6. Welsh Conservatives Debate: Welsh Government Performance

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:14 pm on 5 December 2018.

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Photo of Mark Isherwood Mark Isherwood Conservative 4:14, 5 December 2018

You've caught me slightly unawares; I'm still struggling—lots of horrible notes. May I start by thanking all contributors? Paul Davies referred to some success and some cross-party agreement that pointed out that under Carwyn Jones's Government, Labour was the first party anywhere in the UK to have imposed real-terms cuts to the NHS. He referred to the downgrading, centralisation and closure of NHS services, to the per-pupil funding gap with England remaining, to Labour's target to close the prosperity gap with the rest of UK having been dropped and Wales being the most expensive part of the UK to do business. He pointed out that higher tax revenues to fund public services do not come from high tax economies. He talked about Labour having created a housing supply crisis, and I know first-hand that they ignored warnings going back 15 years that this would result if they didn't take action, which they didn't take. They spent billions, he said, on the symptoms of poverty rather than targeting the causes and said that Wales needs new ideas and new leadership.