The BBC is reporting today that Welsh Water, which supplies drinking water for most of Wales, has been illegally releasing untreated sewage instead of treating it for five years. In Cardigan, toxic sludge was spilling into natural water 200 days a year. Welsh Water is regulated by Natural Resources Wales, a taxpayer-funded body which received 57 per cent of its funding from the Drakeford’s Government in 2020-21. The TPA is kicking up a stink after digging out the pay of their executive team – five of them are raking in over £100,000 and chief executive Clare Pillman took home at least £185,000 in 2020/21. The TPA’s Conor Holohan says the regulator is clearly asleep at the wheel and that it’s “time for pay to reflect performance across all regulators“. With their pockets spilling over it’s no surprise the regulators have their eyes off the ball…

Mark Drakeford isn’t about to pump the brakes on his new 20mph zones, even as the number of signatures opposing the move climbs beyond a whopping 460,000. Speaking to GB News‘ Tom Harwood at Labour Conference this afternoon, the Welsh First Minister insisted the reviled policy was a “small thing to ask“, and “the system is settling in very well“. Full speed ahead…

“We take the petitioners’ views seriously… Once the policy is settled in, we will make sure local authorities are properly assigned roads to different speed limits. In the meantime, the system is settling in very well. People are abiding carefully by it. We will see the advantages in the lives that we will save and the accidents that will not take place. It’s a small thing to ask people to drive a little bit more slowly to achieve that.”

He did at least acknowledge “it’s important to review things [and] we need to give it a few months to be sure how the patterns of travel are settling in”. At least a few more months of pointless congestion yet…

Mark Drakeford’s new 20mph speed limit has gone down like a cup of cold sick over in Wales. In fact, it’s gone so badly that a whopping 445,130 people have signed a petition calling on Welsh Labour to “rescind and remove the disastrous […] law“. The Senedd Petitions Committee has to consider all petitions that get more than 10,000 signatures. They’ve just about passed that threshold…

In fact, there’s another milestone the petition has now passed: it now has more signatories than the total number of people who voted for Labour in the 2021 Senedd election (443,047). Implementing the new limit reportedly cost around £33 million, and will whack the economy by up to £9 billion. You’d think Mark would pump the brakes. He’s still going full speed ahead…

The Labour appointed Chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission in Wales wants to ban the public procurement of meat. The Chair, David Clubb, started a petition seeking to ban government meat procurement as he called for people and organisations to switch “to exclusively plant-based diets”. Commenting on the news, Welsh Conservative Leader, Andrew RT Davies said:

“With blanket 20 mph zones and meal deal bans, Labour ministers in the Senedd are known for their extreme policies. It’s therefore no surprise they’ve made this appointment. Our meat industry is vital to the Welsh economy. Diet is of course a matter of personal choice… Labour ministers in the Senedd must urgently review the Chair’s position and distance themselves from these absurd comments.”

Going by the Welsh government’s track record, Guido was just surprised David didn’t include a provision to procure bugs…

Independent MP Rob Roberts has declared other Welsh politicians are “second rate” and the Senedd has “failed in every conceivable way to deliver for the Welsh people“. Posting on Facebook yesterday, Roberts slammed Welsh opposition groups for doing “absolutely nothing” to stop Labour. The same Rob Roberts who was previously suspended from the Commons for sexual misconduct…

But it’s also correct that the opposition groups in the Senedd have done absolutely nothing about it. The whole place is full of second-rate politicians doing a second-rate job, sitting for two days a week and stealing a living from the public purse.

A fair chunk of them are elected having never actually won a vote, and they want to increase the gravy train even more. The whole institution is an absolute joke and the worst thing that’s ever happened to Wales, established on a 50.3% “yes” vote from a 50.2% turnout.

Beyond just providing tampons in male toilets, Welsh Labour seem intent on further strengthening the Senedd’s safe space credentials. Jenny Rathbone yesterday called for a ban on GB News from the estate:

“On a wider issue, GB News, which has been found in breach of Ofcom guidelines around COVID vaccines, has many items broadcasting disinformation or hateful views, and it’s currently broadcast on our internal televisions. I just wondered if any thought had been given to whether it was appropriate for an organisation that might continue to disseminate disinformation to be broadcast through our systems to our staff and Members.”

If Jenny really wanted to stamp out harmful language, perhaps she should start closer to home…