:00:08. > :00:11.Your hospitals, your jobs and your vote, tonight live in Swansea it is
:00:12. > :00:37.your chance to ask the leader. Good evening and welcome to the
:00:38. > :00:41.National Museum in Swansea. For the first in our series Ask the Leader
:00:42. > :00:45.ahead of the election on the 5th of May. Tonight we have an audience
:00:46. > :00:49.with plenty of questions, a mixture of undecided voters as well as
:00:50. > :00:55.supporters of each of the main parties, and you too can have your
:00:56. > :01:01.say on social media, the #is Wales 2016, so please welcome the leader
:01:02. > :01:06.of the Welsh Conservative Party Andrew RT Davies.
:01:07. > :01:14.APPLAUSE Thank you.
:01:15. > :01:20.And our first question this evening comes from Tracey Hopkins. Hello,
:01:21. > :01:24.I'm a Port Talbot girl born and bred, my hotels and restaurants
:01:25. > :01:28.employ it more than 200 people and my family has invested more than 2
:01:29. > :01:32.million over the last 20 years. If we can do this and show commitment
:01:33. > :01:38.to Port Talbot why can't the UK Government?
:01:39. > :01:42.APPLAUSE Thank you, Tracy, for your question.
:01:43. > :01:47.It is by to the important we recognise steel as a vital part of
:01:48. > :01:51.our economic profile. Sajid Javid, the Prime Minister and all
:01:52. > :01:55.politicians in Westminster and the Welsh assembly have recognised the
:01:56. > :01:58.importance of steel if we are to maintain a credible manufacturing
:01:59. > :02:03.strategy in this country. So with that in mind what we've got to do is
:02:04. > :02:07.create the space and security for purchasers to come forward, look at
:02:08. > :02:12.what Tata Steel have put up for sale and make sure they purchased the
:02:13. > :02:17.assets as a going concern. We cannot, we cannot allow a fire sale,
:02:18. > :02:19.we cannot allow the assets to be stripped out of Port Talbot, and
:02:20. > :02:26.above all we cannot allow Port Talbot, Trostre and others to shut,
:02:27. > :02:29.we have to keep those works open and we have to make sure there is a
:02:30. > :02:35.future for steel-making within Wales, and indeed within the United
:02:36. > :02:38.Kingdom. I am 100% signed up to that agenda and I will work tirelessly to
:02:39. > :02:42.make sure that that happens along with colleagues, irrespective of
:02:43. > :02:47.whatever political party they are in, because this is bigger than
:02:48. > :02:50.party politics, this should transcend the party boundaries and
:02:51. > :02:54.we have to work collectively to secure that future, not put a
:02:55. > :03:00.sticking plaster on the problem but put a long-term plan in place so
:03:01. > :03:07.that Port Talbot and the other works have a future. Your government in
:03:08. > :03:10.Westminster put 124 billion into the ailing out the banks. Why not
:03:11. > :03:13.bailout steel? From what the Business Secretary has
:03:14. > :03:17.said today he has ruled out nothing when it comes to supporting the
:03:18. > :03:21.steel industry. He has been to Mumbai, he's been down to the plant
:03:22. > :03:25.on two occasions to speak to the unions and speak to businesses in
:03:26. > :03:29.the area and communities, and what we are committed to doing is making
:03:30. > :03:39.sure there is a successful outcome to the proposals that been put
:03:40. > :03:44.forward by Tata Steel. Tracey. The meeting was going on when your guy
:03:45. > :03:47.was on a jolly to Australia with his family. He was on a business
:03:48. > :03:51.mission, a trade mission out there. We are committed to working to make
:03:52. > :03:56.sure there is a long-term future for the plant in Port Talbot, also
:03:57. > :04:01.Trostre and others. Should he have been in Mumbai on that day? The
:04:02. > :04:08.Welsh government were not in Mumbai either but two wrongs don't make a
:04:09. > :04:10.right. Was it wrong? The Business Secretary and primers Minster worked
:04:11. > :04:13.night and day leading up to the decision to make sure there wasn't a
:04:14. > :04:18.fire sale. Should he have been there? To make sure the plants were
:04:19. > :04:24.not closed overnight which was a real proposal from Tata Steel. The
:04:25. > :04:30.lady in the top row. Why has the Government waited for crunch time?
:04:31. > :04:35.Why have we had this cheap Chinese steel dumped here? I disagree they
:04:36. > :04:39.have waited for crunch time, over ?50 million has been returned to
:04:40. > :04:42.Tata Steel as one of the high energy users under the proposals brought
:04:43. > :04:45.forward from the Westminster government. Greater use of public
:04:46. > :04:51.procurement contracts have been brought forward. If you take
:04:52. > :04:53.Crossrail, 100% Welsh steel has been used in Crossrail, public
:04:54. > :04:57.procurement and British Railway board has to use as much steel as
:04:58. > :05:01.possible sourced from the UK. But what we have to do is make sure we
:05:02. > :05:07.give the protection to the UK steel industry against cheap imports. But
:05:08. > :05:11.what we must not do is start another trade war on other products because
:05:12. > :05:15.if we put tariffs in place that the Chinese suddenly say we will not buy
:05:16. > :05:20.the Airbus claims from you and start a spiral down to the bottom, then
:05:21. > :05:22.all of a sudden the 6000 jobs that depend on the other factories across
:05:23. > :05:28.Wales including Airbus could come under threat.
:05:29. > :05:33.What do you intend to do to bring energy prices down so that they can
:05:34. > :05:36.make steel to compete with the world?
:05:37. > :05:40.What has happened is the Chancellor has brought forward measures that as
:05:41. > :05:44.I just said in response to the question, was that we have rebated
:05:45. > :05:50.to Tata Steel and other steel users, in Tata's case ?50 million and ?180
:05:51. > :05:54.million in total since the changes came into effect on the 1st of
:05:55. > :05:58.January. That is not the answer to my question, that is subsidies. I'm
:05:59. > :06:04.asking what will you do to bring the cost of energy down. What we are
:06:05. > :06:08.doing on energy pricing is to make sure that we have a level playing
:06:09. > :06:11.field when we commissioned a mixed bag of energy production across the
:06:12. > :06:18.United Kingdom. You believe in carbon taxes? What I believe in...
:06:19. > :06:22.Do you believe in carbon taxes? We must have a mixed bag of energy
:06:23. > :06:26.generation and not put all of our eggs in one basket. We cannot
:06:27. > :06:30.support projects that are completely uneconomical and drive energy costs
:06:31. > :06:33.up and we must be competitive with North America, for example, where
:06:34. > :06:36.energy prices plummeted recently. We have seen the price of energy coming
:06:37. > :06:41.down because of the oil price falling. But ultimately what a
:06:42. > :06:45.government must do is secure energy security and make sure the energy is
:06:46. > :06:49.affordable for domestic households, and also businesses the length and
:06:50. > :06:52.breadth of the country. The gentleman in the checked shirt. The
:06:53. > :06:58.point I was making was making sure there was a mixed energy policy to
:06:59. > :07:02.keep the lights on. You are saying you will not retaliate but China put
:07:03. > :07:07.a 66% tariff on steel exports. We are going to do nothing about that,
:07:08. > :07:11.just let our steel supper, or do something about it? We must do
:07:12. > :07:15.something batted, tariffs have been introduced, reinforcing steel, that
:07:16. > :07:18.ultimately has had a big impact, but what you cannot do is have a knee
:07:19. > :07:21.jerk reaction to this problem, because as I said, you get the
:07:22. > :07:25.knock-on effect of a trade war happening that ultimately will
:07:26. > :07:31.affect other locations. The gentleman in the tie, briefly. Just
:07:32. > :07:38.changing the theme slightly, for the last 17 years, the Assembly has
:07:39. > :07:44.banned a lot of money in Cardiff, but they seem to have ignored
:07:45. > :07:48.investment in the rest of Wales, West Wales in particular. So, what
:07:49. > :07:51.is your administration going to do, and how are you going to keep that
:07:52. > :07:55.promise to the people in the rest of Wales? It is our commitment to make
:07:56. > :07:59.sure... APPLAUSE
:08:00. > :08:03.It is our commitment to make sure that the economic benefits are
:08:04. > :08:06.spread around the whole of Wales. Transport links, for example, are
:08:07. > :08:11.vital to make sure there are opportunities in any part of Wales,
:08:12. > :08:16.for either businesses to thrive or setup. That's why we want to see the
:08:17. > :08:20.duelling of the 840. What is vital as we keep momentum behind the city
:08:21. > :08:23.deal concept that has the Westminster government working with
:08:24. > :08:27.Welsh Conservative government in Cardiff Bay and local authorities to
:08:28. > :08:31.deliver a Swansea City deal and North Wales powerhouse steel as well
:08:32. > :08:39.as others. Let's move onto the second question. It comes now. Do
:08:40. > :08:47.you have a stake in an offshore fund?
:08:48. > :08:50.APPLAUSE I must probably do, my holiday
:08:51. > :08:54.account which I try and put a couple of quid in each of week but I don't
:08:55. > :08:57.have anything in Panama or the Cayman Islands or anything like that
:08:58. > :09:02.and I can categorically and unequivocally confirmed that because
:09:03. > :09:06.I will publish my tax affairs, just like every other leader has all will
:09:07. > :09:10.be doing in the coming days. I don't have any stake in any offshore funds
:09:11. > :09:14.whatsoever and I've never had a stake in an offshore fund. We will
:09:15. > :09:17.get your tax return in a few days? That's correct, it would have been
:09:18. > :09:22.today but I've been all around, tomorrow when I get back to Cardiff.
:09:23. > :09:27.The other leaders accept Nathan Gill have given them out. I'm committed
:09:28. > :09:32.to publishing them. As David Cameron done you a favour, or has he set a
:09:33. > :09:35.dangerous precedent? Did you want to publish it? I've never had a problem
:09:36. > :09:42.making that transparent to anyone who has asked. I've never had it
:09:43. > :09:47.asked of me before. Where do you draw the line? The people that put
:09:48. > :09:50.themselves forward to stand for election for First Minister have to
:09:51. > :09:54.be completely open and transparent, as does anybody in public life, but
:09:55. > :09:58.where the line is drawn, the current situation will determine that. Let's
:09:59. > :10:02.take a point here. Thank you for your honesty but is it right for
:10:03. > :10:06.David Cameron to benefit from his father's offshore funds, specially
:10:07. > :10:09.at a time when the disabled community and other people are
:10:10. > :10:16.having their benefits take enough them, ?30 taken off disabled people
:10:17. > :10:26.around the UK and the bedroom tax, but David Cameron is benefiting from
:10:27. > :10:30.his father's fund. I have personally lost out. What we have got to
:10:31. > :10:33.reflect on is what society as a whole and disabled people have
:10:34. > :10:37.benefited from, which is a growing economy, a record number of people
:10:38. > :10:40.in employment, paying down the deficit and an extra ten the
:10:41. > :10:44.compounds that went into dis-. It is a port in the last Parliament.
:10:45. > :10:49.Working in shops and working in offices, very few, go around Saint
:10:50. > :10:53.David Centre in Cardiff which I did a couple of weeks ago, fully
:10:54. > :10:57.accessible and disabled people shopping but not one disabled person
:10:58. > :11:01.working in any of those shops. Unfortunately what you say is not
:11:02. > :11:07.true. I disagree, the figure showing the last 12 months to more people
:11:08. > :11:10.with disabilities found employment, 3 million people found employment
:11:11. > :11:15.with disabilities in the marketplace at the moment and ultimately over
:11:16. > :11:19.the last two to three years 296,000 people have found employment who are
:11:20. > :11:23.categorised as disabled. We need to do all we can to assist people back
:11:24. > :11:26.into work and we need to put that support in-place. The only way you
:11:27. > :11:29.can do that is if you have a growing economy that pays its way in the
:11:30. > :11:33.world and ultimately offers that support. No one will thank us
:11:34. > :11:37.because we picked up the letter in the Treasury when we walked into in
:11:38. > :11:44.2010 that said all of the money is gone. What about Iain Duncan-Smith's
:11:45. > :11:47.resignation letter? He left over disability reform and he said, I
:11:48. > :11:50.hope as the government goes forward you can look again at the balance of
:11:51. > :11:54.cuts you insisted upon and wonder if enough has been done to ensure we
:11:55. > :11:59.are all in this together. Isn't that what this tax week shows? Extremely
:12:00. > :12:04.wealthy people are in the government and we are not all in this together.
:12:05. > :12:07.I disagree, we are all in this together, you need a growing
:12:08. > :12:14.economy, you need an economy that can pay its way. VIP payments or
:12:15. > :12:19.example will go up by nearly ?5 million to ?18 billion and
:12:20. > :12:27.ultimately over ?50 billion spent on disability support. 156,000 people
:12:28. > :12:30.in the last five months who have got this ability is have gone into
:12:31. > :12:33.employment and 3 million people with disabilities are in employment.
:12:34. > :12:38.There is more we can do and we should never sit back on our laurels
:12:39. > :12:42.and constantly keep fighting for disability across all sections. A
:12:43. > :12:48.few points from the audience, this gentleman here. You avoided a big
:12:49. > :12:51.part of this man's question earlier. Since you want to be first minute of
:12:52. > :12:55.the people of Wales deserve to know, do you condemn or do you condone
:12:56. > :12:59.David Cameron's actions regarding his offshore fund? He's done nothing
:13:00. > :13:06.illegal, he's been open and transparent. What about ethically?
:13:07. > :13:09.Is what he did write? He's done what many thousands if not tens of
:13:10. > :13:14.thousands or hundreds of thousands of people do which is to take
:13:15. > :13:18.financial advice that offer them the ability to make sure they have
:13:19. > :13:21.financial planning in-place. Ultimately he has been transparent
:13:22. > :13:32.and open. Are you happy with the answer? I'm not happy with the
:13:33. > :13:38.answer. Another point up there. What about people in a wheelchair, who
:13:39. > :13:44.are not getting the facilities going round supermarkets. They are only
:13:45. > :13:54.getting just a basic changing toilet. Why not have a proper
:13:55. > :13:58.changing place toilet? What is that problem for the government? There
:13:59. > :14:01.can be no excuses in the 21st-century fourth place is almost
:14:02. > :14:06.being exclusion zones for people with disabilities. We have to make
:14:07. > :14:10.shops, public spaces, the workplace accessible for people with
:14:11. > :14:13.disabilities. I just don't accept that with modern building techniques
:14:14. > :14:16.and the role of government in driving through building regulations
:14:17. > :14:21.and ultimately the planning system and guidance in the planning system,
:14:22. > :14:25.we have to make sure that we have an inclusive society that takes in all
:14:26. > :14:32.sections of our society. It is government's rolled to do that. You
:14:33. > :14:41.are just worrying about the cost. This is people's lives we are
:14:42. > :14:48.talking about. This is what people in Britain and the whole of Wales
:14:49. > :14:51.want, a proper changing place and not to be discriminated against. I
:14:52. > :14:56.agree and if I was First Minister I'd make sure all of the leaders of
:14:57. > :14:59.the Welsh government were working to that aim. In the 21st-century we
:15:00. > :15:01.should not have any no-go areas in our society.
:15:02. > :15:06.APPLAUSE It is time to move onto the next
:15:07. > :15:10.question which comes from Rory Daniels.
:15:11. > :15:14.What are your plans in terms of university tuition fees? We've come
:15:15. > :15:17.forward with our plans and we are part of the Diamond Review group
:15:18. > :15:21.that the current Welsh government has set up to look into the
:15:22. > :15:25.financing of higher education. It is an important review that will look
:15:26. > :15:28.to the sustainability of funding for students going into higher
:15:29. > :15:32.education. We have announced we would reform student tuition fees so
:15:33. > :15:35.that instead of paying the tuition free grant we would contribute to
:15:36. > :15:39.the living costs of students and that would be a package over the
:15:40. > :15:44.term of the assembly of ?400 million. All parties know that the
:15:45. > :15:50.current system is unaffordable. At the moment, in England or other
:15:51. > :15:55.parts of the United Kingdom, it kicks in at 21000 and if you start
:15:56. > :15:58.earning over 21,000 you start paying back the tuition fee. You are
:15:59. > :16:03.looking at a guy who never went to university. I'm not someone who had
:16:04. > :16:09.free higher education. I left school at 16, so ultimately what I want to
:16:10. > :16:12.see is parity with vocational education and academic education. It
:16:13. > :16:14.is a fact that if you hack the degree you will earn more in the
:16:15. > :16:20.workplace, but one thing that students keep telling us time and
:16:21. > :16:24.time again is one of the biggest obstacles they face at university is
:16:25. > :16:28.the cost of living and those upfront costs they cannot meet. -- have a
:16:29. > :16:32.degree. Our package would pay half of that if you live away from home
:16:33. > :16:35.and that is a package of ?400 million of support for students.
:16:36. > :16:41.Students would end up with less than they have now. They would end up
:16:42. > :16:45.with less. How much? Our package is ?400 million over the five years of
:16:46. > :16:50.the assembly and the current package of support is heading towards ?250
:16:51. > :16:54.million a year. We have done some rough calculations and tell me if
:16:55. > :16:58.I'm wrong, we have worked out they would be ?2000 worse off each year,
:16:59. > :17:01.is that correct? It depends on the student and what package comes out
:17:02. > :17:04.of the Diamond Review currently looking into higher education
:17:05. > :17:08.funding, which all parties I had assumed were signed up to, and no
:17:09. > :17:12.party is committed to continuing the current package. They would be ?2000
:17:13. > :17:16.per year worse off. Will you be honest about how much worse off they
:17:17. > :17:19.will be? What I'm saying is our package is a different package, it
:17:20. > :17:24.is costed and affordable and will be in place for the five years of the
:17:25. > :17:27.assembly, and it will deliver support straightaway. What about
:17:28. > :17:31.students living with their parents, would they get anything? There would
:17:32. > :17:35.not be support for living with your parents, it is for students who move
:17:36. > :17:37.away and it would be ?400 million of support for the five years of the
:17:38. > :17:48.assembly. The lady in the strikes. Would you be cutting student
:17:49. > :17:52.maintenance grants? We'd still make that available to students and
:17:53. > :17:56.ultimately supporting them in their higher education experience. The
:17:57. > :17:59.package I've said we have brought forward is affordable, costed and
:18:00. > :18:04.deliverable and ultimately, we are not trying to pre-empt what the
:18:05. > :18:08.Diamond Review will support. It's a review the Labour Party set up and
:18:09. > :18:14.other parties signed up to. That will be the guiding principle of the
:18:15. > :18:21.way HE support funding goes in the future. The lady there who's been
:18:22. > :18:29.very patient after you first, Sir? What would a Welsh Government go d
:18:30. > :18:33.to stop the brain drain of students from London, England, those areas?
:18:34. > :18:37.My grandmother is going to university next year, ?400 million
:18:38. > :18:40.means nothing to us as individuals. Surely you should have more detail
:18:41. > :18:46.ready by now so everybody knows exactly how much it's going to cost
:18:47. > :18:51.them? It's about half the living costs of what the student would
:18:52. > :18:57.face. It's rent only, to be specific? And it would be payable on
:18:58. > :19:00.the first day of entry, so it would be an upfront payment, rather than
:19:01. > :19:03.having to wait to be paid. The biggest put off to students about
:19:04. > :19:07.going to university is the upfront costs that deter many people access
:19:08. > :19:11.in the University of Their choice. Would this be at any University? It
:19:12. > :19:15.would be at any, yes. The brain drain point? That is vital for the
:19:16. > :19:19.future well-being of the Welsh economy. Figures out last week came
:19:20. > :19:26.forward that showed Wales after 17 years of devolution is still
:19:27. > :19:30.spending ?14.5 billion more than it raises in taxes. There's one thing,
:19:31. > :19:34.one thing, that the Welsh Conservatives want to achieve, and
:19:35. > :19:38.that is a more prosperous, successful Wales. We have great
:19:39. > :19:42.talent in Wales. We have the ambition and the entrepreneurial
:19:43. > :19:45.skill. We need a Government that will unlock that skill, that
:19:46. > :19:51.entrepreneurial talent, and I believe that we have the answers,
:19:52. > :19:56.the solutions, that will retain those brains in Wales to ultimately
:19:57. > :20:04.make us a successful and dynamic 21st century economy.
:20:05. > :20:12.APPLAUSE. Do you intend to stay in Wales? Yes. I just know that most
:20:13. > :20:16.people... Wales for instance, per GDP Capita, is half that of England.
:20:17. > :20:21.Given the taxes are the same, what incentive is there for someone who's
:20:22. > :20:24.leaving university with a first or a 2-1 looking to get a good job, why
:20:25. > :20:30.stay in Wales? That is why we have got to grow the business community
:20:31. > :20:32.here in Wales so that there are greater opportunities in all
:20:33. > :20:35.sections of the business world for people to practise and put their
:20:36. > :20:38.degrease into practise here in Wales.
:20:39. > :20:43.Thank you very much. Sorry to rush you, we must move on to the next
:20:44. > :20:46.question from Sandra Watson? You supported the nurse staffing
:20:47. > :20:52.levels Bill. If you win the election, will you go further and
:20:53. > :20:55.guarantee staffing levels within the NHS? Thank you very much for that
:20:56. > :21:01.question, Sandra. The NHS is one of the things that is so dear to my
:21:02. > :21:04.heart and I really don't mean that cornually, I owe the life of my
:21:05. > :21:08.18-year-old son now to the brilliance and Majesty of the NHS.
:21:09. > :21:12.In 2003, he was involved in a car accident. I've been passionate since
:21:13. > :21:15.I was elected leader, but before that when I was the health spokes
:21:16. > :21:19.thes person to make sure we give the Welsh NHS a fair deal. That's why we
:21:20. > :21:23.are committed to protecting the health budget that will allow Health
:21:24. > :21:27.Commissioners to commission the staffing requirements that they
:21:28. > :21:32.require on the wards, in the GP surgeries and in the community, so
:21:33. > :21:38.that we can meet the aspirations of what nurses, doctors and everyone in
:21:39. > :21:40.the NHS wants, which is a well-funded, well-staffed,
:21:41. > :21:44.well-managed NHS that will get on top of the doubling of waiting times
:21:45. > :21:48.that we've seen under the current Welsh Labour Government. If you
:21:49. > :21:51.haven't got the staff and don't value the staff, you will never
:21:52. > :21:57.reach your objectives. The staff are the oil that makes the NHS work in
:21:58. > :22:00.Wales. You say you're passionate about the NHS in Wales, yet all your
:22:01. > :22:06.Government's done in Westminster is ridicule it and describe it as a
:22:07. > :22:09.line between life-and-death, and that has upset a lot of people
:22:10. > :22:12.within the NHS in Wales? No. You are completely wrong there. What we have
:22:13. > :22:24.done... APPLAUSE.
:22:25. > :22:29.What we have done is point out where 17 years of Labour failure have
:22:30. > :22:34.inflicted a doubling of the waiting times, a demoralisation of the staff
:22:35. > :22:41.within the NHS, a closure of minor injury units and ultimately an
:22:42. > :22:45.inability to have a drugs cancer funding system that will deliver
:22:46. > :22:48.funding to cancer patients in Wales. Following on from the ongoing
:22:49. > :22:52.situation in England, would a Conservative Government in Wales try
:22:53. > :22:55.to manufacture a dispute with the Welsh junior doctors? Not at all. We
:22:56. > :23:00.are not committed to changing the contract. What I will say to you is,
:23:01. > :23:05.we'll not tolerate premature deaths within the Welsh NHS or any health
:23:06. > :23:12.setting which ultimately is what a seven day, 24-hour NHS is seeking to
:23:13. > :23:16.achieve on th. We will not be a Government, like the Labour Party,
:23:17. > :23:22.that presided over the Mid Staffs debacle. The lady in the front? Some
:23:23. > :23:27.very ambitious plans for the NHS and we know the NHS is facing serious
:23:28. > :23:32.financial crisis. When are those things I've heard your Government
:23:33. > :23:37.will do when you get into power is reinstate prescription charges in
:23:38. > :23:42.Wales. How will you protect people who're on benefits, disabilities,
:23:43. > :23:49.and actually can't afford multiple prescriptions who live with
:23:50. > :23:55.APPLAUSE APPLAUSE. It's vital we protect free
:23:56. > :24:00.prescriptions. I make no bones about that whatsoever. The prescriptions
:24:01. > :24:05.budget for the Welsh NHS is about ?600 million. What I don't accept is
:24:06. > :24:10.that people who can afford cannot make a contribution, a ?5
:24:11. > :24:16.contribution to the cost, so we can pay for cancer treatments fund, we
:24:17. > :24:21.can put money into hospices and stroke services. Our policy would
:24:22. > :24:26.seek to free up about ?35-?40 million. All the groups that you
:24:27. > :24:30.mentioned there would not pay prescription charges under the Welsh
:24:31. > :24:36.Conservatives. I do not believe it's right or fair that a millionaire can
:24:37. > :24:42.walk into Tescos and get paracetamol or Bonn gel la on prescription, yet
:24:43. > :24:45.a person with a cancer diagnosis cannot receive the best drugs
:24:46. > :24:48.available to them, either to beat the cancer diagnosis or give them
:24:49. > :24:53.valuable times with their loved ones. That is not social justice.
:24:54. > :24:57.APPLAUSE. We are not just talking about people
:24:58. > :25:01.with cancer, we are talking about people with long-term conditions,
:25:02. > :25:05.people with arthritis, previously when prescription charges were in
:25:06. > :25:08.action in Wales, were going without their medication because they
:25:09. > :25:12.couldn't afford their prescriptions. I do not want to see that happen
:25:13. > :25:15.again. I don't want to see it happen again and it will not happen so long
:25:16. > :25:19.as I'm First Minister or the Welsh Conservatives are in Government.
:25:20. > :25:24.What we won't continue is funding millionaires, as I say, to have free
:25:25. > :25:32.Bonn gel la and paracetamol or cream for athlete's foot. -- Bonjela. You
:25:33. > :25:40.in red, you have been very patient? I want to say that the crap that's
:25:41. > :25:43.been thrown at the PM over the tax haven thing is absolutely
:25:44. > :25:49.unbelievable and has been used as a threat to the Conservatives from the
:25:50. > :25:53.other parties and also, I would like to say, I've experience of the NHS
:25:54. > :25:59.in England and the NHS in Wales I cannot fault. I would like to
:26:00. > :26:05.pronounce that, because both my husband and myself, my daughter and
:26:06. > :26:10.her family in England do not have the cover and the care that we have
:26:11. > :26:14.in Wales. I know a lot of people will say, oh, no, we haven't got
:26:15. > :26:18.this, we haven't got that. You try and go over the border on the Severn
:26:19. > :26:23.Bridge and you'll not get the care that we have in Wales and that's due
:26:24. > :26:27.to your support. I would also like to make the point
:26:28. > :26:31.that I feel our leader of the Conservative Party in Wales is one
:26:32. > :26:36.of the best we've ever had. Right, you have a fan there. I agree
:26:37. > :26:41.with your last point! Can I give one stat? Very briefly. That's one thing
:26:42. > :26:44.we can focus on on the NHS, along with many others. In England, you
:26:45. > :26:49.are out of hospital in four-and-a-half days, in Wales, it's
:26:50. > :26:52.six-and-a-half days, it costs ?500 a night too keep someone in hospital,
:26:53. > :26:57.we can do so much more to make our NHS so much more efficient and get
:26:58. > :27:01.the money working for the nurses, doctors, communities.
:27:02. > :27:06.Let's take a point from the lady in the black dress here, please? Hi,
:27:07. > :27:09.there. I would like to know what would be the annual minimum salary
:27:10. > :27:20.in order to pay a prescription charge. Can you tell us, ?17,000,
:27:21. > :27:23.?50,000? The I The base I use, take a 40% taxpayer, your national
:27:24. > :27:27.insurance numbers determine where that starts and you can then have
:27:28. > :27:32.that access from your medical records. I don't think it's fair
:27:33. > :27:36.that a 40% taxpayer... But do you not know the actual amount because
:27:37. > :27:40.I'm self-employed so obviously my earnings are going to change
:27:41. > :27:46.throughout the year. So you want a figure, a salary figure? The 40%
:27:47. > :27:53.taxpayer. So if you pay 40% tax, you pay? If you pay 40% tax, you will
:27:54. > :27:58.not get free prescriptions. You very briefly? You say you want to put
:27:59. > :28:07.money into hospitals. I have to ask, why has the Prince Philip Hospital
:28:08. > :28:10.in Llanelli been produced? Loss of services you were talking about?
:28:11. > :28:16.It's been reduced to a minor services facility. We'll commit to
:28:17. > :28:22.re-opening of minor injuries units, protection of the health budget, a
:28:23. > :28:25.sustainable model of health care fit for the 21st century and doesn't
:28:26. > :28:30.allow waiting times to double again as they have done under this tenure
:28:31. > :28:35.of a Labour Government from to #20 11-2015. That is not acceptable and
:28:36. > :28:38.it's not what the staff want. We are not close any hospitals.
:28:39. > :28:43.Thank you very much. We are out of time. Join us again tomorrow when
:28:44. > :28:49.we'll put questions to the Ukip leader Nathan Gill. Thank you to our
:28:50. > :28:51.audience here, the leader of the Welsh Conservatives Andrew RT Davies
:28:52. > :28:54.and to you. Good night.