Plaid Cymru has responded to the evidence given by Vaughan Gething MS, the former Welsh Health Minister, and Labour First Minister candidate, to the UK Covid Inquiry today, 11 March 2024.
Mabon ap Gwynfor MS, Plaid Cymru’s Health and Care spokesperson, said:
What’s clear from today's shambolic testimony at the UK Covid inquiry is that the Labour Government in Wales was ill-prepared for Covid.
Vaughan Gething is noted as telling Cabinet that there were no cases in the UK at the end of February 2020. Despite never disputing meeting minutes where this was noted and even repeating it in his written evidence to the inquiry, he's now taken this back.
The Labour Welsh Government didn’t treat Covid as an emergency until the start of March 2020. Their PPE stock was the wrong sort, and it couldn't be used even though they knew that a coronavirus pandemic was likely.
Plaid Cymru was saying back in March 2020 that the Welsh Government should postpone the Six Nations games, but Vaughan Gething as Health Minister washed his hands of responsibility and advised the WRU to decide themselves what to do.
We also learned that he's refusing to take responsibility for his disappearing Whatsapp messages. He says that decisions were not made over WhatsApp – but evidence from Government special advisers says otherwise.
There will undoubtedly be more unanswered questions after today. We know, without doubt, that the Conservative UK Government’s handling of Covid was terrible. But in Wales, it’s becoming clear that the shambolic lack of preparedness by the Labour Government has had a long-lasting, devastating impact on Wales. The case for a Wales-specific Covid inquiry is clearer than ever.”
Plaid Cymru had called for the Welsh Government to postpone the 2020 Six Nations a month before the Wales-Scotland game was postponed in March 2020: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-51853674