Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:04 pm on 11 February 2020.
Yes, I did take the opportunity to read the ministerial code, and it's quite clear in the ministerial code that Ministers cannot campaign against Government policy. This ward closure was a direct result of your own Government policy. That's the point. You're in danger, on the NHS, of turning double standards into an art form, of having your cake as a Government and eating it as an opposition. It's your policy that led to this proposed closure. The chief whip is campaigning against your own Government policy. In other Parliaments, in other contexts, as chief whip, she'd have to have a stern word with herself; maybe remove the whip from herself. You couldn't make it up, First Minister, except that you do, time after time, when it's politically expedient to do so. Whatever happened to collective responsibility?