First Minister Mark Drakeford calls for a general election as Kwasi Kwarteng is sacked as chancellor

First Minister Mark Drakeford has called for a general election after the chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng was sacked by Prime Minister Liz Truss.

Mr Kwarteng had only been in the job for just over a month. His sacking comes three weeks after the mini-budget.

In response, Mark Drakeford said "an enormous amount of damage has been done to the credibility of the new UK Government."

On the question of whether the Prime Minister should go too, Mr Drakeford said: "It's an open question. Those who are left will have to demonstrate that they have learnt the bitter lessons of the last few weeks."

"I think a general election is absolutely the right thing"

Mark Drakeford was speaking to ITV News Cymru Wales while on a visit to Cork for an Ireland and Wales forum.

He said: "The decisions on how to deal with the future should be in the hands of the people, not in the hands of a small number of politicians with a government of the United Kingdom.

"One person's in, the next person's out.

"That's absolutely not the way in which this should be done. This is a government - however the next few hours play out - which is fundamentally broken.

"The choice should go back to the people."

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The Welsh Liberal Democrats are also calling for a general election.

Leader Jane Dodds MS said, “This economic crisis we have been facing wasn't started by Kwasi Kwarteng alone, it was a direct consequence of Liz Truss' economic fantasies.

“The Conservatives have lurched from extreme to extreme over the last seven years, causing economic vandalism on a massive scale. We owe it to the households, individuals and businesses up and down Wales and the rest of the UK who have been hit hard by this crisis, to take firm action now.

“Across Wales, people are angry, fed up and worried about the future. Most of all, they are furious that Conservative MPs seem to think this is an acceptable way to conduct the government of our country in these difficult times.

“Enough is enough, Truss should call a general election. The public did not give her a mandate to pursue policies so radically different from the 2019 Conservative manifesto nor to trash our economy and cause families up and down the country hardship."

While Plaid Cymru are calling for Prime Minister Liz Truss to resign.

Plaid Cymru Westminster leader, Liz Saville Roberts MP said, “Liz Truss hopes to save her zombie premiership by making a scapegoat of Kwasi Kwarteng.

“Let’s remember – she revelled in that awful term ‘Trussonomics’. She wrote the book on the ideology that seeks to inflict this fantasy economics experiment on our communities. She was the driver of this car crash. She must therefore take responsibility. 

“Liz Truss must recognise that the economic shock which has caused so much anxiety for people is her own fault. She must resign today.”