Former First Minister Mark Drakeford had a dramatic outburst at the Senedd today over the Welsh Government shelving his plans to change the school holidays in Wales.
Proposals introduced by Drakeford outlined that the half term break in October 2025 would be doubled to a fortnight, but the summer holiday would be cut from the traditional six week period to a five week.
Earlier this week the Welsh Government confirmed those plans will be postponed until the next Senedd election.
In his first major intervention since standing down as First Minister, a fiery Drakeford said the Welsh Government has missed an opportunity to help children.
Drakeford said: "When they come back in September, the school starts all over again.
"The idea that there is no learning loss in the lives of those children is absolutely absurd.
“What this policy would have done would have begun to close the gap in the lives of those children.
"Here is a Government which could have done something to help them, but it has decided not to."
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Education Minister, Lynne Neagle pushed back on her former boss saying a week’s change would not make a difference.
She said: "To think a week’s change in the school year is going to make a difference to the systemic challenges we’re facing in education is quite frankly fiddling while Rome burns.
"I’m really really sorry to couch it in those terms.”
Since Vaughan Gething came into Government many policies of Drakeford have been postponed or altered, including the controversial 20mph policy, delays to the council tax changes, and delays to the sustainable farming scheme.
The outburst comes ahead of a difficult day for the Welsh Government, as Vaughan Gething faces a vote of no confidence on Wednesday.
The vote was called amid feelings of discontent within the Party over Vaughan Gething accepting a £200,000 donation.
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