Mark Drakeford has resigned 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

I am sorry to hear this, a good leader.

I thought he seemed a good leader for Wales.

He seems a decent, honest man. Rare in politics today. Hope he has a long and happy retirement.

Totally agree. Whatever decisions he made, it was, clearly, in his view, for the good of Wales. I wish him a long and happy retirement.

Do all who have commented live in Wales?
If so, give us a lend of your rose coloured spectacles please.

Yes, I do LadyGracie. My glasses aren’t rose tinted either.

Nor mine. I was impressed with Drakeford lockdown. He was a good leader and honest.

Welsh relatives thought he was dreadful. Glad to see the back of him.

I’ll be sorry to see him go. He hasn’t got everything right but who can. He did a good job through covid

No great loss given his support for Corbyn, the worst Labout leader ever.

I live in Wales and I think he is a disaster. He may or may not be a decent human being - but he is definitely not a good leader. The whole Welsh assembly are an expensive waste or space about to get much larger and cost us more.
The health service, education system, transport system etc etc etc are all worse than England. Don't even mention the 20mph fiasco 👿

Unfortunately those who seem to be putting themselves up to replace him are cut from the same cloth. Not good for the future

He would have been bad leading a local council, never mind a country. I loved that he doubled council tax for second home owners but had one himself (albeit he didn't have to pay the tax as it was one of those 11 month occupancy deals). As for crashing the economy with 20mph limits and ruining the health service. Goodness!

What are the voters thinking of?

I live in Wales as well and I think that Mark Drakeford and the Welsh Assembly have been a disaster for Wales.
The health service is awful, I needed cataract surgery and after waiting for a year without even an initial appointment I went private and had surgery in both eyes. It was a further year before I was offered an NHS appointment. 3 years ago I was told that I had glaucoma in one eye and was referred to the eye clinic. I was referred again twice the next year, a further two more times the third year and eventually had an appointment with the eye clinic. I have a severely damage eye nerve and now have very little sight in that eye.

The Welsh Assembly has spent large sums of money on Welsh medium schools trying to promote more use of the Welsh language. This has not worked, the children who go to these schools do not use the language outside the classroom. Their whole world is based upon the English language. The result of this policy has left English medium schools in a state of disrepair. The school that I taught at before I retired was riddled with asbestos and now 10 years later it is still the same. There is of course a very expensive state of the art welsh medium school that has been built on the site of an English medium school that was closed because of a drop in the birth rate.

I live in Wales and I am very sorry to see Mark Drakeford go. I think he is a rare politician who answers questions honestly and does what he thinks is best for the Welsh people. He was a good leader during the Covid crisis.
The 20 mph law recently introduced will , in time, become law in the rest of the UK and he will be regarded as a trailblazer!

I was sorry when his wife died and not surprised to see him go now.. He seems a gentle man and I hope he enjoys his retirement.. as I don't live in Wales I can't comment on his competence..

A decent man. I haven’t always agreed with his policies but have more respect for him than for the shambolic dishonest clowns in Westminster. Here in Wales he tried his best to keep us safe during. Covid and led by example - living and working from his garden shed, isolating himself to keep his vulnerable wife and mother-in-law safe at home.
I hope he has a happy retirement

I was concerned about his support for Corbyn but I will say as I live in Wales and am Welsh his love and loyalty to Wales cannot be questioned

Well said Anniebach

I think he's been an atrocious leader and now is abandoning the sinking ship.

His leaving next year has been expected, he said he would stand down during the current Senedd term

That’s an unfair criticism LadyGracie. He is 70 this year, and he announced that he would be retiring in 2024 in December 2022, and gave a very broad hint then as to when exactly he would go. His resignation came as no surprise. Whatever you think of him as a leader you can give him credit for being upfront about that.

Racingsparrow

I live in Wales as well and I think that Mark Drakeford and the Welsh Assembly have been a disaster for Wales.
The health service is awful, I needed cataract surgery and after waiting for a year without even an initial appointment I went private and had surgery in both eyes. It was a further year before I was offered an NHS appointment. 3 years ago I was told that I had glaucoma in one eye and was referred to the eye clinic. I was referred again twice the next year, a further two more times the third year and eventually had an appointment with the eye clinic. I have a severely damage eye nerve and now have very little sight in that eye.

The Welsh Assembly has spent large sums of money on Welsh medium schools trying to promote more use of the Welsh language. This has not worked, the children who go to these schools do not use the language outside the classroom. Their whole world is based upon the English language. The result of this policy has left English medium schools in a state of disrepair. The school that I taught at before I retired was riddled with asbestos and now 10 years later it is still the same. There is of course a very expensive state of the art welsh medium school that has been built on the site of an English medium school that was closed because of a drop in the birth rate.

I share your concern about the compulsory teaching of Welsh. Whilst I do believe that learning Welsh should be encouraged and these ancient languages should not be allowed to die out, it should not be at the expense of other languages as this limits the life chances of Welsh school children.

It is a compulsory subject from Early Years to GCSE level and, because pupils have to choose at least one language at GCSE level, compulsory Welsh is counted as that one language.

European languages and Mandarin, taught in English schools, therefore suffer and, ultimately, so do the pupils. It is a very parochial attitude.

Compulsory Welsh to GCSE precedes the Welsh Assembly though, it’s been in place since 1999. It’s also the case that a second language is not compulsory at GCSE level in England. I don’t think Welsh children are disadvantaged by learning Welsh in that sense, but I think in the UK as a whole, it’s a huge disadvantage that children are no longer able to access foreign language teaching to GCSE level in all schools.

I didn't realise that learning a second language was not compulsory at GCSE level in England.

We're going backwards! Assuming everyone should learn English.

Yes, I remember the teaching of Welsh being introduced and parents having meetings with the Director of Education.