{"id":927284,"date":"2026-04-29T22:47:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T22:47:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/927284\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T22:47:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T22:47:22","slug":"ukraine-volunteer-claims-mp-stole-idea-to-donate-ventilators-to-divert-them-to-cuba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/927284\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine volunteer claims MP stole idea to donate ventilators – to divert them to Cuba"},"content":{"rendered":"

A retired policeman who says he wanted to help send British ventilators to Ukraine has accused an MP of stealing his idea so they can instead be sent to Cuba.<\/p>\n

Steve Eccleshall says he wrote to Labour’s Steve Witherden to ask for help to secure the release of 40 unused ventilators from Wrexham Maelor Hospital.<\/p>\n

But a letter from Witherden dated three days after Eccleshall’s request appears to show the MP making a similar request to Wrexham’s health board – but asking that the machines be donated to the Caribbean nation.<\/p>\n

Some of the passages in the two letters make the same points, and Eccleshall has accused Witherden of plagiarising him.<\/p>\n

Witherden has not returned requests for comment.<\/p>\n

Eccleshall is a volunteer with Driving Ukraine, a charity which delivers vehicles and equipment to the country, where he is currently working.<\/p>\n

In a complaint to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner, Eccleshall said he met the Montgomeryshire and Glynd\u0175r MP as well as then-Welsh Parliament member Russell George on 6 February, near the Welsh border in Powys.<\/p>\n

He said at a meeting, which included members of Bausley with Criggion Community Council where Eccleshall is also a clerk, he presented Witherden and George with his letter, explaining that he was seeking the release of about 40 ventilators.<\/p>\n

He said the ventilators had been provided during the Covid pandemic, but because of compatibility problems had never been used.<\/p>\n

The retired policeman said Witherden shook his hand and congratulated him on taking aid to Ukraine, offering to see what he could do.<\/p>\n

But the volunteer subsequently learned that Witherden had made his own request by letter \u2013 via an NHS source who gave Eccleshall a copy.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Steve Witherden has not responded to requests for comment from BBC Wales [UK Parliament]<\/p>\n

The letter says the MP is writing in his capacity as chairperson for the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Cuba, and was dated on 9 February, three days after the alleged meeting with Eccleshall.<\/p>\n

Cuba has been under US blockade since 1960, which US President Donald Trump has tightened since he returned to the White House. Witherden is involved with a solidarity campaign for the Communist-led country.<\/p>\n

Witherden’s letter said Trump’s policy of seeking to prevent oil being shipped to Cuba had “worsened a humanitarian crisis”, and that he had learned that the country was in need of medical supplies when he visited the country last October.<\/p>\n

Both letters, seen by BBC Wales, make similar points.<\/p>\n

Both say the 40 ventilators are in a shipping container, that they are not compatible with Wrexham Maelor’s systems and were supplied at the start of the pandemic by the Welsh government.<\/p>\n

\"Steve<\/p>\n

Steve Witherden has been involved in the Cuba Solidarity Campaign [Facebook\/Embassy of Cuba in the UK]<\/p>\n

Eccleshall told BBC Wales: “There’s a trust aspect – you are my MP, I’ve come to you with an idea. You said you’ll help me, and within three days you’ve stolen it.<\/p>\n

“Even if he turned around on day one and said ‘look, sorry, I’ve got a competing interest’, I wouldn’t have been happy.<\/p>\n

“But there wasn’t much I could do about it. But to actually steal the whole concept and not say anything, I think is just dishonest.”<\/p>\n

In his complaint to the Parliamentary standards commissioner, Eccleshall said he believed Witherden’s request had put Betsi Cadwaladr health board in an “unenviable position” .<\/p>\n

“The people of Ukraine and Cuba both lose out because of Witherden’s duplicity and dishonesty,” he said in the complaint.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Eccleshall, pictured to the right, has visited Ukraine as part of his charity work [Steve Eccleshall]<\/p>\n

In a statement the health board confirmed it had “received requests for the medical equipment in question to be considered for donation to Ukraine and Cuba”.<\/p>\n

“We are currently assessing the financial and governance implications of any potential donation as the items are currently valued as assets of the health board,” it said.<\/p>\n

“We will contact the Welsh government following our internal review of these requests.”<\/p>\n

The health board confirmed that the ventilators were in a storage container and could not be used, although said that the ophthalmic equipment requested is being considered for clinical use.<\/p>\n

A Welsh government spokesperson confirmed it would need approval was required to donate the assets, and that no formal request had been received from the health board.<\/p>\n

More top stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A retired policeman who says he wanted to help send British ventilators to Ukraine has accused an MP…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":927285,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7654],"tags":[12711,168499,2000,299,213863,259670,259669,259668,657,166228],"class_list":["post-927284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ukraine","tag-cuba","tag-eccleshall","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-health-board","tag-parliamentary-standards-commissioner","tag-steve-eccleshall","tag-steve-witherden","tag-ukraine","tag-wrexham-maelor-hospital"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116490434219172749","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=927284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/927285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=927284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=927284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=927284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}