Wales deserves better after 25 years of mismanagement under Labour

David TC Davies - MP for Monmouth and the Secretary of State for Wales.

Devolution, under a Labour Welsh government, would be a silver bullet to every single problem facing Wales…

This claim was repeated over and over again in 1997 by then-Prime Minister Tony Blair and the rest of Labour, when a referendum was held to decide whether to create a Welsh Assembly.

And from 1999, when the Labour Welsh Government came into existence, they have been responsible for our hospitals, schools, economic development (including setting business rates), environment (including tackling pollution in rivers), councils, coal tips, transport, and roads, as well as other areas.

25 years ago this month marked the first sitting of the-then Welsh Assembly (now Welsh Parliament) and it got me thinking: what has the Labour Welsh Government done for Wales?

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Self Harm

To begin, we have a £33-million 20mph default speed limit which, according to the Welsh Government’s own analysis, will hit the economy by billions.

Why Labour decided to pursue this economic self-harm is beyond me. Despite the outcry of half a million people signing a petition, Labour refuses to budge – apart from offering a tokenistic tinkering (and conveniently it was timed for the same week as further embarrassing revelations came to light of their First Minister).

Motorists and businesses who want new roads to ease congestion and boost the economy have long had their hopes dashed, after Labour announced a ban on any new roads being built. Yes, that means road infrastructures, like an M4 relief road, will not happen.

Farmers, who we all rely on to put food on our table, have been protesting after the Labour Welsh Government initially proposed to force from them to forfeit 10% of their land for tree planting, plus another 10% for other schemes to receive subsidies.

So 20% of land that is perfect for growing crops or grazing livestock will be taken out of production. This decision could force farms out of business and cause our country to become more reliant on food imports. Following farmer-led protests Labour ministers postponed the scheme until after the election -but the whole thing should be scrapped.

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Cuts

Waiting lists continue to be the worst in the country, with one-in-five people currently stuck for two years or more, and ambulance response times lag far behind England’s.

How does Labour respond? By purchasing industrial-sized fan units to blow away the diesel fumes from ambulances which are parked up for hours at a time in A&E units waiting to discharge patients and by forcing health boards to make over £60 million cuts, only to then spend over £120 million of taxpayers’ money on creating dozens of extra politicians in the Welsh Parliament.

Rather than waste taxpayers’ money on more politicians – which will not reduce NHS waiting lists – Labour should put their plan to the people in a referendum to allow them to decide.

Childcare in Wales has also been slashed by £17 million, whilst the UK Government is doubling investment for those in England from £4 billion to £8 billion.

Many Welsh children are also having precious time in the classroom being taken up by the gender-neutral muffin challenge and other absolutely ridiculous themes.That’s why it comes as no surprise that Wales’ results in Maths and English continue to lag at the bottom of the PISA league table. As Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said, the firm focus of school pupils should be on core subject areas to best prepare and equip them with the necessary skills to succeed in life.

Immigration

More recently, we now have a new First Minister, Vaughan Gething, who became embroiled in controversy and scandal even before he got the top job! He accepted hundred of thousands of pounds to aid his leadership campaign from someone who had been convicted twice of environmental offences related to waste dumped on the Gwent Levels.

Mr Gething's record speaks for itself; whilst economy minister, he oversaw the Development Bank of Wales sustaining colossal losses of over £60 million of tax payers' money, which also handed a £400,000 loan to the same scandal hit company company that was able to donate to his leadership campaign.

It begs the pertinent question: why did this company need a loan of £400,000 from a bank funded by the Welsh taxpayer, when it was able to later make a £200,000 political donation?

The controversy has continued.

iMessage

Mr Gething, who was Health Minister during the Covid crisis, told the UK Covid inquiry that his phone messages with other Ministers had been deleted when he had his phone “serviced”, but the Nation.Cymru news website has published a screenshot of a message in which Mr Gething says he would be deleting everything to avoid Freedom of Information requests.

So far, the Shadow Secretary of State for Wales and the rest of Labour have remained radio silent on all of these…

Nor has Sir Keir Starmer said anything. He still genuinely believes that the Labour Welsh Government’s policies are – and I quote - a “blueprint” that he would rollout to the rest of the United Kingdom. This “blueprint” will grind the whole of our country to an abrupt halt.

That is now the greatest problem facing Wales, as well as the rest of the United Kingdom.

Imagine having a UK Government under Sir Keir Starmer who, despite the devastating impact Welsh Labour continues to wield, will back those responsible no matter the cost.

Whether it is Vaughan Gething or Sir Keir Starmer, two things have become crystal-clear: they do not have a plan for Wales and to distract from this they blame all their failures on the UK Government, normally by claiming the Welsh Government is underfunded.

But their constant mythmaking needs debunking.

Firstly, the UK Conservative Government is providing £18 billion a year to the Welsh Government – the biggest block grant in the history of devolution.

Sadly, this money is being wasted on countless vanity projects - £33 million on 20mph default speed limits, over £100 million on creating more politicians, £157 million on plans for an M4 relief road (which was then sank), over £4 million essentially spent on buying a birds’ nest in Mid Wales, and the list goes on. Bluntly they have the money for our public services but it’s about priorities.

But where Labour is determined to slow down Wales, the Conservatives are levelling up.

The UK Conservative Government is prioritising bringing investment to every part of Wales. We know how important it is to create jobs and opportunities and we are making investments which will benefit people and communities.

That is why we’ve invested more than £2.5 billion in the form of five towns funds, four growth deals, three rounds of levelling up, two investment zones and two freeports.

All these achievements will make Wales more competitive and attractive, meaning we will see the creation of better paid local jobs for local people.

The UK Conservative Government has put more money into people’s pockets by boosting the incomes of people earning some of the lowest wages.

Increasing the National Living Wage by 9.8% to £11.44 per hour and increasing the National Minimum wage by 14.8% to £8.60 an hour, benefitting 140,000 people in Wales.

TATA

Also, 1.2 million workers in Wales are benefitting from £642 being put back into their pocket thanks to the National Insurance tax cuts from the Autumn Statement and Spring Budget.

During the height of the pandemic, it was the UK Conservative Government that delivered the fastest vaccine rollout in Europe and launched the furlough scheme to save over 100,000 jobs in Wales – whilst the Labour Welsh Government blocked an independent inquiry into its handling of health during this period.

As a government, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has demonstrated time and again that he will not hesitate to act in Wales’ best interests.

And there is no greater example of this than at Port Talbot Steelworks, where TATA Steel came to the UK Government threatening to close its plant with the loss of thousands of jobs and the end of steelmaking in Wales. The Prime Minister, Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch and I were determined not to let that happen.

That is why we pumped in half a billion pounds to help fund a new electric arc furnace which will use scrap steel to make new products.

The deal does not mean our security is in jeopardy because TATA’s Port Talbot site never supplied steel to the defence industry, and it also means we will be less dependent on imports.

TATA was firm there was no plan B.

For those who will sadly lose their jobs a transition board, which the UK Government has supplied £80 million towards, will help retrain them into alternative forms of employment. No one will be left behind.

To date, the Labour Welsh Government has refused to offer a single penny towards this – despite finding over £100 million to create more politicians…

Day in, day out, Welsh Conservative MPs hold the Labour Welsh Government to account for their actions.

And the facts – which I’ve outlined above - speak for themselves.

After 25 years of Labour blatantly taking advantage, Wales deserves better.

You can show your dissatisfaction with Vaughan Gething and 25 years of Labour Welsh Governments by voting Conservative on July 4.