Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I’m pleased to move the Conservative amendment, tabled in the name of Paul Davies. The motion tabled by Plaid is clearly politically motivated and designed to scaremonger about the future of our NHS. For the avoidance of doubt, my party wholeheartedly believes in the Welsh NHS being kept in public hands. In fact, I believe every party in this Assembly supports the principle of the Welsh national health service being kept in public hands.

During this general election period, where Plaid are obviously struggling to connect with the Welsh public, many cases of fake news like this will no doubt be trumpeted. The reality is that there are already elements of private providers in the NHS, and I would like to draw attention to the figures shown in the NHS Wales summarised accounts for the last two financial years, which highlight the expenditure on healthcare from other providers. The column representing private providers has risen from £43,015,000 in 2014-15 to £49,732,000 in 2015-16. I would be interested to hear from the Cabinet Secretary, who was only this week on tv slamming my party for NHS privatisation by stealth, to explain this expenditure and enlighten us as to exactly who or what private providers are.

Point 3 of the motion tries to link Brexit and new trade deals to the provision of health. I would point out to the Plaid spokesman that the European Union that they so passionately supported was responsible for the TTIP trade deal, and now we’re on our way out of Europe, this perceived threat is no more. I have every faith that our Prime Minister will get good, sound deals—[Interruption.] no, I won’t, actually—will get good, sound deals for the whole of the United Kingdom and that, where required, devolved administrations will be consulted.

None of us have a crystal ball, but it is our duty as a country to enter the negotiations positively and strive for the best possible outcome for all of us. I don’t see that support from the Plaid group, who seem to be wishing the talks to fail. Instead of casting suspicion on the way in which cross-border health services are provided, our amendment aims to delete yet more nationalist scaremongering and highlights the important role that provision from across the border plays in providing treatment for Welsh patients.

I want to briefly touch on a couple of the services raised in our amendment, which help to demonstrate the importance of collaborative working between the two NHS services. Acute neonatal—a report by Bliss last year highlighted evidence from neonatal units, neonatal transport services and parents across Wales showing worrying shortages in the nurses, doctors and other essential health professionals that premature and sick babies need. This puts neonatal units under severe pressure; it leaves them unable to meet national standards for quality and safety, or support parents to be involved in their baby’s care. The report found that only two out of 10 neonatal units had enough nurses to staff all of their cots in line with national safety and quality standards, over half of units did not have enough medical staff to meet national standards, and none of Wales’s neonatal intensive care units had enough overnight accommodation for parents to meet national standards.

We should be thankful that NHS trusts in England are able to receive emergency cases and provide the cots that aren’t always available in Wales. I know constituents whose babies would no longer be with us if they were not able to make use of some of the amazing NHS services in England, such as the paediatric intensive care unit at Southampton General Hospital. I know that I, as a parent, would want the best treatment for my child, wherever that was available.

Let’s look at transgender services and mental health services. Two years ago, this Chamber voted to explore the possibility of opening the first gender identity clinic in Wales. Wales is currently the only one of four countries in the United Kingdom that does not have a gender identity clinic, meaning trans people have to travel to England. Figures from 2012 estimated there are over 31,300 trans people in Wales, but no dedicated centre, and I would be keen to learn from the Cabinet Secretary whether we’ve made any movement on this issue, but, again, stress to the Plaid spokesman that whilst the service isn’t available in Wales, it is the English NHS stepping into the breach, and the same goes for elements of the provision for child mental health services. The English NHS is our top-up and support.

In bringing my contribution to a close, I urge Plaid to think again about this motion. We need to be considering what is best for the patient, and not what best fits into Plaid’s narrow, ideological view of the world. As the Welsh Affairs Committee in Westminster concluded in their report of 2015, cross-border movements have been a fact of life for many years, and it’s no less the case for health services. For those residing in immediate border areas, the nearest health provider may not be in their country of residence, as you, Deputy Presiding Officer, will well know, representing a northern constituency. So, I would urge Members to reject the motion and back our amendment. I do hope the Welsh Government will not be tolerating this form of nonsense.