Tom Giffard, Member of the Senedd for South Wales West, resigned this week as Chair of the Senedd’s Covid-19 Special Purpose Inquiry Committee after a vote was defeated in the Senedd to allow the committee to ask witnesses to swear oaths when giving evidence.
The committee, which was established in May 2023, was designed to examine any gaps in the UK Covid Inquiry in a Welsh context, after the Welsh Labour Government refused to establish a Wales-specific independent inquiry, as has happened in Scotland.
However, its future appears uncertain after he resigned as Chair, with the Welsh Conservatives now refusing to take any place on the committee after a dramatic statement in the Senedd by the South Wales West MS.
In a strongly worded statement, Tom Giffard said: “We entered this committee in good faith, hoping that the Welsh Labour Government and Labour members of the committee would honestly want to find answers to the questions that families who have lost loved ones deserve.”
“Instead, I found Labour members were sent to the committee with the specific instruction to block as much scrutiny as possible and remove from us the tools we needed to do the job, such as asking for sworn oaths to be given when Ministers would give evidence.”
Giffard added: “Mark Drakeford used to say during the pandemic that ‘In Wales, we do things differently.’ That was his right. But that also means his decisions need to be examined, just as they are in England and Scotland.
“Instead, Welsh Labour want all of the power and none of the responsibility; shirking from scrutiny and setting up a kangaroo court, intent on protecting the very people it should be holding to account.
“I refused to risk my reputation chairing a committee which would have been nothing but a whitewash of the truths. That’s why my party has withdrawn from this committee and will redouble our efforts towards securing a Wales-specific Covid inquiry, so people who have lost loved ones can get the answers they deserve.“
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