Addressing the Spring Forum at the Welsh Conference, Angela Burns AM, Assembly Member for Carmarthen West & South Pembrokeshire said:
I would like to welcome all of you who are visiting Wales this weekend. And I would say to you, and my fellow welsh conservatives, how delighted I am to be given the opportunity to address you at the culmination of my first term as the first Conservative Assembly Member for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire.
As someone who had spent all her working life in the private sector taking on the responsibility of representing the people of Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire has been an eye opener of extraordinary magnitude.
Not because I didn’t understand the kinds of issues people might have
Not because I couldn’t empathise with people with difficult or heartfelt problems
Not because I wasn’t aware of how daft some of the systems and policies are here in Wales
But because I didn’t realise just how difficult, intractable and plain daft some of the issues are that my constituents have to face, or just how indifferent or obdurate the Welsh Assembly Government and many of the public sector organisations could be.
And my evidence for these assertions?
The 2000 or so cases that I have dealt with. I am the person of last resort for many worried and frustrated people in Carmarthenshire & Pembrokeshire.
The people who come to me because they have called the social housing division of the County Council 40 times and no-one has bothered to return their call, the gentleman who finally gets the go ahead for his heart operation in Birmingham but has to forgo it because he can’t afford the train fare, the numerous people who have had their operations cancelled or who have been denied treatment outside Wales.
A Plaid spokesperson said “welsh NHS money should be spent in Wales”. This was because Plaid, in true nationalist colours, were trying to force welsh people in North Wales who need brain surgery to travel to Cardiff rather than popping over the border to the Walton Hospital in Liverpool.
Dogma before people. Shame on you Plaid.
Shame on Labour and Plaid because in 4 years our education has taken such a dive, because our children are leaving school more illiterate, more innumerate, more disadvantaged in a global marketplace than English, Scottish, Latvian or Estonian children. I have constituents whose children are not getting the support they need because they are different or too rural or too poor.
Shame for the growth in the number of children in poverty, we have the worst record in the UK. We are not only failing to lift families and children out of poverty but in Wales we are getting worse.
And shame on Labour and Plaid for the cursory care given to so many of my elderly constituents. The frail lady who has a carer coming in for six hours a day however the carer is a 20 year old who has no frame of reference for being able to while away the hours talking to someone of such a different generation and so she spends her time watching TV whilst the elderly lady feels under siege in her own home.
And shame on Labour for their stealth attacks on Withybush Hospital. The services our hospital is quietly losing, the lack of consultation, Combined with poor dental services. Inconsistent social care and very inadequate mental health care and we know that as far as the Labour & Plaid Government are concerned we don’t exist.
I know that what matters most to most people in Carmarthen West & South Pembrokeshire is good health, good education and a good job. And it is perhaps on that last point that I reserve my greatest condemnation.
What a mess our economy is and how absolutely shameful that Wales and the UK is in this position. Thanks to Tony and Gordon we have to fork out £120million in interest a day.
A day! What that could do for Wales. The Welsh Assembly Government don’t get business, they think Pembrokeshire should be a place that people leave in order to get their first decent job, thanks for that tip Rhodri Morgan!
I spent 25 years working in large & small businesses and I tell you that if I was running an SME today I would be tearing my hair out. Red tape, planning hassle, endless rhetoric, tight funding, this is the death of innovation and aspiration. Business Rates have hit my constituents hard and Welsh Conservatives would abolish business rates for all businesses in Wales with a rateable value of less than £12K and we would introduce a Manufacturing Strategy to improve investment in the Welsh economy.
If we want a strong NHS in Wales, if we want our children to have a good education and a bright future, if we want long term jobs with career prospects, growing salaries and the opportunities for advancement then we have to change the Government in the Bay.
And the people to do that? The Voters. But they need to be told and it’s you the voluntary party we need to do that. It’s your strength and commitment we need to harness. It’s your actions on the street we need to see, it’s your conversations with friends and neighbours we need to hear.
Thank you for coming today. Believe we can make a difference. Know that your individual efforts make the difference. Spread the message
For Wales and her future we need this shameful Government out.
