I thank the Welsh Conservatives for tabling this important debate. Our NHS emergency departments are unable to cope and have just experienced the worst waiting times performance on record. In my region, 40 per cent of patients waited more than four hours in the Swansea Bay LHB, and almost 5,000 patients in Cwm Taf Morgannwg, which is why plans to completely or partially close the emergency department at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital are so perverse.

While the Royal Glamorgan is not in my region, these plans will have a significant and lasting impact upon my constituents. Residents in the Bridgend county borough came under Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board last April, as did the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend. I believe that the Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board's plans to either close the A&E department at the Royal Glamorgan altogether, or to operate it only during daylight hours, will have serious repercussions for the Princess of Wales Hospital. The Royal Glamorgan emergency department saw nearly 5,500 patients during December. Should the department closure go ahead, these patients would have to go to neighbouring hospitals, with the Princess of Wales in Bridgend being the closest.

The Princess of Wales is also struggling with demand. It too saw nearly 5,000 patients in December, and only around 60 per cent of those were seen within the four-hour target. The increased demand from the closure of the Royal Glamorgan emergency department could totally overwhelm the department at the Princess of Wales. And Cwm Taf say they are pressing ahead with these plans on safety grounds. However, these proposals make the service less safe, not more. My constituents are paying the price for the abject failure by the Welsh Government and the local health boards to properly plan for future demand.

While these proposals will have the greatest impact on Cwm Taf patients, their effect will be felt across Wales. And, if local health boards are allowed to concentrate services around a handful of hospitals, then we are going to need a much bigger fleet of ambulances. Are the Welsh Government recruiting more paramedics, training more ambulance staff? No, they are not—in much the same way that they did not have any integrated workforce plans, which has led us to a shortage of A&E doctors and nurses.

And it has also been suggested that politicians should not meddle in decisions about the Royal Glamorgan. But, as it puts people's lives at risk, I am proud to be standing shoulder to shoulder with our constituents for something that, if implemented, has disastrous consequences for staff and patients alike. It is pleasing that there have been Members from all parties speaking out against the closure plans, and I wholeheartedly support Mick Antoniw's amendment, and I urge others to do so. And supporting this motion and amendments 2, 3 and 4 sends out a clear message that all parties have Members who oppose the downgrading of A&E services. 

And I repeat, as Mick Antoniw said, Nye Bevan said the NHS will last as long as there are people willing to fight for it, and fight we will.