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A retired police officer who has been actively involved in aiding Ukraine has accused a Member of Parliament (MP) of taking credit for his proposal to donate ventilators by redirecting the effort to support Cuba instead. Steve Eccleshall, volunteering with the charity Driving Ukraine, initially contacted Labour MP Steve Witherden to seek assistance in releasing around 40 unused ventilators from Wrexham Maelor Hospital for shipment to Ukraine.
Eccleshall reported that after their meeting on 6 February, where he personally handed Witherden a letter outlining the need for the ventilators, he was surprised to discover that Witherden had submitted a similar request to the Wrexham health board just days later. However, Witherden’s letter, dated 9 February, differed in that it requested the ventilators be donated to Cuba, rather than Ukraine. Some sections of the two letters contain nearly identical language, leading Eccleshall to accuse the MP of plagiarising his original proposal. Attempts to contact Witherden for comment have not been successful.
The ventilators in question were supplied by the Welsh government at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic but were never utilized because they were incompatible with the hospital’s systems. In his complaint to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner, Eccleshall explained that the MP had initially greeted him positively and promised to explore ways to help, only for Eccleshall to later learn from an NHS source about Witherden’s own correspondence diverting the ventilators to Cuba. Witherden’s letter mentions his role as chairperson of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Cuba and highlights concerns over the US blockade and tightened sanctions under former President Donald Trump, which he says have worsened Cuba’s humanitarian crisis.
The health board has acknowledged receiving proposals to donate the ventilators to both Ukraine and Cuba and is currently examining the financial and governance implications of any potential donation, noting that the equipment remains on its asset register. Meanwhile, the Welsh government has stated that any donation would require formal approval and that no official request has yet been submitted by the health board. Eccleshall has expressed that Witherden’s actions have placed the health board in a difficult position and lamented that both Ukraine and Cuba have suffered as a result of what he describes as the MP’s “duplicity and dishonesty.”
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