wales, since March 2020 the Labour government has continued to take a ‘no-one left out’ approach, which has seen far greater numbers of people supported with temporary accommodation than before the pandemic – but we do still face huge challenges. We know that more than 200,000 households in Wales are struggling to meet mortgage and rental costs. The cost of living continues to bite, and people are struggling to make ends meet.. As for first-time buyers, average house prices were around £255,000 last year, while median pay was stuck at £31,694. The situation has only been worsened by the Tories’ mismanagement of the economy, with 9,523 families in Pembrokeshire facing an annual mortgage payment increase of £2,100. The last 13 years of the Tories has left us with low growth, the highest tax burden in 70 years, and inflation still running at just under 7%. The outlook right now is bleak, with little hope that the current UK Government has any solution to this growing problem. Tory chaos in Westminster has a direct impact in Pembrokeshire, having shrunk the budgets that matter most to people’s lives. . PCC recognise that we need more housing and despite this tough landscape they are looking to develop 350 new build housing units by 2027 and their business plan has identified 400 affordable housing units with sites in Johnston, Tiers Cross, Milford Haven, Haverfordwest, Tenby, Newport and Neyland in the active work programme, with support from the Welsh Labour government.
Furthermore, they are looking to increase the range of housing projects, to include the development of Community Land Trusts and making small plots of council land available for those seeking selfbuild opportunities. The Welsh Labour Government have similarly been active in tackling the issue of second homes and holiday lets. The tourism industry plays an important role in Pembrokeshire but there must be more recognition of the impact it has on local communities. The council tax premium on second homes and the increase in the number of days for holiday lets to qualify for business rates is welcomed. Furthermore, the scale of the problem means that we must always be thinking of new solutions, and I am encouraged by the steps being taken in Gwynedd to examine the impact of Local Planning Authorities requiring property owners to obtain planning permission before changing the use of their properties into second homes or shortterm holiday lets. PCC and our Welsh Labour Government cannot tackle this problem alone though. What we desperately need is a UK Labour Government in Westminster that is committed to building homes again, and which will work in tandem with the Welsh Labour Government in Cardiff and with PCC to tackle this housing crisis. UK Labour’s plan on housing is bold – a housing recovery plan, the next generation of “new towns”, stronger powers and controls for Mayors over planning and housing investment, fast-track approval for brownfield development sites and supporting young people with a government backed mortgage guarantee scheme. We cannot allow the Tories to fan the flames of this housing crisis, by refusing to engage constructively with the Welsh Labour Government and starving it of vital funds. It’s time for change and a bold vision for housing in Pembrokeshire.
EVIDENCE given to the UK Covid Inquiry this week revealed Boris Johnson’s Government was dysfunctional, toxic, and dangerously overconfident about its ability to deal with the pandemic. Advisor after advisor lined up to describe the former Prime Minister’s slapdash approach to governance. From taking ten days’ holiday at a crucial point before the worst of the pandemic hit to being routinely described as “a shopping trolley” by senior aides, Mr Johnson’s reputation took a battering. The impression given was of an administration divided by infighting. Cabinet members allegedly leaked sensitive information to friendly media. Mr Johnson’s grasp of detail and selfdiscipline was so poor that vital decisions changed without notice or explanation. Cabinet government stopped functioning as Mr Johnson increasingly relied on a shrinking group of close confidants, including his wife. The Inquiry released details of a series of communications between Number Ten officials that cast the conduct of those inside Number Ten in an even less favourable light than any of the above. Mr Johnson’s aides held the business and operation of Government in almost as much contempt as they held each other. Parliament was an afterthought, if it was thought of at all. The public interest featured only so far as the Government’s decisions could be spun to the Conservative Party’s political advantage. Mr Johnson’s notorious character flaws were well-known for years before he became Prime Minister. Testimony to the Inquiry has laid bare the extent to which he was unfit for his office and likely incapable of running a
whelk stall. Callous, lazy, selfish, mistrustful and untrustworthy: the picture of Mr Johnson in the pitiless testimony of those closest to him is even less flattering than the one Dorian Gray kept hidden in the attic. The legend of Boris Johnson as “getting the big calls right” has taken more of a pummelling this week than ever before. And, certainly, since his exit from the Commons in disgrace. SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT DUCKS SCRUTINY Other myths have also taken a beating this week. The Scottish Government’s Covid Inquiry heard Nicola Sturgeon used an SNP email address to hide communications between herself, other ministers, and officials. Using an SNP email address was designed to thwart any Freedom of Information Act requests. The Scottish
Government has been criticised at the UK Covid inquiry for failing to hand over messages relating to decisions taken during the pandemic despite promising to do so. Jamie Dawson KC, counsel to the UK Inquiry, said the Scottish Government had provided no WhatsApp or other informal messaging material despite evidence that this type of communication had been used to discuss pandemic preparations. Scotland’s current first minister, Humza Yousaf, denied that Scottish ministers used WhatsApp to make decisions. However, Mr Yousaf later revealed that the Scottish Government ordered the routine deletion of internal communications, including WhatsApp messages, which continued even after the announcement of a statutory inquiry that could compel their production. Professor Jason Leitch, Scotland’s clinical director, cleared his messages daily and has
none left from the virus’s outbreak. Deputy First Minister Shona Robison – who apologised to grieving families for any “distress” caused by the issue – refused to say how many messages had been deleted, who had deleted them and if any effort had been made to retrieve them. Governing by unrecorded private discussions, deleting communications, and adopting a strategy expressly designed to stop them from coming to light either through deletion or circumventing the law is hardly the approach of a government devoted either to transparency or accountability. WELSH GOVERNMENT CIRCLES TO PROTECT MINISTERS Plaid Cymru’s spokesperson for health and care, Mabon ap Gwynfor, has recently written to the First Minister to express
Not the Three Amigos: Sturgeon, Drakeford and Johnson under pressure