10/10/2012 Party Political Broadcasts: Welsh Conservatives

The Welsh economy is struggling.

After years of Labour rule from Westminster and Cardiff,

Wales has become the poorest part of the United Kingdom.

We used to top the league tables for inward investment.

Now we're at the bottom of the inward investment league tables.

Wales can do so much better if ministers in London and Cardiff

work together to make Wales a more prosperous place.

There is so much more that needs to be done

to help our communities through this economic downturn.

We need to help businesses. We need to help jobseekers.

We're now in the fifth year of the economic downturn.

We need a credible plan to put our economy back on a steady footing,

so Conservatives in government are taking decisive action

and tough decisions to reduce the deficit

and address the huge burden of debt we inherited from Labour.

It isn't easy and these are not decisions we'd have wanted to take.

But we need to restore stability to our economy

and create the right conditions

to help our businesses develop and grow,

to create new jobs and new apprenticeships

for our talented young people.

Since 2010, the Coalition Government at Westminster

has been investing in Wales.

For example, we're spending £57 million on super-fast broadband across Wales

meaning that, by 2015, Welsh homes and businesses

will be connected to one of the most modern internet systems in Europe.

We're also electrifying the Great Western mainline and the Valleys lines,

the biggest transport investment Wales has seen in a generation,

connecting Swansea to London in record time,

giving Cardiff the transport system a capital city needs.

We need to work together, to put Wales first.

That's what the people of Wales want

and that's what we Conservatives think is the right thing to do.

A successful nation should be a healthy nation,

but Labour plans to take over half a billion pounds out of the Welsh NHS over the next three years.

There are 24 cancer drugs routinely available in England

that aren't prescribed in Wales,

so Welsh Conservatives create supporting a cancer drugs fund

that would help patients and families in their hour of need.

And WE are the only party pledged to protect the NHS budget.

Labour in Wales are cutting the NHS budget by more than £500 million,

closing local services,

making it harder for people to access treatment.

Welsh education needs improving too,

if we're to have a workforce fit for the 21st century.

We'll increase frontline funding for schools in Wales.

Over £600 less is spent here per pupil than in England every year.

We would fund schools directly,

so that teachers and governors, not politicians,

decide where money is best spent.

Wales needs an education system

that not only competes with other parts of the UK,

but with the best of the rest of the world.

Welsh children need to be able to compete in a world economy.

We need a system that delivers a world-class education.

Under Labour, Wales has become the poorest part of the United Kingdom.

Our educational attainment levels

are the poorest in the United Kingdom.

But it doesn't have to be like this.

Welsh Conservatives have real ambition.

We want action and we want achievement.

So Welsh Conservatives want to work together,

to make sure Wales becomes a more prosperous, pleasant place to live.

We believe that's what YOU want us to do.

That is why we want to be your voice, in Wales,

the Welsh Conservatives.