HEALTH minister Eluned Morgan is to be reprimanded by a Senedd committee over her driving ban for repeatedly speeding. 

The Senedd’s standards committee’s report has also revealed how Ms Morgan had racked up three driving offences and the fourth, which resulted in her conviction under the criminal law, in just a nine month period from September 2019 to June last year. 

The Labour member eventually disclosed all of the offences in an April 6 email to the Senedd’s standards commissioner Douglas Bain.

The six month ban was handed down in March under the ‘totting up procedures’ as a conviction for breaking a 30 mile per hour speed limit, while driving through Wrexham in June 2021, meant she had amassed too many penalty points to be allowed behind the wheel. 

Emails contained in the report also show how on March 24 the minister wrote to Mr Bain to say that an email sent to him, two days earlier, about the conviction wasn’t intended to trigger an investigation by him.

Instead Ms Morgan sought to claim she was simply trying to be polite and respectful by informing him that she had been banned from driving by a court.  

She wrote: “I was anxious to ensure that you as Standards Commissioner were aware of this situation. I was not referring myself to you for investigation, but simply drawing your attention to the driving suspension our (sic) of courtesy for your role and position.” 

Ms Morgan’s conviction had been reported by the media from March 17. 

In her original March 22 email Ms Morgan wrote: "I have apologised to the first minister in my role as minister for health who has not condoned the actions but has stated that he does not believe that any further action is required. I have also apologised to the Llywydd."

The report also detailed how there had been confusion over whether the code of conduct applied to ministers and how investigations could be launched. 

The commissioner took up a complaint and said Ms Morgan, who had said the matter was being dealt with under the ministerial code which first minister Mark Drakeford is responsible for, hadn’t sought to argue it didn’t apply. 

His report found Ms Morgan had shown a “disregard for the law”. 

The committee report stated: "Receiving a driving ban and the associated fine for speeding offences is a serious matter. 

"The number of offences over a relatively short period of time, which led to this conviction, shows a pattern of behaviour that is below the standard expected of a Member of the Senedd." 

The committee agreed that she had broken the code of conduct, including rules requiring MSs to uphold the criminal law.

The censure for the Mid and West Wales MS will now be put to the Senedd for a vote - and it’s unlikely the motion would be rejected. 

Ms Morgan had apologised to the committee and said she had accepted the ban and hadn't sought to argue it shouldn't apply.

Members also want the commissioner to have the power to launch investigations if he becomes aware of potential breaches, in common with other parliaments in the UK, rather than have to wait to receive a complaint.

Ms Morgan will have the opportunity to address the Senedd and she has previously apologised. 

First minister Mark Drakeford has previously said Ms Morgan had failed to uphold the standards expected but has sought to claim the matter has been dealt with under the ministerial code. 

The first minister has sought to downplay comparisons between Morgan’s law-breaking and the fine for ignoring lockdown rules that was imposed on Boris Johnson. 

He told the BBC in April: “"She didn't make the law that she has broken. She admitted it, immediately. She has been dealt with by the courts. 

"There is no moral equivalence [with] the prime minister in making laws himself that he went on to break, denying that he broke them, provoked a long and expensive police investigation to reveal the fact that he had himself had indeed broke the laws that he had made." 

The Welsh Government plans to introduce legislation in 2023 which will reduce the speed limit from 30mph to 20mph on restricted roads across Wales. 

As well as the six month ban Ms Morgan was fined £800 and ordered to pay an £80 surcharge and £90 costs. 

  • This article originally appeared on our sister site The National.