Plaid Cymru criticises conflicting approaches from UK and ‘Welsh’ Labour

The leader of the Labour party must “reflect on what Labour is doing in government in Wales” as he presses for an independent inquiry looking at the response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Plaid Cymru shadow minister for Public Service Transformation, Delyth Jewell MS has said

Sir Kier Starmer is quoted in the Independent as saying that ministers had “failed to learn lessons from the first phase of the pandemic”. “The tragic result is that Britain has suffered more deaths during the second wave than the first,” he said. “Every life lost to this virus is a family shattered. The prime minister promised an independent inquiry, and those families deserve to know when it will start.”

In Wales, the Labour First Minister committed to an independent public inquiry in May following pressure from Plaid Cymru.

Highlighting Labour’s hypocrisy, Delyth Jewell accused the Labour Welsh government of providing “scant detail on when such an inquiry will start and finish its work.”

Responding to Sir Kier Starmer’s comments, Delyth Jewell MS said

“It would be helpful if the Labour party in London could reflect on what Labour is doing in government in Wales.

“In May, the First Minister committed to holding an independent public inquiry following pressure from Plaid Cymru. Since then, there has been scant detail on when such an inquiry will start and finish its work.

“Had the inquiry been initiated at the time, interim findings could have been presented this spring – expediting the lessons learnt exercise.

“Grieving families deserve to know whether outcomes would have been different had other policy decisions been taken.”