'Labour is holding us back' says Lib Dem leader

Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Kirsty Williams will blame Labour for recent negative portrayals of the Welsh health service in the UK media. She'll tell the Welsh Lib Dem conference in Newport that her instinct is 'to jump to the defence of my country' when she reads such headlines.

But she's expected to say although 'some of these stories maybe motivated by a political agenda ... many are accurate and too often based on truth.' And she'll add:

"I am furious that we as nation are being portrayed in this manner. Last week Carwyn Jones said these criticisms weren’t a war on Welsh Labour, or the Welsh Government, but a war on Wales as an entire nation.

How dare he take cover behind the people he is meant to lead. What kind of leader does that? These headlines might hurt our sense of national pride, but we must not forget, it is Labour that is Wales’ weak link. Labour is holding us back, Labour – the weight around our nation’s neck."

- Kirsty Williams AM, Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader