Plaid Cymru call on Eluned Morgan to be sacked over crisis at Betsi Cadwaladr health board

Rhun ap Iorwerth has told ITV Cymru Wales that he thinks now is the time for Eluned Morgan to be removed from her post by the First Minister.

A senior Plaid Cymru politician has called for the Health Minister to be sacked over the crisis engulfing Wales’ biggest health board. 

Betsi Cadwaladr, which runs services in the North, was put back into special measures last week, three years after it had been taken out of them. 

As part of last week’s Welsh Government action, the eleven members of the independent board who’d been put in place to monitor executives running Betsi Cadwaladr, were asked to quit by the health minister, Eluned Morgan. 

Plaid Cymru’s health spokesperson, Rhun ap Iorwerth has previously called for Ms. Morgan to consider her position. 

But speaking before today’s meeting of his party’s conference in Llanelli, he’s gone further.

He said, “The people of Wales have lost faith in the Health Minister. Time and again, she’s evaded scrutiny and shifted blame onto others when challenged with the disastrous outcomes of her own policies.

“This is particularly true in the North. The patients and staff of Betsi Cadwaladr deserve better from their government. The least they deserve is an apology, but what we all need is the government to step up and take responsibility for this mess.

“In a democracy, the authority to govern flows from the people. It’s clear Eluned Morgan no longer has that authority. If she’s not willing to take responsibility now, the First Minister should do the right thing on behalf of the people of Wales, and remove his Health Minister.”

In response to his comments, a Welsh Labour spokesperson said, “This is pretty desperate stuff from Plaid Cymru. The Health Minister is doing an excellent job.” 

At their conference in Llanelli, Plaid Cymru members will also be meeting in private for part of today, holding a special conference to debate and vote on a new political strategy. 

The strategy has taken 18 months to consult members at all levels of the party with the leadership claiming that it’s based on over a thousand individual responses. 

Unsurprisingly the strategy puts independence at the top of Plaid Cymru’s aims, not as an end in itself but as a way of creating a fairer Wales. 

To do that, the strategy states that Plaid Cymru must position itself, and be seen as, a party of government and that means being realistic about the likelihood of having to go into a coalition government, particularly with the introduction of a new, more proportional, electoral system before the 2026 Senedd election. 

It’s a big change. Since December 2021 the party has been working with Labour after signing a cooperation agreement but has refused to form a coalition.  

If the political strategy is backed this weekend, the party’s overriding goal will be to get into government, even if that means being a junior partner in a Labour-led administration. 

That will be controversial with some in Plaid Cymru who are already questioning the value of even an arms-length co-operation agreement. 

There has also been internal criticism of the handling of a series of controversies: the suspension and reinstatement of Jonathan Edwards MP; the suspension of Rhys ab Owen MS while he’s investigated by the Senedd’s Standards Commissioner over an alleged breach of the code of conduct for members and the resignation of the party’s Chief Executive. 

In response, Plaid Cymru brought in an external HR company to investigate allegations of misconduct and former Senedd member Nerys Evans is leading a working group reviewing the party’s complaints process. 

It’s thought some members may seek to use today’s special conference to raise issues relating to the party’s culture even though the focus of it will be on the political strategy. 

In his speech on Friday Plaid Cymru’s leader Adam Price promised that he “will do everything necessary” to change the culture in his party.

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