Mark Drakeford said he had spent his time as first minister making “difficult and challenging” decisions
By Adrian Browne & Jack Grey
BBC news
First Minister Mark Drakeford has defended Wales’ 20mph speed limit days before he steps down.
Mr Drakeford said he was surprised by the level of opposition and anger the new limit provoked.
However, he said he has chosen to tackle “difficult and challenging” issues, not spend his time “sitting back and doing the easy things”.
On Saturday, either Jeremy Miles or Vaughan Gething will be announced as Mr Drakeford’s successor.
He was speaking to Radio Wales Breakfast, as part of a series of interviews reflecting on his five years leading the Welsh government.
“I’m very proud of the 20 mile an hour policy, it will save people’s lives… particularly save the lives of children,” he said.
Image source, Getty Images
On Saturday, either Economy Minister Vaughan Gething or Education Minister Jeremy Miles will be announced as Mr Drakeford’s successor
Mr Drakeford said while the opposition to the 20mph law did supprise him, he said that all attempts to reform the way that people drive in the UK “have always been hugely controversial”.
He said the choice you have to make when you first become first minister is a “simple” one.
“You can either just spend your time sitting back and doing the easy things, and hanging on to the political capital that you’ve accumulated, or you can do the difficult things, the challenging things,” he said.
Mr Drakeford added that he had focused on some areas that “inevitably make people feel uncomfortable, because you’re asking them to change the way that they live their lives”.
Doing some of “those things that are challenging”, he argued, would “will pay dividends in the lives of people who come after us”.
Mark Drakeford became emotional at the Covid Inquiry as he described not seeing his 90-year-old mother during lockdown
The first minister, who was questioned at the Covid inquiry on Wednesday, said he believed that whether he got things right or wrong while handling that crisis was not the “exam question here”.
“I think it’s impossible to answer,” he said.
“What I was trying to do was not to justify, but to explain why we made the decisions that we did… and I think the test is – were they reasonable, not were they right,” he said
“I’m absolutely open to the fact that other reasonable people could have come to different decisions, but what I was trying to explain was the state of knowledge at the time.
“The decisions that we made in Wales were reasonable decisions and I think that’s the real test.”
