Politics

Wales’ First Minister sets out priorities for her government

Published

2 years ago

September 18, 2024

WALES’ new First Minister Eluned Morgan vowed to focus on the issues that matter most to people as she outlined the Welsh Government’s priorities.

Baroness Morgan, who took the reins in August after Vaughan Gething was forced to resign, promised to prioritise health, education and the economy ahead of the next election in 2026.

She said her new-look Welsh Government has spent the summer listening to people in every corner of Wales, helping to shape her plans.

She told the Senedd: “Health and social care, particularly addressing those long waiting times for treatment, are the top priorities.

“There’s also a strong desire for us to make faster progress on improving education standards, and in creating jobs and growing the economy over the next 18 months.”

The first minister stressed that delivery, accountability and improved productivity will be the watchwords of her administration over the next 18 months.

Baroness Morgan, who was health secretary for three years before taking the top job, vowed to cut long NHS waits, including in mental health, and improve access to social care.

She told the chamber: “In Torfaen, young women told me they wanted more support for mental health and women’s health issues, like period pains and endometriosis. 

“The business community and housing developers in our capital city told me they wanted to see a speed up of the planning process.

“In Brecon, I was told school standards need to be raised, and many across Wales told me how they were struggling to pay their rent. One man told me his family was delaying having a second child due to worries over the rising costs….

“In the valleys, people called for better public transport links. In Connah’s Quay nearly every conversation was about the need to fix the roads.

“These conversations and many others like them have helped define this government’s priorities. We are listening. We can’t do everything, so we are setting priorities.”

She recognised concerns about the roll-out of 20 mph as protesters once again gathered on the Senedd steps, accusing ministers of ignoring nearly 500,000 who signed a petition.

Baroness Morgan cautioned that tough decisions lie ahead due to a £22bn “black hole” in the UK’s finances which she claimed was left by the previous Conservative government.

“I know that this won’t be easy,” she warned. “And I know the damage that 14 years of Conservative mismanagement has done to the UK’s public finances.

“As Nye Bevan, the founder of the NHS, said: ‘The language of priorities is the religion of socialism.’ That’s what we’re going to do in government.

“Today, we have the best opportunity in more than 14 years to realise our ambitions.”

Wales’ first minister, who was appointed six weeks ago, hailed a new dawn – with a “partnership of power” between two Labour governments at either end of the M4.

In closing, she vowed: “We have listened, we have learned – and we will deliver.”

Andrew RT Davies claimed it was the seventh such statement on priorities in the past year, saying it was the lightest on detail since he was elected more than a decade ago.

The leader of the Conservative opposition warned: “It’s no wonder those charged with delivering this … really don’t know which way to turn.”

Mr Davies criticised the first minister for “taking aim” at NHS chief executives in a BBC Wales interview, saying she appointed six of seven health board bosses.

The Tory pointed out that the Welsh Government has so far missed every target in its 2022 blueprint to reduce waiting lists.

“We’ve heard it all before,” he told the Senedd. “Time and time again, Labour ministers have come to this chamber to say that waiting lists are the priority.

“Well, the proof is in the pudding – waiting lists are going up here in Wales.”

Mr Davies also called for investment in universities and action to tackle “stubbornly high” school absenteeism rates in some of the poorest parts of Wales.

Rhun ap Iorwerth called the first minister’s statement “very, very thin” and claimed the Welsh Government wasted five weeks before appointing a permanent cabinet,

Plaid Cymru’s leader criticised a “summer of silence” from Wales’ new first minister, describing the listening exercise as a public relations stunt.

He said: “The result of the exercise … surprise, surprise was that health, education and the economy were the top priorities.

“Goodness me, if a party that’s been leading the Welsh Government for 25 years hadn’t realised those were the priorities then we’re in deeper trouble with Labour than I thought.”

Mr ap Iorwerth attacked the first minister’s “unwillingness” to fight Wales’ corner.

He said: “On the Barnett formula, HS2 consequences, on devolving the Crown Estate, justice and policing, Labour’s message to Wales is ‘no, no, no.”

During the meeting on September 17, Mr ap Iorwerth suggested the well of “clear-red water” between Welsh and UK Labour is beginning to run dry.

Responding to the First Minister’s announcement of the Welsh Government’s priorities, director of the Welsh NHS Confederation Darren Hughes said: “NHS leaders will welcome the focus on health and the wider determinants of health in the four priority areas outlined for government.

“We know that getting the NHS back on track is a top priority for the public, given it affects so many of us, including our loved ones. Nobody wants to provide timely, quality care and treatment to those who need it most more than NHS leaders and staff, all of whom work tirelessly towards this every day.

“Only by working across sector and government department boundaries as One Welsh Public Service will we be able to truly embrace prevention and tackle demand so the NHS can be there for those who need it most.”

Local Government

Pembrokeshire council Cabinet finance roles under spotlight

Published

20 hours ago

July 23, 2026

Bruce Sinclair - Local Democracy Reporter

THE NUMBER of senior Pembrokeshire councillors holding the top finance job in recent years came under the spotlight at the July meeting of the council.

A submitted question by Cllr Alan Dennison, heard at the July meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council asked: “Since my election in 2022, this administration has experienced a turnover of four finance cabinet members, averaging one per year.”

Those four Cabinet members with responsibility for finance were: Cllr Alec Cormack, Cllr Joshua Beynon, Cllr Alistair Cameron, and former leader Cllr Jon Harvey who has now assumed the finance role.

Cllr Dennison’s question added: “This high turnover raises concerns about the stability of the council’s financial management, particularly in light of the current fiscal challenges and in light of the recent announcement by Finance Cabinet Member number 3 [Cllr Cameron] that under this administration there has been a staggering 97 per cent increase in council tax rates since 2017, in contrast to a mere 37 per cent rise in the inflation rate.

“Could the Leader explain the rationale behind these frequent changes in leadership and what apparent benefit this has to the Pembrokeshire ratepayers?”

Back in May, a previous submitted question by Cllr Dennison asked for the increase in council tax levels since 2017.

Cllr Cameron had responded by saying the level of council tax for a Band D average property had increased by 95.7 per cent in that time.

For the 2026 to ’27 financial year, the county council part of council tax levels in the county rose by 4.6 per cent, equivalent to an extra £76 for the average Band D property, less than half last year’s increase.

The previous year saw Pembrokeshire’s council tax increased by 9.35 per cent, lower than that year’s Cabinet recommendation of 9.85 per cent.

The previous year to that saw a 12.5 per cent rise on top of previous increases of 12.5 per cent, 9.92 per cent, five per cent, 3.75 per cent, five per cent and 7.5 per cent.

The overall council tax bill is made up of the county council element, the largest part, the Dyfed-Powys Police precept, and individual town or community council elements.

Responding to Cllr Dennison’s question at the July meeting, new leader Cllr Tessa Hodgson pointed out that he had got “his facts and figures wrong,” as she had only had cabinet member for finance under her leadership, Cllr Harvey, who was “doing a great job”.

Community

Contentious DARC space radar scheme to be decided by Welsh Government

Published

21 hours ago

July 23, 2026

Bruce Sinclair - Local Democracy Reporter

THE CONTENTIOUS DARC ‘space radar’ scheme in Pembrokeshire is to be decided by Welsh Government rather than county planners, just days before it was to be debated by them.

In an application submitted earlier this year to Pembrokeshire County Council following a public consultation, the Ministry of Defence wants to install 27 radar antenna and a long list of associated works at Cawdor Barracks, Brawdy for a worldwide network of sensors called the Deep Space Advanced Radar Concept (DARC) to track active satellites and other objects which would utilise three sites worldwide, part of the AUKUS trilateral security partnership, in the USA, the UK and Australia “enabling 360-degree coverage of the sky at all times of day and under any weather conditions”.

In late 2023, Cawdor Barracks was identified as the preferred UK site by the-then UK Defence Secretary, Grant Shapps.

A supporting statement says of the DARC scheme: “This capability is critical to protect and defend the services provided by satellites, ensuring continuity and resilience against collisions or debris-related incidents.

“Without DARC, the UK faces a significant risk of losing access to these vital services, which would have severe consequences for national security, economic stability, and public safety.”

St Davids City Council members unanimously opposed the pre-application consultation proposals, and public objectors have raised concerns with protests taking place outside the barracks and County Hall, Haverfordwest earlier this year, and the scheme before county planners attracted more than 1,000 objections.

Pembrokeshire-based Jerome Flynn, famous for his roles in Soldier Soldier, Robson & Jerome and more recently Game of Thrones has described the scheme as “the most unspeakably abominable planning application led by the US military, backed by Donald Trump to place 27 radar dishes right on the edge of our beloved coastal national park”.

Campaign group PARC against DARC, set up in 2024 to oppose the scheme which it has described as the militarisation of space, submitted an official request to ‘call in’ the application for DARC radar to the newly formed Plaid Cymru Welsh Government.

A ‘call-in’ means the application could be decided at Welsh Government level rather than by county planners.

The application was due to go before Pembrokeshire County Council’s next planning committee, on July 28, but has now been ‘called in by Siân Gwenllian MS, Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning.

The Cabinet Minister’s letter to Pembrokeshire County Council calling in the application says: “The proposed development raises national security issues given the strategic defence nature of the proposal and is a novel planning issue.

“The proposal potentially conflicts with national policy in relation to landscape, ecology, sustainability and placemaking.

“A decision on the proposal may be controversial beyond the immediate locality, and there is already considerable public interest in the proposal.

“All these matters lead the Cabinet Minister to conclude the development is of more than local importance and the application should be determined by the Welsh Ministers.”

A PARC against DARC spokesperson, welcoming the ‘call-in,’ said: “As we made in our case to Welsh ministers, the DARC proposal is part of a weapons system designed to track and target satellites belonging to other countries around the world.

“It is being developed for the US Space Force, which was created under Donald Trump, at a time when US military spending has doubled since he took office. That is why DARC has been described as a significant escalation in the militarisation of space.”

A planned demonstration at County Hall, Haverfordwest, due to be held on July 28 when Pembrokeshire planners were to deliberate on DARC, is to go ahead as “a vigil in support of Welsh Government’s call-in decision,” PARC against DARC has said.

A spokesman for Pembrokeshire County Council said the call-in had been received on July 21.

“As such the application is transferred to the Welsh Ministers for a decision and the application will no longer be presented to the council’s planning committee at its meeting scheduled for July 28.

“The council now awaits confirmation from the Welsh Ministers regarding the procedure and timetable that will be adopted for their consideration of the application.

“Further information will be provided once the council has been formally notified of the next steps in the decision-making process.”

Local Government

Call to end special planning delegation panel

Published

21 hours ago

July 23, 2026

Bruce Sinclair - Local Democracy Reporter

A CALL to bring to an end a special Pembrokeshire council panel which decides whether some planning applications should be considered by councillors rather than planning officers is to be discussed further.

A notice of motion submitted by Councillor Huw Murphy to the July meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council asked: “That council consider disbanding the Planning Delegation Panel (PDP) and review the current arrangements so that planning applications delegated to officers for refusal, where a member requests further consideration, are referred directly to the Planning Committee rather than first being considered by the PDP.”

His supporting statement said: “Under the current arrangements within Pembrokeshire County Council, where a planning application has been delegated to officers and a refusal is recommended, the local county councillor may request that the application be considered by the PDP.

“The PDP then determines whether the application should proceed to full planning committee. It is considered that this additional stage introduces unnecessary bureaucracy into the planning process, leading to increased delays and costs for applicants.

“The current process can also be perceived as limiting democratic oversight, as applications may be refused by the panel without being considered by full planning committee, whose elected members bring local knowledge, experience transparency and democratic accountability to planning decisions.

“By comparison, the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority, which is responsible for planning across more than 30 per cent of the land area of Pembrokeshire, does not operate a planning delegation panel. Instead, planning matters are considered through its established planning procedures, and this approach appears to function effectively without the need for a PDP.”

His supporting statement ended: “The removal of the PDP should simplify decision-making, reduce bureaucracy, improve transparency and democratic accountability, and reduce the workload of Democratic Services.”

At the July meeting, members agreed the notice of motion would be referred to the council’s constitutional review committee for further consideration.