SOUTH Wales East AM Mark Reckless has penned his latest Argus column:

As Mark Drakeford’s tenure as first minister begins, I offer my congratulations to him, and wish him the best of luck.

Having been at the heart of Welsh Government for more than a decade, he is now at the head of it, and he deserves some appreciation for his public service in Wales, regardless of any issue I take with his policies.

I like Mark on a personal level and wish him well.

He certainly has a lot of work to do.

I am particularly eager to see the first minister’s plans for income tax, with 10 per cent of income tax bands devolved to the Assembly in April.

It is a matter of great importance that could make or break the Welsh economy.

Welsh Labour’s 2016 manifesto ruled out a rise in income tax, but the first minister has since said that manifestos have ‘a somewhat diminishing impact over a five year term’, so perhaps he may break that pledge.

I fear he will soon go back on the promise in the same manifesto to build an M4 relief road around Newport.

As the new first minister’s first months unfold, it will be interesting to see what kind of Mark Drakeford the Welsh people get.

How will Mr Drakeford reconcile what seem to me to be two divergent aspects of his personality - the professional technocrat and the Corbynista firebrand?

Will Wales become a test bed for Corbynism, offering us an example of how a Corbyn-run UK Government might look?

Or do Mark Drakeford and Jeremy Corbyn just have a mutual interest in allotment-keeping?

Will Mr Drakeford grow into a leadership role in the way Paul Davies has now he is leader of our Conservative group?

He has already made some changes to the machinery of government and the role of ministers.

However, we are concerned that there are now too many Welsh ministers - I think now 15 including the counsel general.

That is half the size of the Labour group.

Shouldn’t they have a sensible number of backbenchers to help scrutinise the government?

I hope there will also be more co-operation with the UK Government across the England/Wales border.

Whichever side of Mark Drakeford prevails over the coming months, we in the Welsh Conservative group will continue to hold his government to account.

We will oppose his nannying tendencies and his supertaxes, in the interest of a more free and prosperous Wales within an independent United Kingdom outside the European Union.