NICOLA Sturgeon has said she is “100 per cent” behind Mark Drakeford after the Welsh First Minister launched a furious and impassioned attack on the Tories.
Drakeford, who leads Wales for Labour, laid into the Welsh Tories’ Andrew RT Davies after a question about the NHS.
Speaking in the Senedd in Cardiff, Davies said the Welsh Government needed a “solution” to the problems plaguing the health service, highlighting how it is devolved.
The Tory leader said: "In Wales, we are like a third world country when it comes to healthcare – I’m sure Aneurin Bevan [the Welsh Labour MP who oversaw the creation of the NHS] would be turning in his grave."
In response, Drakeford said that Wales wanted more people working in the ambulance service, with higher quality services in hospitals to back them up.
“What do people who work in the service … what do those people face?” he started.
“They face cuts to their pay because of the policy of your [Tory] government, and now they face cuts to the budgets that the health service itself will have at its disposal.”
Building in anger, Drakeford went on: “It is shocking. It is absolutely shocking to me that you think you can turn up here this afternoon with the mess that your party has made to the budget of this country, to the reputation of this country around the world, that you promised those people that there would be more to come, and you think you turn up here this afternoon and claim some sort of moral high ground.
“What sort of world do you belong in?”
The First Minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford, has just shouted at the leader of the Welsh Conservatives, Andrew RT Davies, in the Senedd after a question about the Welsh NHS… pic.twitter.com/SwL03JK6d6
— Peter Gillibrand (@GillibrandPeter) October 18, 2022
The clip of a visibly angry First Minister was shared on social media, attracting the attention of Scotland’s leader.
Sturgeon wrote on Twitter that the Conservatives do the same in Scotland as they do in Wales.
She said: “100% with @MarkDrakeford @PrifWeinidog in his anger and frustration at Tories who take a sledgehammer to the economy and public services, and then try to pretend that the consequences have nothing to do with them.
“They do just the same in [Scotland].”
Drakeford's furious attack on the Conservatives comes after Sturgeon faced criticism for saying that she "detests" the party.
Asked if she would prefer a Labour or Tory government in London, Sturgeon said: “I detest the Tories and everything they stand for.”
The comment came with the UK facing a cost-of-living crisis which has seen energy bills skyrocket and inflationary pressures impose real-terms cuts on people's pay cheques.
Liz Truss's government has further refused to rule out scrapping the triple lock on pensions, and suggested that benefits may not rise in line with inflation, imposing further real-terms cuts.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesperson said: “We are very aware of how many vulnerable pensioners there are and indeed our priority ahead of this fiscal plan is we continue to protect the most vulnerable in society.
“The Prime Minister and the Chancellor are not making any commitments on individual policy areas at this point, but as I say the decisions will be made through the prism of what matters most to the most vulnerable.”
