In our latest series of leadership quotations, we hear from the prime minister and the EU commission president on the state of play of the trade negotiations, we hear from Mark Drakeford on the Great Wall of Wales, from Jane Board on putting patients first, from Donna Copley on the difficulties of recruiting young people, and from William Wragg on the triple lock.
Boris Johnson
‘Given that they have refused to negotiate seriously for much of the last few months, and given that this summit appears explicitly to rule out a Canada-style deal, I have concluded that we should get ready for January 1 with arrangements that are more like Australia’s based on simple principles of global free trade.’ (The prime minister on the current state of play in negotiations with the EU)
William Wragg
‘At different stages of this we are going to have to asses what state the public finances are in. I set a great deal of store by fiscal responsibility - we can’t throw that away. People vote Conservative not because they like us but because they grudgingly respect us for being able to govern. We can't lose that USP.’ (The chair of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee and MP for Hazel Grove when asked by The Telegraph about the likelihood of scrapping the triple lock on pensions)
Jane Board
‘Putting the patient first continues to underpin our working practice. A holistic approach to patients and their clinical treatment needs is integrated with their personal preference.’ (The Lymphoedema Specialist Services Director and Consultant Nurse Practitioner on the importance of patient-centred care)
Donna Copley
‘Young people are a crucial part of our workforce, often starting part time while studying. Employing young people has become more challenging in recent years, with an increasing number of issues surrounding social media.
‘There is a worrying trend as younger people become more unreliable, and this is very disruptive to our daily routine. It has to be a concern for every industry, not just ours, that the future workforce is being exposed to these challenges at such a young age, which can make them unable to cope with daily life.’ (The Piperdam Golf & Leisure Resort financial director on the challenges of recruiting reliable young people)
Ursula von der Leyen
‘The EU continues to work for a deal, but not at any price. As planned, our negotiation team will go to London next week to intensify these negotiations.’ (The EU commission president gives her take on the state of negotiations)
Mark Drakeford
‘To keep Wales safe, the Welsh Government is therefore amending the regulations to make it clear that people living in areas with a high prevalence of coronavirus in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland would not be able to travel to parts of Wales where there is a low prevalence.
‘It is vital that we keep communities which have low levels of infection as safe as possible and this sensible and necessary restriction will help prevent the virus moving from more urban, highly populated areas to more sparsely populated areas.’ (The Welsh first minister on the potential imposition of travel bans within the UK)
