Janet Finch-Saunders:
Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Today’s debate shines a spotlight on the workings of the Welsh Labour Government and so too on its failings—a Government that has systematically failed to improve living standards for our residents here in Wales. Twenty one per cent of our students are under-proficient in reading; PISA results and GVA are the lowest in the UK; funding for GP services has been cut by £20 million over four years; NHS spend per head is the lowest in the UK; treatment waiting times for routine procedures are two-and-a-half times longer in Wales than in England; one in seven are still lingering on an NHS waiting list; and 127 patients have waited over 105 weeks for treatments such as hip replacements and knee replacements—yes, on the NHS in Wales. So, it should come as no surprise, then, that the Nuffield Trust has said,
‘Wales’s lengthening waiting times should set alarm bells ringing amongst policy-makers’.
By that, of course, they mean the Welsh Labour Government. Now, we face a social care crisis—a forecast of doubling costs over the next 13 years, and yet no strategic forward work management planning in place by this Labour Government.
Locally, there have been £299 million in local government budget cuts since 2013 that have seen many of our vital local services eroded. Council tax, on the other hand, is rising by an average of 3.6 per cent again this year, with Conwy, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire raising bills by an inflation-busting 5 per cent, thanks to Plaid Cymru and Labour—higher than all but three councils in England and Scotland, and now many more are facing further hikes of up to 4.6 per cent for 2017-18.
Deputy Presiding Officer, our residents pay a significantly higher proportion of their pay packets towards council tax bills than any other British nation. Little wonder, then, that Citizens Advice has labelled council tax as Wales’s single biggest debt problem for our families for the second year running. The failure of the Welsh Labour Government to properly utilise consequential funding of over £94 million that came to Wales provided by, yes, the Conservative-led Government in Westminster between 2010 and 2016 is seeing Welsh council tax payers robbed of their own income to the tune of over £794—
Rhianon Passmore:
Will you take an intervention?
Janet Finch-Saunders:
No, I’m sorry. I’ve started, I’ll finish. You’re always wanting to mention Westminster; well, let me tell you, a band D property in Westminster has a council tax of £669. A band D property in Conwy: £1,401. Business rates are crippling our most hard working and enterprising individuals. In England, under a Conservative Government, our businesses are valued, they are appreciated, they are supported, and they have now received £3.6 billion in transitional relief. The equivalent in monetary terms of this support in value for Wales, if provided, would be £180 million, yet the recent boasting of a £10 million fund to mitigate this appalling increase is an absolute insult—a complete disgrace—proving, once again, that Welsh Labour simply do not get business.
On broadband, average speeds in Wales are the lowest of the UK regions. In Aberconwy, not only individual premises, but almost some whole communities are being excluded from the Superfast Cymru project, whilst the fibre journey continues to report unreliable data under Welsh Labour in power, supported, of course, in recent years by Plaid Cymru and the Lib Dems. Here we go again. What more can I say? But my constituents in Aberconwy have seen a 230 per cent increase in their council tax bills; their local health board put in special measures, and remaining there for 22 months today; and the closure of our rural schools, against the wishes of a number of parents and governors. The Welsh Labour Government is simply failing my constituency, and it is certainly failing the people of Wales. Thank you.