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The Welsh first minister has defended his decision to travel to Qatar for the World Cup, saying he feels that the citizens of Wales want their country’s leader there despite concerns about human rights and working conditions.
Speaking in Doha on Sunday, Mark Drakeford admitted that the decision to attend was finely balanced but he said he believed it would have been wrong to leave seats allocated to the Welsh government at the opening ceremony and matches unoccupied.
“It’s a closely run thing,” he said. “The arguments that are made by people who have chosen not to come are absolutely real and to be respected. In the end our conclusion was that people in Wales would not have wanted to see a seat for Wales left empty. It really is a very special opportunity to promote Wales on the world stage.”
The UK Labour party leader, Keir Starmer, is boycotting the tournament, but his Labour colleague Drakeford said: “There is a difference in the responsibility of someone who is the first minster of a nation who has made it to the World Cup final. That is a different set of responsibilities to those exercised by the leader of the opposition.
