Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 3:08 pm on 9 February 2021.
Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Seeing those big, bold 'delivered' stamps on your annual report's opening page, First Minister, I was reminded of a paper I recently read about your Government, which said this:
'There tends to a box ticking drive to ensure Manifesto and Programme promises can be said to have been met. What I have never seen is an overall attempt to assess whether the desired outcomes underlying the Programme...are being advanced.'
Nowhere in your report do you acknowledge your failures, the missed targets, the broken promises. You said you'd eradicate fuel poverty by 2018; you didn't. You said you'd abolish child poverty by 2020; you didn't. You said you'd cut emissions by 40 per cent by last year; you didn't. To quote that paper again, about your Government:
'The current mindset puts delivery second best to maintenance of the status quo.'
Doesn't that just about sum things up, First Minister?