Tag: Welsh Conservatives

The press release issued by the Welsh Conservatives on 11 November 2022.

Welsh Conservative Samuel Kurtz, Shadow Rural Affairs Minister and MS for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire, called for a Wales-wide housing order. Kurtz originally called for an order on Tuesday during the Minister’s statement, updating the Senedd on the spread of avian flu in Wales. He said:

“With the way avian flu has spread across the UK between wild birds and commercial fowl, a pre-emptive housing order in Wales would give Welsh businesses some level of certainty in an uncertain situation.

“Avian flu doesn’t respect borders, and with so many units close to the English border, and with the potential for further wild bird migration, the Welsh Government’s decision has left Welsh poultry vulnerable to infection.”

The press release issued by the Welsh Conservatives on 11 November 2022.

The press release issued by the Welsh Conservatives on 10 November 2022.

The press release issued by the Welsh Conservatives on 10 November 2022.

Paul Davies MS and Shadow Minister for the Economy argues that Labour have failed the Welsh economy.

Labour have dominated the Welsh political landscape for a quarter of a century, they have held many of the levers of power and have been responsible for the Welsh economy.

While Wales’ resilient and dynamic economy has endured, Labour’s dereliction of duty has left us lagging behind the nations and regions of the UK on a number of measures from pay packets to employment.

Crucially, Wales is not seeing the kind of growth required to fund the public services we desperately need to address other inadequacies, from gargantuan NHS waiting lists to poor educational outcomes.

The Labour Government exercise a socialist philosophical approach of high tax, redistribution and state expansion. They admit themselves, that they do not know what they are doing on the economy.

This is exemplified by their insistence on raising council tax rates in the name of reforming the tax. Be in no doubt that their plans are designed to raise more revenue by pulling those on lower incomes into higher council tax bands and subsequently raising the rates of those bands further.

Their decision to pursue a tourism tax is another example of their backward thinking as regards to supporting the Welsh economy. They have their fingers in their ears, ignoring the will of the tourism industry and are pressing ahead with this deeply unpopular tax, despite one in seven Welsh jobs relying on the sector.

Many in Wales might be convinced of these changes, if their revenues were to be ringfenced for the people’s priorities such as the NHS. However, Labour’s spending priorities centre around spending £100 million on more politicians in Cardiff Bay and millions more on a universal basic income fantasy project.

Labour, in Wales are in fact the only government in the UK to have cut funding for the NHS.

Their failure to tackle business rates, that have damaged the Welsh high street beyond recognition, is lamentable. The Welsh Conservatives have long called for reform of the tax on growth, but Labour have ignored the concerns of small businesses at every turn.

We would also scrap the plans for a tourism tax, which could discourage visitors to Wales at a time where their input into the Welsh economy will be crucial in rejuvenating our high streets.

The insistence of Labour on wanting to micromanage so many areas of Welsh life, spewing an endless stream of top-down diktats to that end, is unjustified.

Their blanket rollout of 20mph zones across the country will slow Wales down and is emblematic of a Labour Government bent on denying local communities decision making powers over the issues they know how best to deal with.

This is not to mention Labour’s penchant for waste. The 20mph rollout will cost over £32m and the sudden cancellation of all road building, as well as hindering Wales’ economic development, wasted a further £24m on unfinished projects.

The Welsh Conservatives believe in keeping taxes low, oppose Labour’s lust for tax rises and their yearning for expanding the size and remit of the Welsh Government.

To put this into perspective, the £100m Senedd expansion price-tag could fund over 300 new, fully qualified GPs – or could have gone some way to delivering much-needed infrastructure improvements, thereby making Wales a much richer business environment.

On employment, Labour’s record speaks for itself. Wales has perpetually sinking job numbers despite a relatively strong performance from the UK as a whole.

Labour have proven time and time again that they are incapable of attracting jobs and investment into Wales.

Welsh workers have consistently had the smallest pay packets in the UK. At over £3,000 a year less than our UK counterparts, this is Labour’s hidden tax on hard working people.

The fact that nearly a third of Welsh people, in employment, are earning less than the real living wage is a shocking indictment of Labour’s failure here in Wales.

The Labour Government should shift focus away from creating more high paying jobs for politicians and instead deliver high paying jobs for the Welsh people.

Wales is a nation with so much to offer, packed full of innovators with a wealth of entrepreneurial spirit. We do not need to be at such a competitive disadvantage, there is another path, a pro-growth path to strengthen Wales’ position as a dynamic economy.

The Welsh Conservatives believe that Wales deserves so much better than this. We say no to new taxes, no to never-ending diktats, no to Labour’s serial mismanagement of the Welsh economy.

The press release issued by the Welsh Conservatives on 10 November 2022.

A fair and free education system is a right of every young person in Britain. But here in Wales, and under Labour, that right is in jeopardy. Trade Unions are being given unprecedented influence over the curriculum. The ‘Unions and the World of Work’ pilot will compromise the Welsh education system’s impartiality by inviting trade union representatives into our schools to give talks and spread their ideology.

This is not just old-fashioned union-bashing. This criticism is borne of us not wanting to see Labour politicising the classroom with their union paymasters ‘educating’ our children. Labour are also are pushing ahead with schools being used as polling stations, having already given 16 year olds the right to vote. Now with their plan is revealed. How to guarantee your grip on power in Wales: expand the franchise and giving Labour supporting groups special access to a huge cohort of voters.

Labour govern in Wales and are many unions are clearly and closely affiliated with them, including via financial support. We should not be allowing organisations with political affiliations into our schools to deliver lessons. Parents will not and must not accept this kind of overreach.

This is particularly the case given the unions’ role in grinding Wales and the UK to a holt with their disruptive behaviour, making it more difficult for pupils and teachers to attend school. For months, militant unions have flexed their muscles, ramping up pressure on governments across the UK. This has highlighted the clear differences in approach between Labour and the Conservatives.

There is constructive dialogue and negotiation from the UK Government and abject surrender from Labour. This pilot is emblematic of Labour’s habitual appeasement. The Welsh Conservatives are not opposed to teaching pupils their employment rights. This is an important addition to the new curriculum. These elements will help provide some readiness to young people in the world of work. But we do believe that this topic should be well-rounded. Aspiration and the value of hard work should be promoted so that they can get on in life.

Labour’s record on education is atrocious. For a quarter of a century, they have let the young people of Wales down. Mark Drakeford and Jeremy Miles’ new curriculum has been widely criticised for its rapid implementation, leaving schools unprepared. Schools already have a tough task ahead of them in dealing with the fallout from Labour’s longer, harsher lockdowns. Pupils missed a shocking 66 days of schooling, more than any other nation in the UK.

Parents have been consistently let down by a Labour Government intent on ignoring their wishes and shutting them out of the decision making process. They have made complaints about the new Relationships and Sexual Education (RSE) curriculum, based on a lack of consultation and their legitimate concerns being brushed aside. They are concerned that they still do not know what their children are being taught. They are not convinced that the content is age appropriate; they have been denied the ability to withdraw their children.

The Welsh Conservatives believe in parental choice. We trust parents and respect the fact that they know what is best for their own children. Labour thinks the state knows best how to run our lives. To them, parents are a mere afterthought when it comes to their children’s education. I fear that a similar situation is developing with this decision, with unions being given substantial influence without that vital parental consent.

My concern is that trade unions will not only provide little in the way of educational benefit to students, but that they will be a detriment to them. They will encourage a culture of industrial strife from an early age. Parents expect classrooms to be places of learning and teachers to provide impartial information and advice. Any notion that visiting trade union ideologues will act in this way is nonsense.

As of now, this is just another of Labour’s taxpayer-money-wasting pilot schemes, like their pilot of a universal basic income. Be in no doubt, however, that this is part of a larger scheme to reshape Wales into Mark Drakeford’s Corbyn-style socialist utopia. The fact that this announcement was made via a joint written statement from the Education Minister and Deputy Minister for Social Partnership, is telling. This is indicative of Labour’s plan to further integrate unions into Government, the public sector, and every possible part of our lives.

Moreover, they have already expressed their hope for the pilot to ‘prove successful’ without publishing any parameters to measure said success. This is typical. In government, they waste time and resources on pilot schemes and consultations for projects that they intend to push ahead with regardless. Labour’s penchant for cronyism is also renowned. They have a track record of packing their advisory bodies, Commissioner roles and likely their upcoming Social Partnership Council with union-affiliated supporters of their party. Expanding their influence to schools would be a giant step beyond reason and a colossal misuse of their power. We cannot stand by and let this lurch toward dystopia go forward without opposition.

Labour have proven time and again how out of touch they are, piling excessive workloads onto teaching staff while simultaneously under-staffing and under-resourcing them. We have lost 4,000 teachers but gained 7,000 pupils in 10 years. Those pupils are missing out on £1,000 per head in funding as Wales receives £1.20 for every £1 spent in England, an additional amount that the Labour are failing to funnel into education delivery.

Labour should abandon these ludicrous plans. Instead, they should focus their energy on ensuring students have their basic needs met instead. They must get Wales off the bottom of the PISA rankings in the UK, instead of politicising the classroom and stuffing it with their union friends.

The press release issued by Welsh Conservatives on 10 November 2022.

The press release issued by Welsh Conservatives on 9 November 2022.

Over 400,000 people are on “hidden” waiting lists for NHS care in Wales, Welsh Conservative research has found.

The equivalent of 1-in-5 people in Wales are on an NHS waiting list, which includes those who have been referred by GPs for hospital treatment such as cataract or hip and knee surgery.

However, freedom of information responses to the Welsh Conservatives, released by health boards, found 401,342 further patients in need of follow-up care –– up from a still significant 383,890 in March 2020 when coronavirus struck.

Commenting, Welsh Conservative Shadow Health Minister Russell George MS said:

“The fact that 1-in-5 people in Wales are on a waiting list, with 1-in-4 of those waiting over a year for NHS treatment is already shocking enough – now we discover that 400,000 are waiting for follow-up care, greater than the population Cardiff, with 96% of that number accounted for before Covid.

“We regularly get excuses from the Labour Government about how difficult tackling the backlog is, but while this is certainly a challenge, we have seen two-year waits eliminated in England and Scotland but number tens of thousands here.

“It is becoming clearer by the day, with every shocking story of someone’s dreadful experience in A&E, in the back of ambulance, or on a waiting list that the failure to prepare for the aftermath of the pandemic has come at a great cost to the well-being of both patients and healthcare.

“Labour need to get a grip on the NHS, stop breaking all the wrong records, and end the cost-of-pain crisis.”

Swansea Bay Health Board (HB) has 138,330 people on its secondary waiting lists, more than any other part of Wales. North Wales’ beleaguered Betsi Cadwaladr HB saw the largest increase since Covid hit the UK, with an increase of 24% in that time (from 46,767 to 57,769).

Cardiff & Vale HB was the only one to manage a reduction in their secondary waiting list numbers, although it still has the third longest secondary list. Hywel Dda HB, covering the three counties of Dyfed, and Powys HB failed to provide any figures.

1-in-4 patients in Wales on an NHS waiting list are waiting over a treatment, and there are enormous doubts that the Labour Government will end one-year waits by the end of the year. 59,000 patients are waiting over two years in Wales but have been eliminated in England and Scotland.

The press release issued by the Welsh Conservatives on 9 November 2022.

The Royal College of Nursing have voted to strike across six health boards in Labour-run Wales.

Nurses in all but one health board (Aneurin Bevan UHB covering Gwent) will go on strike on various days in the coming months.

Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust Headquarters, Velindre NHS Trust, Public Health Wales, NHS Shared Services Partnership, and Digital Health and Care Wales have also met the required threshold for strike action.

Commenting, Welsh Conservative Shadow Health Minister Russell George MS said:

“It is highly regrettable that nurses have decided to go on strike, with all the implications for patients who depend on NHS services, but let there be no doubt that nursing pay and conditions are the responsibility of the Labour Government in Cardiff Bay.

“This will only compound the problems facing the UK’s worst-run NHS as, under Labour, Wales has the longest treatment waiting lists, A&E waiting times, and ambulance response times in the country.

“I would stress that we cannot make the NHS permanently dependent on agency nurses but, in Labour-run Wales, it is already the case, with nurse vacancies going up by a thousand in just the last year, with £134m spent on agency workers.

“I hope the Minister finally engages with the Royal College of Nursing to bring this dispute to an end as swiftly as possible – it is disgraceful that she has avoided doing this so far to the detriment of patients and staff across Wales.”

The press release issued by the Welsh Conservatives on 9 November 2022.

Commenting on the news that the defect which led to the closure of the Menai Bridge in October was first identified in the 1990s, Welsh Conservative Shadow Minister for Transport, Natasha Asghar MS said:

“This is an absolute disgrace. For over 20 years successive Labour Governments have failed to act in the knowledge that the Menai Bridge had this defect. Just yesterday, Labour’s Deputy Minister failed to turn up to a briefing with various Members of the Senedd and the Member of Parliament for Ynys Môn, Virginia Crosbie.

“Labour ministers must come forward at outline what they knew about the state of the bridge and when. Crucially, why wasn’t more regular work undertaken to prevent the bridge falling into this state?

“The people of Wales deserve answers as to why hard-working families and businesses are being made to pay for Labour’s ineptitude.”

The press release issued by the Welsh Conservatives on 9 November 2022.

A Gwynedd councillor has been threatened over her support for new relationship and sex education (RSE) teaching in Wales.

Commenting, Welsh Conservative Shadow Local Government Minister, Sam Rowlands MS said:

“The abuse received by local elected representatives is abhorrent. I have raised this in the Senedd chamber and it is clear to me that there still is not enough being done to protect councillors’ safety.

“Welsh Conservatives stand wholeheartedly with parents and their right to choose what their own children are taught, with the option to opt-out of RSE lessons if they feel they are not age appropriate.

“Others will have differing views and have the right to air them without the fear of abuse or threats. The Labour Government, while respecting the legitimate concerns of parents, need to do far more to support councillors in their plight to stand up for and represent their local communities.”