Thank you to Plaid for bringing this motion. I'll be voting in favour of the motion, as I support our nurses, and I really don't think it's fair that their working conditions should worsen. The NHS has been built on the back of the nursing staff. Nursing is an incredibly pressurised, difficult job, and nurses need all the support that we can give them. And the proposals that came out of Betsi Cadwaladr relating to the rotas are, in my opinion, unbelievable. I'm glad that they've decided to shelve the proposals, but the thinking behind these proposals is worrying in itself. It would seem to be a counter-productive thing to do to change the working conditions of nurses to their detriment when the board is desperate to recruit nurses and other staff. And, despite Betsi shelving the proposals now, I'm sorry, I think the damage has already been done. Other Members have spoken about the reduction in, the worsening, morale, but it's going to make employment in Betsi Cadwaladr all the less attractive at a time when the board is in dire need of quality staff, and needs to make itself as attractive as possible to recruits.

We're all very familiar with the story of Betsi Cadwaladr and the numerous ways it has fallen short of what patients in north Wales are entitled to expect from their NHS. And, further, we're all aware of how the Welsh NHS under Labour has decayed and is increasingly failing the Welsh people. This erosion of the working conditions of nurses, or rather the now-shelved proposals, would not have been proposed were it not for Labour's failure to solve the problems at the health board over the years it has been in special measures, and under the direct management of this Labour Government. It could also be seen as a cynical attempt to get the public to blame the problems on the staff and the nurses by saying that they're having too many breaks. But it's not the fault of front-line staff, and I resent that every time a criticism of the Welsh NHS is made in this place, the Minister and Government run and hide behind hard-working NHS staff to deflect the criticism that's rightly placed at the Minister's door. No, it's the fault of the board and the Welsh Labour Government, who've mismanaged it.   

Yesterday, Jeremy Corbyn warned the UK electorate that choosing the wrong Government would see an erosion of workers' rights and long-term damage to the NHS. Well, I have a message to English voters: if you want to see how modern Labour runs a health service, come and look at Betsi Cadwaladr in north Wales. Since Wales is the only UK nation whose NHS has proposed to worsen nurses' employment terms and conditions, at a health board that is being directly managed by a Labour Government, in the only UK nation run by Labour, I can only assume that Corbyn was warning people against voting for a Labour Government in Westminster. I would agree with him there.

But I have to say I am surprised at the acute case of amnesia that Plaid seem to be suffering, having proposed this motion—and I do agree with the motion and I appreciate them bringing it—because they've clearly forgotten that they have in the past undemocratically propped up the Labour establishment that's mismanaged the NHS, even though their own voters voted against that same party. If Plaid voters had wanted to help a Labour Government stay afloat, they would have voted Labour. After supporting a Labour Government for years while the NHS decayed, Plaid has to take its share of the blame for the scenario NHS workers and patients are now facing. Plaid have never been an opposition party, and Wales is suffering as a result. But I will support the motion because I support the nurses. I won't be supporting Labour's invitation to pat themselves on the back and allow them to bury their heads in the sand, and I will be supporting the Conservative and Brexit Party amendments. Thank you.