1. Wales
  2. 20 updates

Prime Minister leads attack on NHS in Wales

David Cameron has lead the attack on the Labour's handling of the NHS in Wales, at the Welsh Conservatives Spring Conference in Llangollen. UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the Welsh Government is 'sleepwalking into a Welsh Mid Staffs tragedy.'

Live updates

Advertisement

  1. Adrian Masters

Top Welsh Tories put differences aside for conference

David Jones and Andrew RT Davies with David Cameron in 2013 Credit: ITV News/Adrian Masters

The two most senior figures in the Welsh Conservatives will return to the matter which has so divided them in recent months and led to the sacking of four Tory frontbenchers. But they've put their differences aside, or at least won't be referring to them in public this weekend.

David Jones and Andrew RT Davies will both deliver speeches to the Welsh Conservative conference in Llangollen. They'll both criticise Labour's record of running public services here in Wales and they'll both highlight what their party is achieving for Wales through the UK Government.

They'll both also talk about the devolution of income tax power to Wales but you won't be able to spot much difference between them on the form of income tax power which is being devolved. No mention of the dreaded 'lockstep.'

It doesn't mean the differences have gone away though. It was pointed out to me that the Prime Minister's repeated references to Andrew RT Davies and his commitment to low taxes in Wales amounted to an implicit endorsement of his stance.

But if the differences remain, the heat has certainly been taken out of the dispute in public at least. Anyway, most of this weekend's speeches have concentrated on attacking Welsh Labour's running of public services in Wales.

That at least is something on which they can all agree.

Welsh Tory leader on Labour's 'war against ambition'

The Welsh Conservative leader will accuse Labour ministers in Cardiff of being 'in office but not in control.'

Andrew RT Davies is expected to pick up on Welsh Labour's claim that repeated criticism of its running of public services amounts to a 'war on Wales.' Mr Davies will say the Conservatives are fighting, but fighting against Labour.

Their management of the Welsh NHS as we heard from Jeremy Hunt and Darren Millar yesterday is scandalous. That’s why we’re fighting. For every single child failed of a decent education. For every patient left waiting in agony.For every single person who wants a successful business but can’t because of Labour’s regulations.

Labour has had 15 years at the helm. They might be in office, but they are not in control. Just look at their record: 1 in 7 on an NHS waiting list. The worst education results in Western Europe. A nationalised airport. When you listen to a record like that, you realise who is really at war. A war against ambition.

– Andrew RT Davies, Welsh Conservative leader

Welsh Secretary taunts First Minister as 'the Peter Pan of politics'

The Welsh Secretary will call on the First Minister to commit to a referendum on income tax powers for Wales or risk being seen as 'the Peter Pan of Welsh politics.' David Jones will tell his party's conference in Llangollen that tax responsibility is part of 'grown up government.'

We think that there should be an early referendum, that there should be a campaign for a ‘yes’ vote and that that campaign should be based on a commitment to cut the Welsh rate of tax. We Conservatives believe in low taxation because it’s good for the economy. And we believe in lower taxation in Wales, because it will give Wales a competitive edge. It will stimulate enterprise. It will give Welsh people – all Welsh people - more money in their pockets to spend with Welsh businesses. In short, it will be good for Wales.

So I invite Carwyn Jones to commit to that early referendum and commit the Labour Party in Wales to lower taxes, too. Let’s see if he has the ambition, and is brave enough, to do that. To accept the accountability that should go with grown-up government. Or if he wants to be the Peter Pan of Welsh politics.The eternal political adolescent. The First Minister who never grew up.

– David Jones MP, Secretary of State for Wales

Advertisement

Welsh Conservative leader's tax cut call

Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies will say the transfer of some powers over tax to the Welsh Government is an 'historic' opportunity to 'put more money back into people's pockets.'

He'll expected to tell delegates to the Welsh Conservative conference in Llangollen that devolution of tax responsibility for taxes is not about power for power's sake:

Under the Welsh Conservatives, there is only way taxes will go – and that’s down! The devolution of taxes means that for the first time – the opportunity is there for us to not only put forward the big thinking we’re already doing, but to cut taxes too and to give people in Wales and those who want to come to Wales the chance to keep more money in their pockets. We’ve already said what we would do with some of those powers. We’d scrap stamp duty on house up to £250,000. We’d freeze council tax. We’d abolish business rates for small business up and down Wales.

Do you know what this would mean for people? It would mean every household in Wales would pay less council tax.13,000 house buyers a year wouldn’t pay stamp duty at all. And over 75,000 businesses would benefit from our business rates policy. This is what low tax:big ideas means. Putting more money back into people’s pockets.

– Andrew RT Davies, Welsh Conservative leader

Welsh Secretary's criticises Labour's running of NHS

Welsh Secretary David Jones is expected to continue the criticism of Labour's record of running public services during his speech to the Welsh Conservative conference.

He'll tell delegates in Llangollen that 'for thirteen years in Government at Westminster, Labour took Wales for granted. Treated it as a place they thought they could safely neglect.' In particular, he'll say that Labour has neglected the health service.

But none of this is the fault of hardworking doctors, nurses and the other professionals in Wales’s NHS. They are, of course, every bit as competent and dedicated - and work just as hard - as those in any other part of the country.Wales’s health professionals are world class. But what is not world class is the incompetent oversight of the Welsh NHS by the Labour party. The story of the NHS in Wales is the classic tale of lions led by donkeys. Under Labour, the Welsh NHS is lagging behind – that’s a fact.

– David Jones MP, Secretary of State for Wales

It won't just be an attack on the management of the Welsh NHS. David Jones is expected to criticise the education system in Wales and the First Minister's response to poor performance in international PISA comparison tests.

Carwyn Jones's response to the PISA results – which echoed that of his education minister - was so weak as to be laughable. He said: “We took our eye off the ball.” Given that it was the fourth consecutive decline, one has to wonder whether his eye was ever on the ball in the first place. Or whether he was even in the game.

What a pathetic response from a man who is supposed to have the charge of such an important public service. How limp. How lame. How entirely inadequate. How utterly shameful. The plain truth is that Labour are letting down an entire generation of young Welsh people. With little sign of doing anything to make things better.

– David Jones MP, Secretary of State for Wales

UK Government launch attack on Welsh NHS

The UK Government has launched another scathing attack on the Welsh Health Service today, saying Offa's Dyke is now "the line between life and death". That comment came as the Conservative Party Conference got underway in Llangollen.

But the criticism comes on the same day that a report into health services in the different nations of the UK found that, on the whole there isn't a significant difference between them. Rob Osborne reports.

Load more updates Back to top