Welsh party leaders call for action on the NHS in their New Year's messages

Fixing the NHS and improving school education in Wales are the focus for 2025 say Senedd party leaders in their New Year's messages.

Welsh Labour, Welsh Conservatives and Plaid Cymru's leaders talked about their priorities for the next 12 months as all the political parties in Wales jostle for early position ahead of the 2026 Senedd elections.

Eluned Morgan MS reflected on the conversations she had with voters around Wales after she became First Minister and said top of her list of priorities was to give more support to the NHS.

"We’re investing more in equipment for the health service, speeding up how quickly patients are seen and cutting delays in patients being discharged so that they can get home more quickly."

This comes on day that the Welsh Ambulance Service stood down their critical incident that related to serious delays to offloading ambulance patients into hospitals causing a backlog.

"We want to make Wales more prosperous, with more jobs and by growing the green economy", the First Minister said. "For instance we are investing in more community energy projects and transforming our planning process to deliver new renewable projects more quickly".

Meanwhile in a video posted on social media, Plaid Cymru's leader Rhun ap Iorwerth MS asked his followers: "Do you want this year to come with a fresh start?"

He said 2025 comes with the possibility of new opportunities but he said many people are still facing old challenges like their wages not keeping up with their bills, schools struggling and the NHS overstretched.

Mr ap Iorwerth claimed Labour does not have a plan to fix the issues Wales faces but pledged that Plaid Cymru will continue to demand the "billions owed from HS2 rail or getting control over the Crown Estate so we benefit from our natural resources".

Eluned Morgan said 2025 will see more new trains to improve the transport network as well as giving people at local level the choice of which roads will remain at 20mph.

"And we’ll continue to create opportunities for every family in Wales. We’re investing heavily to make affordable homes more available, upgrading our schools and colleges and supporting our learners to have successful careers.

"Looking further afield, I really hope this year will bring an end to the terrible conflicts and violence which have shocked us all in recent years."

Darren Millar MS was only recently elected leader of the Senedd group of the Welsh Conservatives, after Andrew RT Davies MS stood down following a tight vote of no confidence.

On social media, Mr Millar said he was "filled with optimism about what we can achieve over the next 12 months for our great nation of Wales".

He said Wales had struggled over the past year with the longest waiting lists and the worst ambulance delays in Britain as well as school standards dropping and town centre businesses facing higher taxes than over the border with England.

He said "it's clear that under Labour, Wales is broken" and pledged that under his new leadership, the Welsh Conservatives will set out a "clear plan to fix Wales".

He committed to travelling around Wales in 2025 to hear directly from voters about their priorities.

"My target is to be your First Minister after those next Senedd elections".