Jeremy Miles launching his campaign to be the next First Minister of Wales (Image: Getty)
One of Labour's leading candidates to be the next First Minister of Wales has been branded "worse than" Mark Drakeford after declaring his first priority in office would be to deliver a 50/50 gender balance despite presiding over as minister the worst education system out of the UK.
Education minister Jeremy Miles made this clear in his 5-point plan for the top job, although critics pointed out that under his watch Wales now trails the rest of the country in the league tables for core subjects like mathematics, numeracy and science.
Welsh Conservative Leader, Andrew RT Davies, told Express.co.uk: "The people of Wales might be happy to see the back of Drakeford, but they shouldn't pop the champagne just yet - whoever replaces him will be just as woke as, if not worse than, the former First Minister.
"Instead of wasting time and money pursuing right-on policies, the next First Minister should stick to getting the basics right."
Would you sack the “Minister for Education” after the embarrassing recent PISA scores? https://t.co/OlCDMxM9m0 pic.twitter.com/vVrzCexFDc
— Nathan Edmunds (@Nathan_Edmunds) January 3, 2024
Darren Millar MS, Shadow Minister for the Constitution, added: "It’s frankly shocking that Jeremy Miles’ first priority is a gender-balanced cabinet and that fixing Wales' broken education system, which has been in decline on his watch, hasn't featured in his top 5 tasks.
"Sadly, this is all too familiar to people in Wales, where Labour ministers prioritise identity politics and vanity projects above their key responsibilities."
“It's time for Welsh Government to drop this woke nonsense, appoint Ministers on merit and focus on delivering for the people of Wales.”
Mr Miles' choice of priorities has also raised questions given his outspoken belief that transwomen are women.
@Jeremy_Miles commits to ensuring half of his government will be women if he is elected Welsh Labour Leader
Miles also believes men should be able to ID onto all women shortlists
Yet another Labour man who believes a woman is nothing but an idea men can claim#LabourLosingWomen https://t.co/MgkAlpdDKz pic.twitter.com/EjCgbVC4sR
— Le_Sorelle_Arduino KPSS (@Sorelle_Arduino) January 2, 2024
He previously criticised the Labour Party’s decision to delay the introduction of transwomen onto Labour all women’s shortlists, declaring "there should never be any doubt" about the move.
As minister, Mr Miles ordered schools to teach children from the age of seven about a diversity of "relationships, gender and sexuality".
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He also co-authored a statement declaring: "The Welsh Government is committed to advancing equality for all and is clear this means taking account of intersecting forms of discrimination, disadvantage and striving to achieve equality of outcome for everyone…we believe trans women are women, trans men are men and non-binary identities are valid’ (Welsh Government, Cabinet Statement, 9 July 2020, link).
This comes just a few months after a leaked document showed that Welsh Labour want transgender women to be counted as women, even when they are planning gender reassignment.
Mark Drakeford announces he's stepping down as Welsh Labour leader
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