Backbench Labour Assembly Members think they are exempt from scrutinising the Welsh Labour Government, Welsh Conservatives claimed today.
In the past six weeks, only two written questions have been tabled by Labour AMs to Welsh Ministers.
During the same period only two Plaid Cymru AMs have tabled questions, while the Leader of Plaid Cymru has not asked any questions at all since returning to the Senedd in May.
Earlier this year, Jocelyn Davies told plenary that Plaid Cymru AMs were ‘not bound’ to attend Assembly meetings.
Tabling written questions to Ministers is one of the primary methods of obtaining information and holding Ministers to account for delivery of their policies, especially while the Assembly is in recess.
The Cabinet, three Deputy Ministers and the Presiding Officer are precluded from asking questions, leaving 47 Assembly Members, including 17 from the Labour Party to scrutinise the Welsh Government.
Andrew RT Davies AM, Leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the National Assembly, said, “Labour AMs seem to think they are exempt from holding Welsh Ministers to account.
“Voters who lent their support to Labour in the recent Assembly elections will be very disappointed to learn that their new AMs are content to be voting fodder rather than the hardworking representatives people deserve.
“The Labour leader promised that his AMs would be working hard and playing a full part in Assembly proceedings, but it seems his colleagues are rather more workshy.
“Unlike the House of Commons, where there are hundreds of backbench MPs, we only have a small number of non-government Assembly Members, whose role it is to scrutinise the Welsh Labour Government’s spending of public money.
“It is concerning that only weeks into a five year Assembly term, the majority of Labour AMs seem happy to sit on their hands rather than getting on with the jobs they were elected to do.
“Tired after four years in government and now engaged in a gruelling eight month leadership contest, Plaid Cymru AMs need to ditch their ‘part-timer’ attitude and recognise their duties as an opposition party.
“While the people of Wales voted to give AMs enhanced powers in the referendum in March, excitement was somewhat muted, so AMs of all parties now have to prove they are up to the challenge of wielding these substantial responsibilities.
“At a time when we are seeing cuts to the NHS, systemic failings in the education system and a fragile economy, it is more important than ever that the Welsh Labour Government is held to account.”
