‘Under Labour, Wales is the sick man of Britain’
WALES is failing under a Labourrun Government and is a warning to voters, the Tories have claimed.
Leader of the Welsh Conservatives Andrew RT Davies says the nation shows what Labour would inflict on the rest of the UK if it got elected.
He said: “As a proud Welshman, it hurts to say this, but thanks to decades of Labour rule, Wales has become the sick man of Britain, and now serves as a stark warning to the rest of the UK of what a Labour Government would do.
“Wales should be punching above its weight. We have the people, the spirit and the drive to do it, but Labour has held us back.
“They’ve choked our economy with a road building ban.
“They’ve driven our NHS into the ground, letting down patients and staff alike. And our next generation has become a lost generation, with our education outcomes hitting record lows.
“This isn’t talking Wales down. I say this because I am unwilling to stand by and say nothing while an extreme Labour Government with the wrong priorities holds our country back.
Decline
“That’s what they would do if they get into Downing Street too.”
In 2022, Sir Keir Starmer said the Welsh Labour Government was the “blueprint for what Labour could do in government across the UK”.
But voters have blasted the state of the crumbling NHS and the “attack on motorists” with blanket 20mph speed limits. Sarah Atherton, Tory MP for Wrexham, said: “People are now realising that Labour aren’t listening. Their excuses are hollow and services are deteriorating.
“The electorate is not daft. Trust in the Labour Government’s word is now diminished. Keir Starmer has said Wales is the blueprint for the country and I want people, before they put a tick in any box, to think about Wales.”
The Institute for Fiscal Studies found pupils in areas of England with higher or similar levels of deprivation achieved “significantly higher” GCSE results than their counterparts in Wales. Mr Davies said: “Just as I am proudly Welsh, I am proudly British, and it hurts any patriotic person to see their homeland in decline.
“So if you want to see the reality of a Labour Government, look at their record in Wales and ask if that’s the country you want.”
A Welsh Government spokesman said: “Our ability to invest in public services has been severely affected by the UK Government’s mismanagement of the economy and failure to commit sufficient resources to public finances over the last 13 years. Despite this, we spend 15% more per person on health and social care than in England and are increasing funding for the NHS by more than 4%, compared to less than 1% in England.”