06/02/2016

:00:00. > :00:00.Three months and counting until the Assembly election,

:00:07. > :00:08.but are the Welsh Liberal Democrats up for the fight?

:00:09. > :00:27.Well, just as the Six Nations rugby tournament gets under way,

:00:28. > :00:30.so too do the Welsh spring political conferences.

:00:31. > :00:33.With all eyes on the Assembly elections in May, the Liberal

:00:34. > :00:38.And over the coming weeks we'll bring you live coverage

:00:39. > :00:40.of the Labour, Conservatives, Ukip and Plaid Cymru

:00:41. > :00:45.The Welsh Lib Dems are gathering in Cardiff and you too can join

:00:46. > :00:54.Joining us to guide us through the gameplan this afternoon is our Welsh

:00:55. > :01:04.Good afternoon Vaughan. The Welsh Lib Dems. Where are they? Well, this

:01:05. > :01:09.is a crucial election for them. You can say that about any election with

:01:10. > :01:13.any party I guess, but this really is crunch time. They've lost all

:01:14. > :01:18.their parliamentary seats in Wales, two out of the three, so they only

:01:19. > :01:22.have one MP left. The local government base has been shadow nerd

:01:23. > :01:26.large parts of Wales. The thing that's been keeping the party going

:01:27. > :01:32.is this Assembly group. Now, they are in real danger of a near wipeout

:01:33. > :01:38.in the Assembly elections. Not in some ways through any fault of their

:01:39. > :01:42.own. They could score same number of votes in 2011 and not win less

:01:43. > :01:46.seats, because of the electoral mathematics and what the effect of

:01:47. > :01:50.Ukip's growth in Wales has on the threshold you require to reach the

:01:51. > :01:58.seats. So it is a real crunch time for the party. A bad result in May

:01:59. > :02:02.would mean they could drift down into minor party status and any

:02:03. > :02:07.rebuilding would take them far longer. And they were given a

:02:08. > :02:11.beating last May. 13 points down in Wales. But to what extent can we

:02:12. > :02:16.translate that directly to the Assembly election? Election? They

:02:17. > :02:21.would argue you in the media were predicting gloom and doom in 2011

:02:22. > :02:26.and it didn't happen, we held on to five, and don't do it this time.

:02:27. > :02:34.We'll be fighting on our record in the Assembly. The Welsh Lib Dems,ty

:02:35. > :02:41.don't think we were predicting gloom and doom. A few hundred votes in a

:02:42. > :02:46.few regions would have seen them reduce to three AMs in the last

:02:47. > :02:50.election. They had the luck of the draw, the exception being South

:02:51. > :02:55.Wales East. The difference this time they could get the same number of

:02:56. > :02:59.votes in 2016 and they got in 2011 and it would be nowhere near enough

:03:00. > :03:02.to reach the threshold in the regions. If we get the sort of

:03:03. > :03:07.performance that everyone is suggesting that we are going to see

:03:08. > :03:11.from Ukip in Wales. The polls are suggesting, and we all know what

:03:12. > :03:17.happened with the polls last year, so let's not place too much weight

:03:18. > :03:21.on them. But they suggest that Ukip are running 15-16% in Wales. That's

:03:22. > :03:24.three times what the Liberal Democrats are getting. That is a

:03:25. > :03:29.very bad place to be in. There's a way out of it for the Lib Dems, I

:03:30. > :03:31.think, which is by concentrating #207b constituencies. Think, which

:03:32. > :03:32.is by concentrating #207b constituencies. Think, which is by

:03:33. > :03:33.concentrating constituencies. Think, which is by

:03:34. > :03:35.think, constituencies. Think, which is by

:03:36. > :03:40.concentrating -- concentrating on the constituencies. They have an

:03:41. > :03:45.outside chance of taking Montgomeryshire and Cardiff central

:03:46. > :03:53.and that would be enough to maintain credibility. Even if they failed in

:03:54. > :04:01.that, it would at least deliver them one seat, Brecon and Radnorshire and

:04:02. > :04:08.Montgomeryshire, that's how on edge they are. Jokingly somebody

:04:09. > :04:11.described this as the Welsh Liberal Democrat memorial conference, but

:04:12. > :04:17.this is a party that's been around 150 years. They've been in worse

:04:18. > :04:20.places than this and survived. We've got two hours to analyse every

:04:21. > :04:22.aspect of the party. Thank you for now. We'll hear the speeches as

:04:23. > :04:23.well. Our eyes and ears at the conference

:04:24. > :04:38.at Cardiff Metropolitan University Prynhawn da Arwyn. We've heard a few

:04:39. > :04:43.speech this is morning and they seem in buoyant mood given the scenario

:04:44. > :04:48.that Vaughan painted there. I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you there.

:04:49. > :04:54.I'm just outside... Oh, how are they? In good spirits, but they are

:04:55. > :05:00.on the front foot. Find me a politician who would say anything

:05:01. > :05:04.else and I will give you ?10. We are outside main hallway. Kirsty

:05:05. > :05:09.Williams has been giving her speech. I've been chatting to the delegates.

:05:10. > :05:14.We heard the analysis from Vaughan, perhaps a total wipeout in Wales.

:05:15. > :05:19.I'll speak to two candidates from the party who will respectfully

:05:20. > :05:22.disagree with that. I had a chat to Tim Farron about the fightback for

:05:23. > :05:26.the 2020 general election, and what he thinks of the chances for the

:05:27. > :05:29.party in Wales. I will at he thinks of the chances for the party in

:05:30. > :05:32.Wales. I will give you a clue - he is quite positive. All that to come.

:05:33. > :05:36.We recorded that earlier. That's later in the programme. Thank you

:05:37. > :05:42.Arwyn. In terms of numbers, how many are there, do you think? We were

:05:43. > :05:46.sort of trying to estimate there might be around 100, at the most

:05:47. > :05:49.150. Not the best-attended conference, but I'm sure what they

:05:50. > :05:53.are saying is what they lack in numbers they more than make up for

:05:54. > :05:56.in enthusiasm. Thank you Arwyn. We'll be back and forth to Arwyn

:05:57. > :05:58.throughout the afternoon. We've got two leader speeches

:05:59. > :06:00.for you this afternoon and they're both from before

:06:01. > :06:02.when we came on air. We're going to hear the speech

:06:03. > :06:05.of the Welsh leader, But first we'll hear

:06:06. > :06:08.from the party's UK leader, He was introduced by the former

:06:09. > :06:21.leader of the party in Wales, We've learnt already this

:06:22. > :06:30.conference, and I'm indebted to them for telling us some things about Tim

:06:31. > :06:34.Farron, that he always wears Doc Martens and that also Eluned also

:06:35. > :06:42.wears Doc Martens. I didn't know that fact. Tim once said when he

:06:43. > :06:46.goes to the Cenotaph he will polish his Doc Martens. I think one of the

:06:47. > :06:53.things we've learnt also about Tim is that he will focus on some very

:06:54. > :06:57.key issues, and brought to the public's attention some key very

:06:58. > :07:02.issues. You will know that he has dealt with the refugee crisis in a

:07:03. > :07:07.very particular way, which I think given the way we are as a party has

:07:08. > :07:12.demonstrated something about our true values. He is passionate about

:07:13. > :07:17.housing, and housing is something which this party will, and has, and

:07:18. > :07:22.will continue to feature very proudly in what it says. He is

:07:23. > :07:29.passionate about climate change and has made a play for that issue and

:07:30. > :07:33.for our party. So he has got some very clear message which is he has

:07:34. > :07:39.been transmitting. There've been some public opinion polls about

:07:40. > :07:45.party leaders. The key strength, the biggest vote that Tim has got, is

:07:46. > :07:50.where he has said that he stands up for ordinary people. That is our

:07:51. > :07:56.party leader, stand up for ordinary people. But I must tell you a little

:07:57. > :08:01.bit about his earlier life. One of his early friends said this about

:08:02. > :08:06.him very recently. This is someone who has known him since he was a

:08:07. > :08:12.young man. Tim has always been full of confidence and self belief. Plus

:08:13. > :08:19.he is the nicest person you could ever wish to meet. Ladies and

:08:20. > :08:24.gentlemen, the man who has sprung like a coal, ready to jump into the

:08:25. > :08:25.fray to defend our country, Tim Farron!

:08:26. > :08:36.APPLAUSE. DWHITE Farron!

:08:37. > :08:50.APPLAUSE. -- frung like a coil. -- sprung like a coil.

:08:51. > :08:56.APPLAUSE. Thank you Mike. That was from my keyboard player and I've got

:08:57. > :09:01.the Docs on. I didn't want to disappoint anybody. It been a great

:09:02. > :09:08.week to be a Liberal Democrat, thank to Marco Rubio in the Iowa caucuses

:09:09. > :09:11.we know that coming third is as good as winning.

:09:12. > :09:15.LAUGHTER. An awful lot has changed since the last time I was with you,

:09:16. > :09:23.but but might have spotted I snuck into Cardiff about 48 hours ago and

:09:24. > :09:34.had a brilliant morning speaking to members, canvassing with Leonard

:09:35. > :09:42.Parrott and team in ad-Oms town, in our doctor Martins. We had four

:09:43. > :09:46.canvas peoples out. Our record in Cardiff Central is outstanding and

:09:47. > :09:50.many people are returning to the Liberal Democrats, but not just

:09:51. > :09:54.returning to the Liberal Democrats but doing so with enthusiasm.

:09:55. > :09:58.Enthusiasm. Eluned and her team are fantastic, but those voters will not

:09:59. > :10:01.come to choose the Liberal alternative unless we work even

:10:02. > :10:07.harder and meet every single one of them. For five years it has felt

:10:08. > :10:12.like the old adage, where you work you win, had ceased to apply. Can I

:10:13. > :10:18.tell you from my own experience, from by-elections up and down the

:10:19. > :10:22.UK, from Launceston to Brecon, to Wrexham and Inverness, where you

:10:23. > :10:31.work you win works again. It is not rocket science, but it is a science.

:10:32. > :10:34.It is like that scene in Independence Day, where the

:10:35. > :10:40.Americans suss out,000 defend the Americans. The guy on the Morse code

:10:41. > :10:44.machine says, we've worked out how to defeat them, now tell the rest of

:10:45. > :10:48.the world. Carwyn Jones, after taking Wales for granted for 17

:10:49. > :10:53.years, we know how to take you down. Welsh Liberal Democrats will fight

:10:54. > :11:04.you for every vote and every seat, because Wales deserves better.

:11:05. > :11:08.APPLAUSE. But plenty has happened since I addressed the Welsh

:11:09. > :11:12.conference last year. We've seen the Tories forced to abandon their cuts

:11:13. > :11:16.to working tax credits because of the votes of Liberal Democrat peers

:11:17. > :11:21.like Mike and Jenny. And we've seen parts of Britain hit by the most

:11:22. > :11:25.devastating floods, with the highest levels of rainfall ever recorded in

:11:26. > :11:30.the United Kingdom. We've seen the refugee crisis worsen, with fellow

:11:31. > :11:34.human beings forced to live in the most appalling conditions, as

:11:35. > :11:38.politicians in Britain and in France stand by, wringing their hands,

:11:39. > :11:43.explaining how difficult it is and making excuses. Excuses. We have

:11:44. > :11:49.seen the Prime Minister return from his renegotiations in Europe, eager

:11:50. > :11:52.to begin a charm offensive to persuade us of what we already knew,

:11:53. > :11:59.we are better off in Europe. APPLAUSE. But nowhere is David

:12:00. > :12:04.Cameron's failure of leadership more apparent than in the current refugee

:12:05. > :12:08.crisis. He talks about the huge financial contribution Britain is

:12:09. > :12:13.making to tackle the problem in Syria. It is true. Britain is

:12:14. > :12:18.doubling its contribution to ?2.3 billion. But that is all money

:12:19. > :12:23.destined for far off shore. More crucially, far from the shores of

:12:24. > :12:28.Calais or Dunkirk. Lesbos or Lampedusa. His aim is to keep the

:12:29. > :12:33.refugee problem away from us, out of sight and out of mind, to stop more

:12:34. > :12:40.people coming, but the truth is more people are coming, a post war record

:12:41. > :12:47.of 190,000 refugees entered Europe in 2014. A record that was broken

:12:48. > :12:53.five times over when 1 million entered in 2015. 1 million desperate

:12:54. > :12:58.people fleeing to our Continent. In 2016 we predict 3 million men, women

:12:59. > :13:03.and children fleeing war and persecution to a Continent where

:13:04. > :13:08.Britain is a leading power, a dominant culture, a political giant,

:13:09. > :13:12.led by a man who is letting them down and as he betrays British

:13:13. > :13:22.values he let's us all down. APPLAUSE. We need to remember who we

:13:23. > :13:28.are talking about. Stalin once famously said, didn't he, one death

:13:29. > :13:35.is a tragedy it is, 1 million is a statistic. Let's focus on the

:13:36. > :13:37.tragedy. Terrified, destitute broken people making harrowing

:13:38. > :13:43.life-threatening journeys that none of us can imagine. On the beach at

:13:44. > :13:46.Lesbos I met a carpenter and a nursery teacher and their little

:13:47. > :13:51.daughters of five and three. They had sung to shows girls and told

:13:52. > :13:54.them stories for hours and hours to distract them from the horror and

:13:55. > :13:59.terror of the journey over the sea to Europe. They love their children

:14:00. > :14:02.as much as I love mine. Yet they risked their daughters' lives

:14:03. > :14:09.because the bigger the risk, the bigger risk was to stay where they

:14:10. > :14:13.were and not to flee. 94% of those entering Europe this way are

:14:14. > :14:19.refugees by any objective standard. They flee war. A persecution and

:14:20. > :14:24.death. They seek peace, security and life. How dare we look for excuses

:14:25. > :14:26.when we should provide solutions. I repeat my call to the Prime

:14:27. > :14:32.Minister, show some leadership. Show some backbone. Accept the 3,000

:14:33. > :14:35.children that I and Save the Children have been pressing for.

:14:36. > :14:39.Take our fair share of the desperate looking to us for help. Do the right

:14:40. > :14:39.thing, do the British thing. Do it now.

:14:40. > :15:04.APPLAUSE. The Prime Minister 's lack of

:15:05. > :15:07.leadership on Europe and the refugee crisis is just another demonstration

:15:08. > :15:11.of how the Tories are out of touch with the challenges facing Britain.

:15:12. > :15:15.And if Calais is a long way from London in the Prime Minister 's

:15:16. > :15:19.mind, I golly, Cardiff is even further. So too, by the way, if

:15:20. > :15:23.Kendall, at the heart of my patch and if you'll permit me for a moment

:15:24. > :15:28.to reflect on the recent flooding, how it shows a Government out of

:15:29. > :15:30.touch with the reality of peoples lives, I experience the floods

:15:31. > :15:34.first-hand. You never think it's going to happen to you and then it

:15:35. > :15:38.does. Abandoning our car as the river burst across the fields and

:15:39. > :15:43.the road, grabbing the kids and wading through the water to get to

:15:44. > :15:46.safety, all brought home how devastating in dangerous flooding

:15:47. > :15:50.can be. We were luckier than most, losing your car is nothing compared

:15:51. > :15:54.to losing your home and your businesses. Thousands of Cumbrians

:15:55. > :15:58.did. Unless you've seen first-hand, it's hard for people to understand

:15:59. > :16:03.the scale of the devastation. The cost of the impact of the floods

:16:04. > :16:07.this winter is likely to be almost ?6 billion, just think about it for

:16:08. > :16:12.a moment. That is three times the size of the entire Foreign

:16:13. > :16:17.Commonwealth Office budget. Yet what has the reaction been? First of all,

:16:18. > :16:20.he and his spin doctors had to settle the big question. Should he

:16:21. > :16:25.appear in his own hunter Wellington boots or buy a pair from Asda and

:16:26. > :16:27.look like a man of the people? Seriously, there had a lengthy

:16:28. > :16:30.debate in number ten because we still have our sources, so we know

:16:31. > :16:37.this. LAUGHTER

:16:38. > :16:43.APPLAUSE Some of the Tories were quite nice.

:16:44. > :16:47.Yes, along with other ministers, the PM has visited and said all the

:16:48. > :16:50.right things but what have the Government actually done? They

:16:51. > :16:54.refused to provide the funding for over 90% of the damage full survey

:16:55. > :16:58.have cut the environment Department by 15%, dragged their feet over

:16:59. > :17:03.reopening key roads, reminded us in the lakes in the Dales and Cumbria

:17:04. > :17:09.of something you know only too well, in Brecon and Radnor and Ceredigion,

:17:10. > :17:12.Montgomeryshire, no part of Britain is more taken for granted and more

:17:13. > :17:19.ignored by Conservatives than rural Britain.

:17:20. > :17:23.APPLAUSE And it is not just in the North of

:17:24. > :17:29.England that flooding matters. I know here in Wales you also had

:17:30. > :17:32.serious flooding issues and experts are concerned that without further

:17:33. > :17:37.investment you could see more of the sorts of scenes we have witnessed

:17:38. > :17:42.this winter. But it's not just on flooding the Tories are so out of

:17:43. > :17:45.touch. They are slashing support for low-income families, encouraging the

:17:46. > :17:49.selling off of social homes and making it even harder for young

:17:50. > :17:53.people to get on in life, restricting housing benefit for

:17:54. > :17:57.anyone under 21. David Cameron and his Government have no idea how hard

:17:58. > :18:01.it is for people who don't enjoy the sort of income that they do. They

:18:02. > :18:05.simply don't realise that people in Britain today are choosing between

:18:06. > :18:09.meals for themselves and meals for their kids. They are choosing

:18:10. > :18:14.between heating and clothes for the kids. For school. I said earlier,

:18:15. > :18:18.our Lib Dem votes in parliament has stop the cuts to working tax credit,

:18:19. > :18:24.yes, but George Osborne is now sneaking those cuts through through

:18:25. > :18:28.Universal Credit, that's up to 164,000 hard-working low income

:18:29. > :18:33.Welsh people who will find themselves ?1000 a year worse off as

:18:34. > :18:36.a consequence. If you are too ill to work they will cut your employment

:18:37. > :18:41.support allowance, too, by ?30 a week. That might buy you one Hunter

:18:42. > :18:46.welly, not to, but for some people it's a difference between living and

:18:47. > :18:49.just about existing. With all this money they are saving in those cuts,

:18:50. > :18:53.you'd think they might be investing with that money in Britain's future.

:18:54. > :18:56.You might think they'd be looking at the flooding which has occurred,

:18:57. > :19:00.listen to the scientists who say that much of it is likely to be a

:19:01. > :19:05.consequence of El Nino, climate change, and doing something else

:19:06. > :19:08.about it. There are certainly doing something. They have decided to cut

:19:09. > :19:14.out all of the green stuff which gives our chance of a cleaner

:19:15. > :19:19.future. We fought to place green valleys at the heart of Government,

:19:20. > :19:23.Chris Huhne and Ed Davey led a quiet revolution in Whitehall, and showed

:19:24. > :19:28.it was possible to be economically literate and green at the same time.

:19:29. > :19:31.In five years, we tripled renewable energy, set up the green deal,

:19:32. > :19:36.helping people to enslave their homes and lower their energy costs,

:19:37. > :19:40.we started the green investment bank, the first of its kind in the

:19:41. > :19:46.world. We planted over 1 million trees and blocked plans to sell off

:19:47. > :19:50.forests. We made a ?500 million investment in low emission vehicles.

:19:51. > :19:57.And we finally got the 5p tax on plastic bags in England something

:19:58. > :20:00.you let the way on five years previously. Since the general

:20:01. > :20:04.election, has been undone by the Tories. Listen to this and realise

:20:05. > :20:10.how little they care about our future. Cuts to subsidies for solar

:20:11. > :20:14.have seen the solar industry halved in size almost overnight. Up to

:20:15. > :20:18.19,000 British job losses. They have cut subsidies for onshore wind which

:20:19. > :20:23.is the cheapest form of renewable energy, abolished the rules on zero

:20:24. > :20:30.carbon homes, scrapped the green deal, cut the renewable heat

:20:31. > :20:37.incentive by ?700 million, scrapped the ?1 billion carbon capture and

:20:38. > :20:41.storage projects, reduced tax breaks for electric cars, and removed the

:20:42. > :20:46.Climate Change Levy exemption, renewable energy businesses

:20:47. > :20:49.increasing their costs. Climate change is the biggest earthly threat

:20:50. > :20:55.facing humankind. But there are no headlines to be doing the right

:20:56. > :20:57.thing, tackling the fact for our children's sake, where are the boats

:20:58. > :21:01.in that? Why worry about the long-term when you concern

:21:02. > :21:06.yourselves with shallow cynical politics and you know exactly how

:21:07. > :21:09.little regard the Tories have for a sustainable future with the latest

:21:10. > :21:10.dithering over the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon.

:21:11. > :21:24.APPLAUSE Let me make it absolutely dead

:21:25. > :21:30.cliff. The Swansea Bay tidal lagoon has to go ahead. It will provide

:21:31. > :21:34.hundreds of jobs and supply energy for 120 years, three times as long

:21:35. > :21:38.as a nuclear power plant, it will be at a madness for the Government to

:21:39. > :21:42.pull further investment from the renewable sector which generate

:21:43. > :21:46.economic growth and jobs. We've been a world leader in this field and

:21:47. > :21:52.maintained that status, it's now in jeopardy. It's a litmus test for

:21:53. > :21:57.this Conservative Government of Westminster for some do UK about

:21:58. > :22:01.this agenda or was it all for show? For five years, we fought sceptical

:22:02. > :22:05.Tories to ensure the coalition was the greenest Government ever and in

:22:06. > :22:09.the last six months, this progress has been unravelled at an alarming

:22:10. > :22:13.pace. Those huskies that David Cameron shot ages ago when the

:22:14. > :22:18.usefulness had run their course, they will be turning in their

:22:19. > :22:21.graves. We should spare a thought for Amber Rudd who David Cameron

:22:22. > :22:27.told, those dogs have gone off to live on a farm in Devon. It is

:22:28. > :22:31.shameful. It is shameful that the work in coalition that we began to

:22:32. > :22:35.deliver this is being unpacked. But should be leading the world in the

:22:36. > :22:42.green economy and setting an example to other nations at the UN talks in

:22:43. > :22:45.Paris. So, the Tories got just 37% of the vote with a tiny majority of

:22:46. > :22:50.12 investments. As a result, they are under immense pressure shortly.

:22:51. > :22:55.Well, that should be the case, instead, they act with a swaggering

:22:56. > :23:01.sense of invalidity and we have laboured to blame for that. Labour

:23:02. > :23:05.make me genuinely angry, not because they've been taken over by the kind

:23:06. > :23:10.of people that used to try and sell newspapers outside the students

:23:11. > :23:16.union, not because they have a Socialist leader, but because they

:23:17. > :23:23.now have the most useless opposition in the history of British politics.

:23:24. > :23:30.APPLAUSE -- they are.

:23:31. > :23:34.The Tories are getting away with cutting Universal Credit for the

:23:35. > :23:38.hardest working, poorest paid people. Scrapping the green deal,

:23:39. > :23:43.dehumanising the refugees we should be helping because they are not

:23:44. > :23:47.being held to account. What an outrage. Labour have left the field

:23:48. > :23:55.of play. Lib Dems now fill that space.

:23:56. > :23:59.APPLAUSE Labour seem now only to want to talk

:24:00. > :24:04.about themselves to themselves, not about the people to the people.

:24:05. > :24:10.I say let's speak to the people about the people, to Britain about

:24:11. > :24:14.Britain, a better Britain, but whilst Labour might be a joke in

:24:15. > :24:19.Westminster, in England, Scotland, they are no joke in Wales. Jeremy

:24:20. > :24:24.Corbyn needs to understand that, in this part of the UK, his party are

:24:25. > :24:29.still in Government and his legacy to the people of Wales is one of

:24:30. > :24:34.failure. Take health is just one of those. Under Labour, Welsh patients

:24:35. > :24:36.have longer waiting times for ambulances, A, heart operations,

:24:37. > :24:41.that is truly shocking when you think that Wales is governed by a

:24:42. > :24:47.party that has spent over 60 years pretending that the NHS is entirely

:24:48. > :24:52.their idea. It wasn't, by the way. Bevan was a liberal, Lloyd George

:24:53. > :24:54.was a liberal, Aneurin Bevan stood on his shoulder. Just saying.

:24:55. > :25:05.APPLAUSE But Labour have an insurance plan.

:25:06. > :25:08.They know that if they get into trouble in the elections in May they

:25:09. > :25:12.can rely on nationalists to prop them up. I was on question Time with

:25:13. > :25:15.Leanne Wood a couple of weeks ago and she was very nice but there is

:25:16. > :25:19.absolute in no point whatsoever in voting for her. She's made it

:25:20. > :25:24.totally clear that if no party has a majority, she will only do a deal

:25:25. > :25:28.with Labour. So if you vote Labour, you get Labour. If you vote Plaid

:25:29. > :25:30.Cymru, you get Labour. You want to make a difference, you vote for the

:25:31. > :25:40.Welsh Liberal Democrats. APPLAUSE

:25:41. > :25:43.Weather on the NHS, education or the economy, Labour has failed to

:25:44. > :25:49.deliver and expect Wales to fall behind the rest of the UK and that

:25:50. > :25:53.is why I am so proud of Kirsty and the team here in the Welsh Liberal

:25:54. > :25:58.Democrat group and the Assembly. Kirsty has the talent, tenacity and

:25:59. > :26:01.vision to energise our supporters and to challenge the stable status

:26:02. > :26:07.quo. I don't know if you realise this, within Wales, but throughout

:26:08. > :26:10.the UK, Kirsty is clearly and unanimously recognised as the

:26:11. > :26:15.standout leader in Welsh politics. We are very, very proud of her and

:26:16. > :26:19.some leaders like David Cameron and Carwyn Jones are all talk and no

:26:20. > :26:22.action, that is certainly not the case with Kirsty for the powder I

:26:23. > :26:28.know that? Because what she is already done. I saw Kirsty

:26:29. > :26:33.spearheaded the campaign in Wales to stop regional pay. She and the party

:26:34. > :26:38.he campaigned tirelessly to get ministers to intervene, the Welsh

:26:39. > :26:42.party to be promoted to the Federal conference and one, and Westminster

:26:43. > :26:45.backed down. That was a real victory for Kirsty, real action, not just

:26:46. > :26:49.words, but Kirsty and the Welsh Liberal Democrats delivering for the

:26:50. > :26:53.people of Wales and then continuing the fight for devolution, the Silk

:26:54. > :26:56.Commission only came into being because Kirsty was relentless in

:26:57. > :26:59.insisting it had to be part of the coalition agreement from the Silk

:27:00. > :27:05.Commission is come the further devolution of tax powers and energy

:27:06. > :27:09.powers, all real achievements. Real action, not just words, Kirsty and

:27:10. > :27:14.the Welsh Liberal Democrats are seen over and over again delivering for

:27:15. > :27:18.the people of Wales. If only Jenny was still our Minister in the bus

:27:19. > :27:22.office to keep the Tories feed to the fire over the Welsh bill. Kirsty

:27:23. > :27:26.'s action does not stop there. A couple of days ago, her nurses built

:27:27. > :27:30.past its penultimate stage, the first time anywhere in the UK

:27:31. > :27:36.hospitals were required to ensure safe staffing levels of nurses. If

:27:37. > :27:40.you want to see a party committed to the NHS in Wales, as the rest of the

:27:41. > :27:44.UK, it is the Liberal Democrats. Now, as much of a fan of hours

:27:45. > :27:49.Kirsty, she couldn't achieve all that alone. So let me say now thank

:27:50. > :27:54.you to Peter Black, Eluned Parrott, William Powell, Richard Roberts for

:27:55. > :27:59.all you're doing for the Welsh Liberal Democrats and you are the

:28:00. > :28:03.reason there was a Welsh Liberal Democrats, you're the reason there

:28:04. > :28:05.are thousands more apprentices, and you are the reason there is a young

:28:06. > :28:10.person's bus pass, what you have achieved with your small team is

:28:11. > :28:17.vital. I wish you every success in the forthcoming elections. And I'm

:28:18. > :28:21.also massively proud of my mate, Mark. There you are. He speaks for

:28:22. > :28:26.Wales with a passionate voice in the House of Commons and stands up for

:28:27. > :28:30.Wales but of all the other Welsh ministers put together. You need to

:28:31. > :28:32.increase your numbers in Westminster in 2020, but we will come to that in

:28:33. > :28:40.time. APPLAUSE

:28:41. > :28:46.So, thank you. I said I was out on the doorsteps

:28:47. > :28:51.with Eluned earlier in the week but Liz Evans, Jane Dodds, Veronica,

:28:52. > :28:54.they're all campaigning incredibly well to join Kirsty. Kirsty already

:28:55. > :28:59.has two more women in a group of five than I have in my group of

:29:00. > :29:03.eight, wouldn't it be absolutely fantastic to see Liz, Jane and

:29:04. > :29:06.Veronica join her? I need them there, you need them there in Wales.

:29:07. > :29:14.Wales needs them there. APPLAUSE

:29:15. > :29:18.Almost 106 years ago, David Lloyd George made a speech at Queen 's

:29:19. > :29:24.Hall in London. He reflected on how tenants have

:29:25. > :29:30.been turned out of their houses by the Tory landlords in 1868 for

:29:31. > :29:34.having failed to vote Liberal and let Liberal MPs for Supply George

:29:35. > :29:39.said how that challenge the ruling classes broke the spirit of the

:29:40. > :29:43.mountains, the genie of freedom. Well, friends, today, we need to

:29:44. > :29:47.challenge Labour's arrogant sense of entitlement to rule. They act like

:29:48. > :29:51.they are the landlords of Wales, that you have no right to even

:29:52. > :29:57.consider voting any other way. We will not have that. We need to wake

:29:58. > :30:01.the spirit again today, we have a proud tradition of liberalism in

:30:02. > :30:07.Wales, standing up for our communities for over 150 years, we

:30:08. > :30:10.need to give voice to those communities in 2016. Many will stand

:30:11. > :30:15.for the National Assembly from other parties in May so they can hold

:30:16. > :30:20.office and their titles but liberals stand to make a difference. Between

:30:21. > :30:24.now and May the 5th, I need you to wake and that liberal spirit on

:30:25. > :30:28.every doorstep, encouraging given, Cardiff Central, Montgomery, Brecon

:30:29. > :30:33.and Radnor and across this nation and take advantage of the fact that

:30:34. > :30:37.people are desperate for something authentic and true, to challenge

:30:38. > :30:41.those who presume to rule as, at who fail us. In Kirsty, you have the

:30:42. > :30:47.standout leader in Welsh politics and I am looking at the stand out

:30:48. > :30:51.team punching above your weight, you deserve victory but you will not get

:30:52. > :30:56.it by accident, only by fighting with passion, beliefs, discipline

:30:57. > :31:01.and energy, so get out there, get on the doorstep, rain, wind and maybe

:31:02. > :31:05.even shine, victory is there to be won. I need you to win Wales needs

:31:06. > :31:21.you to win. Thank you. APPLAUSE

:31:22. > :31:32.They loved it in the hall, did they love it beyond? We'll find out in

:31:33. > :31:38.the election. Tim Farron there, after that drubbing in May. With 10

:31:39. > :31:43.MPs is he finding it difficult to be heard? It is very difficult, in

:31:44. > :31:48.Prime Minister's Questions, where traditionally the Liberal leader

:31:49. > :31:55.receives two questions, now those questions gets those. He is called

:31:56. > :31:59.the same number of times as Plaid Cymru tore SNP leader. They don't

:32:00. > :32:04.get the attention they used to get on television, radio programmes or

:32:05. > :32:08.the press. He has all sorts of disadvantages. On top of that he is

:32:09. > :32:13.facing a set of elections you would think would normally be the start of

:32:14. > :32:17.a new cycle of elections. The general election is over, that's the

:32:18. > :32:24.end of one cycle but the start of another. I don't think these feel

:32:25. > :32:28.like this. The Scottish, the Welsh election, the London Mayoral

:32:29. > :32:32.election, they feel to me like the election election obvious the last

:32:33. > :32:35.cycle. This is where this group of bodies is going to catch one what's

:32:36. > :32:40.already happened in Westminster more than likely. The new electoral cycle

:32:41. > :32:45.starts with next year's local elections. I think this is going be

:32:46. > :32:50.a painful couple of months for the Liberal Democrats, for Tim Farron.

:32:51. > :32:57.Part of what he has to do is minimise the damage and maintain

:32:58. > :33:01.morale. I think this is a nasty little period that will be

:33:02. > :33:08.confronting them. It is only after that they can begin on a proper

:33:09. > :33:12.rebuilding process. I suppose he was elected before Jeremy Corbyn, and

:33:13. > :33:14.that clears the pitch for the Liberal Democrats and their

:33:15. > :33:20.positioning. There are people within the Liberal Democrats who will say

:33:21. > :33:25.if we had known it was going to be Jeremy Corbyn who won the Labour

:33:26. > :33:31.leadership we might not have supported Tim Farron but the other

:33:32. > :33:35.candidate, Norman Lamb. They thought they were getting a new Charles

:33:36. > :33:38.Kennedy, someone to the left of the Labour Party, someone who is an

:33:39. > :33:42.attractive and warm personality as far as the public are concerned. If

:33:43. > :33:50.you are trying to find space to the left of Jeremy Corbyn you are

:33:51. > :33:54.somewhere around the international Marxist group or the Workers' Party.

:33:55. > :33:59.Is Tim Farron the sort of person who can carve out a space in the centre

:34:00. > :34:04.for the Liberal Democrats? That's not instinctively where he is. It is

:34:05. > :34:09.quite a difficult position. But in Wales is that space there for the

:34:10. > :34:14.party in Wales, when you look at Welsh Labour as opposed to Jeremy

:34:15. > :34:18.Corbyn's Labour? I'm not sure the voters differentiate in that way.

:34:19. > :34:22.There is in the Assembly election an opportunity to try and fight a

:34:23. > :34:26.change campaign. Labour have been in power, depending on how you look at

:34:27. > :34:32.it it is either 16 years since the foundation of the Assembly or 19

:34:33. > :34:35.years since 1997, when they took over the Wales Office. By all rules

:34:36. > :34:38.of politics that should make this election in Wales a change election.

:34:39. > :34:44.An election where the voters feel that it is time for a change. The

:34:45. > :34:49.trouble is that you've got more than one party competing for that change

:34:50. > :34:52.vote. The vagary obvious the Welsh electoral system make it very

:34:53. > :34:57.difficult for any one of those parties to break clear. So if you

:34:58. > :35:01.are voting for change in Wales would you vote for the Conservatives,

:35:02. > :35:06.would you vote for Plaid Cymru, would you vote for Ukip? All of e-I

:35:07. > :35:13.suspect are more likely than a vote for the Liberal Democrats. They've

:35:14. > :35:16.set they are happy to hitch to any other party, is that attract

:35:17. > :35:20.incentive. The alternative is to say we are not talking to so and so.

:35:21. > :35:24.That's why they try and avoid talking to those things. You have to

:35:25. > :35:32.wait and see the numbers. Thank you Vaughan. Plenty more to talk about.

:35:33. > :35:34.Let's go over to the conference centre and our political

:35:35. > :35:46.I've got two candidates with me. I will start with you Veronica first

:35:47. > :35:53.of all. How do you think the conference has gone so far? I think

:35:54. > :35:58.it's been really positive. It seems only two minutes ago since we were

:35:59. > :36:01.at our last conference, in the autumn in Swansea. People have been

:36:02. > :36:06.campaigning through the winter months and coming back with stories

:36:07. > :36:09.that are really positive. Got a bit of a spring this their step, which

:36:10. > :36:13.is great. When you are thinking about that spring in their step that

:36:14. > :36:17.might be surprising given last year and the problems. Have you been

:36:18. > :36:23.surprised at how the party's been able to bounce back? Absolutely. In

:36:24. > :36:26.my region we've nearly doubled our membership since then. All these new

:36:27. > :36:30.people coming in, they've always supported us in the past but never

:36:31. > :36:35.put pen to paper and said yes, I want to be a member. That's given us

:36:36. > :36:38.a new impetus that we didn't have before. It is good to have new

:36:39. > :36:43.blood, because it makes you think again how do you things and the way

:36:44. > :36:51.you do things. They have fresh ideas. That's really beneficial. Liz

:36:52. > :36:56.Evans, it is one thing to have new blood and members but the real

:36:57. > :37:01.difficulty is getting people to return this their thousands. How

:37:02. > :37:05.does the party begin to rebuild? We are a resilient bunch. We just keep

:37:06. > :37:11.coming back. But there's a need for us in Welsh politics. That's clear

:37:12. > :37:15.when we are on the doorstep. A lot of us have been on the doorstep for

:37:16. > :37:19.months and the support is clearly there. I see that in Ceredigion and

:37:20. > :37:24.talking to candidates in Wales they are seeing it as well. I was

:37:25. > :37:28.listening this morning to Tim Farron saying that Wales is the beating

:37:29. > :37:33.heart of liberalism, yet the general election last year and the European

:37:34. > :37:37.elections 2014, Wales has a lower share the vote than England and

:37:38. > :37:42.Scotland. People seem to be turning away from the Liberal Democrats, in

:37:43. > :37:48.Wales. Why is that? I don't know, to be honest with you. We lost our way

:37:49. > :37:54.didn't we, and we were punished last year severely for the coalition. We

:37:55. > :37:57.were very lucky in Ceredigion to return Mark Williams but we lost

:37:58. > :38:00.Roger and Jenny in Cardiff. But we have to put that behind us now.

:38:01. > :38:04.There's a need for the Liberal Democrats in Welsh politics. We have

:38:05. > :38:09.to keep knocking on those doors. What is clear, I think a lot of

:38:10. > :38:14.people, it is like be careful what you wish for isn't it, we look now

:38:15. > :38:17.at the Government we've got in Westminster and clearly the

:38:18. > :38:21.coalition Government wasn't that bad, as far as getting our policies

:38:22. > :38:25.across. You talk about the coalition, the Government in

:38:26. > :38:29.Westminster, what about the Government in Cardiff Bay. We've

:38:30. > :38:33.heard attacks on their record on delivery. What do you think will be

:38:34. > :38:36.the main challenges for you now to try and get that message across on

:38:37. > :38:42.the doorstep? I think we've got a clear opportunity with the NHS and

:38:43. > :38:45.with Kirsty's Safer Nursing Levels Bill. People are beginning to

:38:46. > :38:50.realise that we have stood still on the NHS. It has got worse here in

:38:51. > :38:54.Wales, where they might look, I'm not saying everything is perfect in

:38:55. > :38:57.England, it is not, but they expect more. They feel as if this is the

:38:58. > :39:02.home of the NHS and yet things aren't happening that should be

:39:03. > :39:06.happening. And yet they can see that we as a party are doing something.

:39:07. > :39:09.Even as a party in opposition, we are still managing to make

:39:10. > :39:15.improvements. One of the things that stuck me is this focus I've heard

:39:16. > :39:19.about, getting the basics right. Relentlessly focusing on the public

:39:20. > :39:24.service delivery. Does that mean that in the past you think you have

:39:25. > :39:27.spent too much time talking about the constitution, voter reform

:39:28. > :39:30.rather than the bread and butter issues? I think if you get those

:39:31. > :39:34.things right, the constitution, the voter reform right, it is much

:39:35. > :39:39.easier to make the other changes. Have you not got them right in the

:39:40. > :39:43.past? So maybe, I still think that's really important. I'm one of those

:39:44. > :39:48.really sad people that joined the Liberal? Party, as it was, because

:39:49. > :39:53.of proportional representation. That's in my psyche, it is about

:39:54. > :39:57.fairness. We are a party that absolutely believes in fairness,

:39:58. > :40:04.whether it is to do with voting or access to NHS or to have a fair

:40:05. > :40:07.education for everybody. We met in a school yesterday in Cardiff and we

:40:08. > :40:11.were discussing the plan to cap infant class sizes at 25 pupils. You

:40:12. > :40:17.said something that was interesting, that is not necessarily going to fly

:40:18. > :40:22.in an area like Ceredigion where it is rural schools. Large class sizes

:40:23. > :40:27.aren't a problem. How will you get that message across? It is very

:40:28. > :40:32.different in Ceredigion and rural Wales. The situation doesn't play.

:40:33. > :40:38.In Cardiff they make an application. Some of the schools are 30-plus

:40:39. > :40:41.children. My point is in Ceredigion where that doesn't really apply it

:40:42. > :40:45.is not going be a great vote winner for you, is it? No, and it is

:40:46. > :40:50.something I possibly won't be pinpointing as much. Where we have

:40:51. > :40:55.benefited from is Kirsty's deal with the Welsh Government regarding the

:40:56. > :41:00.pupil premium. People say that's a huge success, I see that as a

:41:01. > :41:05.Governor of two schools. It is horses for courses. Certain policies

:41:06. > :41:11.will not fit for rural Wales. But the bigger challenge, they will do.

:41:12. > :41:14.The threat, as somebody standing on the list, the threat you are

:41:15. > :41:19.expecting from Ukip. I guess they are not necessarily going to be the

:41:20. > :41:23.same voters going for Ukip but you may lose out because people are

:41:24. > :41:28.giving their second votes to Ukip. Is that a problem? Ukip are there,

:41:29. > :41:32.you can't ignore them. All of a sudden the party that didn't believe

:41:33. > :41:37.in the National Assembly, would rather have a Welsh grand committee

:41:38. > :41:41.of MPs rather than a national assembly, suddenly see this as an

:41:42. > :41:44.opportunity to get people elected, not because they believe in the

:41:45. > :41:48.institution but it gives them a platform. In the general election a

:41:49. > :41:52.lot of people voted for Ukip, but they can see that do they really

:41:53. > :41:57.want them running our health service here in Wales? Do they really want

:41:58. > :42:04.them running our education system. Do they really want people

:42:05. > :42:07.parachuted from England, economic migrants like Mark Reckless, coming

:42:08. > :42:13.to Wales to take jobs off people here? Tim Farron was calling them a

:42:14. > :42:17.bunch of English nationalists. Isn't that disrespectful for the tens of

:42:18. > :42:21.thousands of voters who voted for them in the last election? They came

:42:22. > :42:26.close to being the main party two years ago. People see Ukip and see

:42:27. > :42:31.them as an alternative, because Farage is very clever at getting his

:42:32. > :42:35.point across. He isn't a politician. But he is a politician. Anybody who

:42:36. > :42:39.stands for office and gains office is a politician. This idea, that

:42:40. > :42:43.they are different from everyone else. You ask people about some of

:42:44. > :42:47.the policies and they don't actually believe in those policies but they

:42:48. > :42:52.might have voted for Ukip. They fell for the dream. I think that dream is

:42:53. > :42:55.beginning to disappear now and they'll see them for what they are.

:42:56. > :43:00.They don't have the best interests of Wales at heart. Thank you both

:43:01. > :43:04.very much. These two claiming they would have the best interests of

:43:05. > :43:06.Wales at heart, and Ukip would have a different view. Back to you in the

:43:07. > :43:09.studio, Bethan. Thank you Arwyn. We've heard from the party's UK

:43:10. > :43:12.leader, now let's hear the speech of the Welsh leader,

:43:13. > :43:14.Kirsty Williams. She spoke just before we came

:43:15. > :43:16.on air, and was introduced by the party's only

:43:17. > :43:27.Welsh MP, Mark Williams. We all know that Kirsty has been a

:43:28. > :43:30.superb Assembly Member for Brecon and Radnorshire, since the inception

:43:31. > :43:36.of the National Assembly, working closely with the late and

:43:37. > :43:39.much-missed Richard Livesey and our party President, Roger Williams. I

:43:40. > :43:43.know how tirelessly she works on behalf of Brecon and Radnorshire,

:43:44. > :43:49.not least because in a previous life I was a constituents of Kirsty and

:43:50. > :43:55.Roger Williams in Brecon and Radnorshire. Every week in my office

:43:56. > :44:02.in the House of Commons we would tune in to First Minister's

:44:03. > :44:08.Questions in the National Assembly. There's a predictability, a happy

:44:09. > :44:13.and necessary predictability about the lambasting Kirsty Williams gives

:44:14. > :44:17.our First Minister. I was at college with Carwyn Jones many years ago.

:44:18. > :44:21.Kirsty is far more effective in the National Assembly than any of us

:44:22. > :44:27.were in those student days in Aberystwyth many years ago. I say

:44:28. > :44:31.necessary because if you work with the challenges of Labour's running

:44:32. > :44:36.of the NHS in Wales, and we do in Ceredigion in our hospital and in

:44:37. > :44:42.our services is, you know how important the messages that Kirsty

:44:43. > :44:52.Williams on Labour failing our NHS. She is unquestionably one of the

:44:53. > :44:56.greatest communicators of her age. Anybody listening to Any Questions

:44:57. > :45:00.would know that. My spies tell me even the Tories were reeling in the

:45:01. > :45:06.audience at Kirsty Williams' performance. Ladies and gentlemen,

:45:07. > :45:15.all elections are challenges. We all know that in this party. All

:45:16. > :45:20.elections are challenges, but I feel confident in this coming election

:45:21. > :45:24.that not only as Tim said this morning we have a strong and

:45:25. > :45:30.experienced team to put forward to the people of Wales. Not only do we

:45:31. > :45:34.have the message to put forward to Wales. But by God we've got the best

:45:35. > :45:38.leader to put to the people of Wales. Ladies and gentlemen, Kirsty

:45:39. > :45:54.Williams, AM. APPLAUSE.

:45:55. > :46:07.Thank you, Mark. Conference, I had a dream... OK, you may have heard that

:46:08. > :46:12.one before but, as we head into our fifth set of elections since the

:46:13. > :46:17.start of the Assembly, I think back to the time it was first

:46:18. > :46:23.established. I was excited, enthusiastic, full of hope, we had a

:46:24. > :46:28.dream, liberals have been fighting the home rule for over 100 years and

:46:29. > :46:34.this was our chance. You know, I made my first media appearance

:46:35. > :46:38.during the run-up to the 97 referendum, I had the midnight

:46:39. > :46:45.shift, being interrogated by Andrew Neil. Sure, I was nervous, of course

:46:46. > :46:50.I was, I couldn't quite believe that I was sitting there on the sofa next

:46:51. > :46:53.to these professional politicians allowed only ever seen on

:46:54. > :47:00.television. But what overrode my nerves that night was the

:47:01. > :47:05.excitement, the excitement because we were on the cusp of achieving all

:47:06. > :47:10.that we had hoped for. We had campaigned over 100 years for this

:47:11. > :47:18.moment. For Welsh devolution to bring power closer to the people.

:47:19. > :47:28.Nearly two decades later, though, ask yourself has that happened? You

:47:29. > :47:33.know, the Welsh Government was meant to understand Wales' needs better

:47:34. > :47:36.than Whitehall bureaucrats or politicians in Westminster, meant to

:47:37. > :47:42.deliver Welsh solutions to our problems, meant to deliver for

:47:43. > :47:47.Wales, don't get me wrong, culture, sport, the arts, you name it, Wales

:47:48. > :47:55.punches well above its weight. We have so much to be proud of and so

:47:56. > :47:59.much to offer. But the truth is, the truth is that creating the Welsh

:48:00. > :48:05.Government hasn't delivered for people. It certainly hasn't

:48:06. > :48:10.delivered the high quality public services that people deserve and

:48:11. > :48:16.expect. I ask you, put up your hand if you can think of one single

:48:17. > :48:22.Labour policy that they are taking into this Assembly election. Go on,

:48:23. > :48:29.anybody, just one. Just one? No. There's nothing. This Government is

:48:30. > :48:34.tired, it has nothing to offer and it is bankrupt of ideas. And Wales

:48:35. > :48:41.now has the dubious honour of having the longest surviving Government in

:48:42. > :48:49.Europe. Well, that is unless you want to count the leader of Belarus.

:48:50. > :48:54.In office for 17 years, and leading for none of them. Conference, let me

:48:55. > :48:58.be clear, the passion I felt on that night of the referendum has never

:48:59. > :49:02.died. I still have that dream, I still believe, I still have that

:49:03. > :49:09.hope. And I still know that Wales can achieve that dream. But I say to

:49:10. > :49:12.people. Don't blame devolution because the Welsh Government hasn't

:49:13. > :49:19.delivered. Don't blame devolution for the fact that people's voices

:49:20. > :49:23.remain ignored. Don't blame devolution for 16 years of failing

:49:24. > :49:34.standards. Blame Welsh Labour. APPLAUSE

:49:35. > :49:40.In creating the Welsh Government, we were promised a new politics, in

:49:41. > :49:45.touch with our communities, a politics in which Wales took

:49:46. > :49:51.responsibility for its own decisions, but above all else, we

:49:52. > :49:55.were promised letter outcomes yet this Government fails to even get

:49:56. > :49:59.the basics right. You know, it may come as a shock to politicians but

:50:00. > :50:03.people don't expect the world. Believe it or not, they don't want

:50:04. > :50:08.Government on their back day in, day out. They just want their taxes

:50:09. > :50:12.spent on good public services that these services are failing to meet

:50:13. > :50:16.our needs. And in the up-and-coming elections, we Welsh Liberal

:50:17. > :50:22.Democrats will show our vision of a future for the Welsh Parliament that

:50:23. > :50:29.finally gives people what they want. Now it was said we have to do little

:50:30. > :50:37.things. It is the little things that add up to make a big difference. It

:50:38. > :50:43.is the nurse, the nurse who gives that extra bit of care and attention

:50:44. > :50:48.to a frail, elderly person. Making them feel like they really matter.

:50:49. > :50:52.That adds up to excellent health care for all patients. It is the

:50:53. > :50:59.teacher who goes out of her way to help a child read. Multiply that

:51:00. > :51:04.across Wales, but adds up to great schools for all our pupils and

:51:05. > :51:07.parents. The housing officer working with the homeless, going that extra

:51:08. > :51:12.mile to ensure that everyone can have a roof over their head adds up

:51:13. > :51:17.to a country that cares about all its citizens. For too long, Labour

:51:18. > :51:22.has settled for second best. Well, I won't. We won't. We will take Wales

:51:23. > :51:28.forward to a better future, a small country that dares to think big,

:51:29. > :51:33.hopeful, optimistic, pioneering, full of belief in Wales' future.

:51:34. > :51:34.That is what the Welsh Liberal Democrats will offer at this

:51:35. > :51:46.election. APPLAUSE

:51:47. > :51:53.I was struck recently when I read a speech by the Prime Minister of

:51:54. > :51:56.Canada, a fellow liberal, who said, "Leadership should be focused on

:51:57. > :52:03.extending the ladder of opportunity for everyone." Extending the ladder

:52:04. > :52:12.of opportunity for everyone. Such wise words. Underpinned by the

:52:13. > :52:17.reality that being in Government is about setting priorities. You know,

:52:18. > :52:20.at home, like any mother, I'm constantly fighting to give my

:52:21. > :52:24.children the best of opportunities, the ones I necessarily didn't have

:52:25. > :52:28.growing up, always wanting more for them, striving for them to be the

:52:29. > :52:33.best they can be. But the truth is I feel that passion for my country,

:52:34. > :52:37.too. Always fighting for better, fighting for more, fighting for

:52:38. > :52:42.Wales to reach its potential. And for Wales to reach that potential,

:52:43. > :52:47.we must have the right priorities. Now, Labour's health minister in

:52:48. > :52:52.what has begun to look like something of a vanity project, has

:52:53. > :52:56.spent a large proportion of the last year battling to ban e-cigarettes in

:52:57. > :53:03.public places contrary to scientific evidence. Now, while he's been doing

:53:04. > :53:07.that, in the meantime, nearly 2000 people languished over 12 hours in

:53:08. > :53:12.A departments, over 1000 desperately young people waited over

:53:13. > :53:14.two months to access mental health services, 25,000 Welsh citizens

:53:15. > :53:20.waited over eight months on a hospital waiting list. That is

:53:21. > :53:25.appalling. The Government has lost its way. Welsh Labour, well, they

:53:26. > :53:28.just let that happen to them. They are not setting priorities and they

:53:29. > :53:32.have lost touch with what people really want. And the Minister's

:53:33. > :53:39.crusade over e-cigarettes is a perfect example of. That A story

:53:40. > :53:44.involving Nero comes to mind. They have forgotten that the's language

:53:45. > :53:50.of priority, they've got so many that actually, there's none in

:53:51. > :53:54.reality. In contrast, we are clear, and we are focused, and we are in

:53:55. > :54:00.touch with what people want. Our plan starts with improving access to

:54:01. > :54:06.GPs, something that all families rely on. 40% of people say it is

:54:07. > :54:11.difficult to get to see their GP. And that is why we will introduce a

:54:12. > :54:15.fully funded access to GP scheme ensuring people get the appointments

:54:16. > :54:19.when they need them. Investing in primary care and virtual wards,

:54:20. > :54:23.providing support in the community to people the most compact needs and

:54:24. > :54:27.therefore stopping avoidable admissions to hospitals. By doing

:54:28. > :54:32.this, we would guarantee people the best treatment in the right place at

:54:33. > :54:34.the right time to meet their needs. And we would also tackle the

:54:35. > :54:41.ever-growing crisis on mental health services. Conference, I've recently

:54:42. > :54:44.been trying to help a lady whose ten-year-old daughter has been

:54:45. > :54:50.really suffering. We have been working flat out, battling to get

:54:51. > :54:55.this poor girl the therapy that she needs but no one is willing to fund

:54:56. > :55:02.it. The council have acknowledged that her mum is at serious risk of

:55:03. > :55:08.physical harm. Yet the council's advice to that mum? If her daughter

:55:09. > :55:15.kicks off? Phone the police. They would rather she calls the police to

:55:16. > :55:22.her ten-year-old daughter than actually give her the support that

:55:23. > :55:27.they both need. Conference, it is wrong in this day and age that such

:55:28. > :55:32.an illness is treated as secondary, less important, as not serious.

:55:33. > :55:36.Well, we say no more. No more neglect, no more abandonment, no

:55:37. > :55:40.more sweeping it under the carpet. One in four people will experience

:55:41. > :55:45.mental ill-health and it is vital we fix this broken system. We will

:55:46. > :55:50.enshrine equal care for mental and physical health into law a

:55:51. > :55:52.conference, we have lead on this issue, the proud we will do what is

:55:53. > :56:13.right. You may have already anticipated the

:56:14. > :56:17.next bit. More nurses. On Wednesday, our more nurses Bill faces its final

:56:18. > :56:22.hurdle on the way to becoming law, a Welsh Lib Dem achievement that you

:56:23. > :56:27.all have played a part in. You know, under Labour, our NHS makes all the

:56:28. > :56:32.headlines for all the wrong reasons. And I'm sick of that. But because of

:56:33. > :56:37.us, Wales will make the right headlines, being the first country

:56:38. > :56:42.not just in the UK, but in Europe with a legal duty of safe staffing

:56:43. > :56:47.levels. And still more can be done. This is just the beginning. My bill

:56:48. > :56:51.is currently for acute hospitals but we will go further in the next

:56:52. > :56:55.Parliament. We will expend this power so the bill covers mental

:56:56. > :57:02.health wards, maternity, children, the community wards, too. You know,

:57:03. > :57:05.Plaid Cymru want another expensive NHS reorganisation. By centralising

:57:06. > :57:15.hospital services to be run from Cardiff. You know, that is not what

:57:16. > :57:21.people want. Just stand on the doorstep in Aberystwyth. They think

:57:22. > :57:27.Bron Glace is hard enough being run from Carmarthen. Meanwhile, the

:57:28. > :57:33.Tories and Ukip want to take money from front line health services to

:57:34. > :57:37.fund more politicians to run our NHS. My goodness me, that is not

:57:38. > :57:42.what people want. It is not want the start of the NHS once, it's not what

:57:43. > :57:46.the NHS want, we need less politics in the NHS in Wales, not more.

:57:47. > :58:04.APPLAUSE If you think it's hard to recruit

:58:05. > :58:08.and retain medics in the service we currently have, then just look what

:58:09. > :58:12.will happen if Plaid Cymru or of the Tories or Ukip get their hands on

:58:13. > :58:17.the NHS. Those medics will be out of here quicker than you can say... I

:58:18. > :58:24.won't say it. LAUGHTER

:58:25. > :58:28.But we, we are clear. In a way that Labour are not. Who knows what they

:58:29. > :58:33.want to do next? Better access to your GP, that mental health

:58:34. > :58:37.services, more nurses to support our loved ones. We know what people

:58:38. > :58:41.want, we have the right parities. A vote for the Welsh Lib Dems will be

:58:42. > :58:51.a vote to put patients first. APPLAUSE

:58:52. > :58:59.Now part of my job is to think about what the Wales of the future could

:59:00. > :59:05.be, or to be. It may seem obvious that the impact of new technology is

:59:06. > :59:08.all encompassing. Disruptive, a revolution on a greater scale than

:59:09. > :59:12.that of the Industrial Revolution. We don't know how it will end, but

:59:13. > :59:18.we do know that it is happening at breakneck speed. This revolution or

:59:19. > :59:23.as I see it, the contemporary challenge, changes every aspect of

:59:24. > :59:28.our lives. From shopping or paying bills, watching films, planning a

:59:29. > :59:30.holiday, learning new skills or gaining qualification, complaining

:59:31. > :59:36.about a pothole mag orange sending a birthday card to your friend, this a

:59:37. > :59:40.la contemporary challenge includes future tests and changes to our

:59:41. > :59:44.democracy, to our taxation, changes to the way we educate children, and

:59:45. > :59:50.changes the environment for Welsh businesses. Of course, our

:59:51. > :59:52.contemporary challenge also includes anticipating the skills and

:59:53. > :59:56.competencies required of the workforce of the future. Which means

:59:57. > :00:00.getting our education system right today.

:00:01. > :00:07.My husband and I have three daughters. Like all parents we have

:00:08. > :00:14.aspirations for them. We want them to have choices, to get on in life,

:00:15. > :00:17.to be happy, to be intellectually curious, to be fulfilled in their

:00:18. > :00:21.futures. That's why we want them taught in good schools by great

:00:22. > :00:24.teachers. I don't want my daughters or anyone else's children to lose

:00:25. > :00:31.out in the future because they're in a failing school or in a packed,

:00:32. > :00:35.overcrowded classroom with a stressed-out teacher. How can you

:00:36. > :00:40.learn well in that environment? How can we expect our teachers to do our

:00:41. > :00:45.best, teaching our children if classrooms are bulging at the seams.

:00:46. > :00:51.Do you know the average class size in Wales is higher than nearly all

:00:52. > :00:56.other developed countries? Over 71,000 pupils in Wales are taught in

:00:57. > :01:04.classes of 25 or more in the infant age group. And these class sizes are

:01:05. > :01:08.growing. They are getting bigger. Parents calls for smaller classes

:01:09. > :01:13.have been ignored for too long. Do you know what really makes a

:01:14. > :01:18.parent's blood boil? When those in charge aren't listening and just

:01:19. > :01:22.don't care. Is anyone else fed up of having a First Minister that has the

:01:23. > :01:28.air of a man winging it? You know, he's already confessed that he took

:01:29. > :01:31.his eye off the ball when it came to education in Wales. That could have

:01:32. > :01:35.been a generation of young people written off because of his

:01:36. > :01:40.Government's complacency. I challenged him on this in the

:01:41. > :01:44.chamber just a few weeks ago. His answer to my question was to respond

:01:45. > :01:48.by telling me that his children were doing really well, so he's happy.

:01:49. > :01:53.LAUGHTER. Well, that's great for him. But what about everybody else's

:01:54. > :01:57.children? At the start of the year over 40,000 children were taught in

:01:58. > :02:01.an education authority placed in special measures. Call me cynical

:02:02. > :02:05.but it is quite a coincidence that 100 days before an election every

:02:06. > :02:09.single one of those has been taken out of special measures. But what

:02:10. > :02:14.the Welsh Government cannot engineer is the findings from the recent

:02:15. > :02:19.report showing that the number of schools viewed as unsatisfactory has

:02:20. > :02:24.increased. Our children deserve better. Our teaching profession

:02:25. > :02:27.deserves better. Our number one education pledge in this election

:02:28. > :02:31.will be to deliver smaller class sizes for all children. We will work

:02:32. > :02:35.to ensure that infant classes normally contain no more than 25

:02:36. > :02:40.pupils. This will be a key signal that we are the party that are on

:02:41. > :02:46.the side of pupils and parents. We won't stop there. We will extend our

:02:47. > :02:53.pupil premium, a policy that we secured in budget negotiations. And

:02:54. > :03:01.a policy that again, according to the report, is already achieving

:03:02. > :03:04.more in closing the attainment gap than anything Labour manage inside

:03:05. > :03:09.over a decade. APPLAUSE. K APPLAUSE. Anything

:03:10. > :03:15.Labour managed in over a decade. APPLAUSE. The Welsh Liberal

:03:16. > :03:19.Democrats, the party of ideas, making a difference with this policy

:03:20. > :03:25.that fights the notion that if you're poor, well, that's how it is

:03:26. > :03:29.always going to be. That combats that even in this day and age your

:03:30. > :03:34.background decides your destiny. This policy that gives people a

:03:35. > :03:39.chance and and opportunity. Be in no doubt, conference, we are the party

:03:40. > :03:44.of education. And, of course, the Liberals believe in good education,

:03:45. > :03:50.as that's what freed people to be the very best that we can be. In

:03:51. > :03:55.1911 Rose said the woman worker needs bread, but she needs roses

:03:56. > :04:00.too. Too. For nearly half a century she campaigned for better working

:04:01. > :04:05.conditions for American win. She fought for the bread, the basic

:04:06. > :04:09.human rights everyone should be entitled to. But she knew there must

:04:10. > :04:13.be more. There must be roses. Not only should Welsh people be survive

:04:14. > :04:22.ing with. They should be thriving. Wales was once a land full of

:04:23. > :04:26.aspiration, and we can be that again. Allowing people to make

:04:27. > :04:29.something of themselves. Lves. Ambition, aspiration, opportunity -

:04:30. > :04:34.these words must be the foundation stone of a future Wales. Whether

:04:35. > :04:39.people are on low or middle income tax they share the same desires to

:04:40. > :04:42.see aspiration rewarded. There's a giant space in Welsh politics for a

:04:43. > :04:47.party to champion social responsibility. Conference, I claim

:04:48. > :04:53.that space for us. Home ownership rates amongst under 25s have halved

:04:54. > :04:59.in just two decades. Labour appears to have a sneering attitude to the

:05:00. > :05:04.idea of home ownership, as if it is some sort of Cass wish list. I don't

:05:05. > :05:11.understand that. Who wouldn't want their own place to sleep safe at

:05:12. > :05:22.night in, to start a family in, to have good times in, to grow old in,

:05:23. > :05:26.to call home. We will build 20,000 extra houses to help people achieve

:05:27. > :05:30.their dream of owning their own home. Properly investing in people

:05:31. > :05:33.in the future. We will support our small businesses, which can be one

:05:34. > :05:39.of the most powerful engines for social mobility. Wales is the only

:05:40. > :05:44.part of the UK where SME confidence is falling. That's incredibly

:05:45. > :05:48.depressing. But we can turn it around. Small businesses are the

:05:49. > :05:56.lifeblood of our country. It is a cliche because it is true. Cease to

:05:57. > :05:59.be amazed by people who've taken the risk of starting up on their own,

:06:00. > :06:04.starting their own business, give being the it a go in a very

:06:05. > :06:09.competitive world. But Welsh businesses need to be alone. We will

:06:10. > :06:12.create a small business administration, bringing independent

:06:13. > :06:15.advice and finance together. Giving growing businesses the best chance

:06:16. > :06:19.of success. We'll empower councils to be flexible with business rates,

:06:20. > :06:23.energying them to be flexible with business rates,

:06:24. > :06:29.energying -- encouraging them to invest in economic development.

:06:30. > :06:35.We'll campaign to slash VAT to help our tourism industry to thrive and

:06:36. > :06:38.create jobs forever. We will fix our broken broadband and mobile phone

:06:39. > :06:42.technologies. Wales needs a Government the business can trust in

:06:43. > :06:43.and a Government that trusts in the good of business.

:06:44. > :07:00.APPLAUSE. Because we Welsh Liberal Democrats

:07:01. > :07:07.are ambitious for Wales I have a big ask of you. You know, as well as I,

:07:08. > :07:11.we have to reinvent the way we do politics. People are sick to death

:07:12. > :07:15.of politicians telling them what's best for them. Which is why in the

:07:16. > :07:19.run-up to this election I plan to spend as much time as possible

:07:20. > :07:23.listening to the widest and not necessarily the loudest range of

:07:24. > :07:29.voices here in Wales. Welsh voices is. That's what I'll be listening to

:07:30. > :07:33.and that is what I want to hear. To help me, and my colleagues do that,

:07:34. > :07:41.I need your help. Conference, today I'm asking you to help me ask Wales.

:07:42. > :07:43.What I'm proposing is a new type of political campaigning, pavement

:07:44. > :07:47.politics for the 21st century. There is no doubt in the election campaign

:07:48. > :07:52.later this year all the political parties will seek to use digital

:07:53. > :07:55.technology as a marketing tool, pushing information out to defined

:07:56. > :07:59.groups of voters. Well, I want to turn that on its head. I want us to

:08:00. > :08:03.use the power of digital technology to show that we are different to the

:08:04. > :08:07.other parties, because we are actively seeking people's views. Of

:08:08. > :08:14.our fellow citizens, the people who we seek to serve, the people who we

:08:15. > :08:18.work for. Just as once David Penhaligon inspired a generation of

:08:19. > :08:23.campaigners with the mantra, if you have something to say, stick it on a

:08:24. > :08:30.piece of paper and stuff it through a letter box, I'm asking in this

:08:31. > :08:32.hall who can to ask your family, your friends, your neighbours,

:08:33. > :08:36.people you work with, just one question. If they were the First

:08:37. > :08:40.Minister what is the first thing they would change? Ideally film that

:08:41. > :08:45.person you've asked, or take a photograph. Pose it on Facebook, on

:08:46. > :08:50.Twitter or write it down and send it to me. But please don't forget, do

:08:51. > :08:54.ask permission first. No doubt our opponents will try and sabotage our

:08:55. > :08:58.initiative. Who knows, they may even copy it. I don't care about that. I

:08:59. > :09:02.want to know what people think the number one priority is for the next

:09:03. > :09:07.Government. There's no right or wrong answers to the question, but

:09:08. > :09:07.listening is the way that we will do our politics.

:09:08. > :09:25.APPLAUSE. Conference, you trusted me with the

:09:26. > :09:31.leadership of this great party seven years ago. I didn't used to dye my

:09:32. > :09:39.hair then! LAUGHTER. As I look around the hall

:09:40. > :09:44.today, I see many friends. People that I have campaigned alongside of.

:09:45. > :09:50.People who've helped this party through those years. May I thank you

:09:51. > :09:54.for your hard work, energy and loyalty over those seven years? You

:09:55. > :09:57.know as well I as I hasn't always been easy. I can't pretend I

:09:58. > :10:01.temperature imagined we would end up in a coalition with the Tories in

:10:02. > :10:07.Westminster. I can't pretend those five years were comfortable. I also

:10:08. > :10:10.can't pretend that last May wasn't anything but brutal. But we're Welsh

:10:11. > :10:15.Liberal Democrats and we have never taken the easy route other. For me,

:10:16. > :10:20.growing up in Llanelli, becoming a Welsh Liberal Democrat certainty

:10:21. > :10:26.wasn't the easy choice. For the easy route it would have joined Labour.

:10:27. > :10:30.Nah, unthinkable. We are not here for the ministerial cars, for the

:10:31. > :10:35.fame, not here to give our mates jobs, not here to rule because we

:10:36. > :10:39.think it is owed to us. No, not us. We are here for people. The outside

:10:40. > :10:42.others working on the inside, working to keep that Assembly

:10:43. > :10:47.honest. Asking the tough questions, raising the issues that other people

:10:48. > :10:51.would prefer us to ignore, the only party with the guts to give people

:10:52. > :10:57.the power to recall their AMs if they abuse their position. And never

:10:58. > :11:01.forget, the only party that voted against the unfair rise in Assembly

:11:02. > :11:12.Members' pay, because it was the right thing to do.

:11:13. > :11:16.APPLAUSE. But also remember we are not in that Assembly just to oppose

:11:17. > :11:20.for opposition's sake. We are there to deliver too. We used our

:11:21. > :11:23.influence in Cardiff Bay to secure millions of pounds of investment in

:11:24. > :11:28.schools the length and breadth of our country. For young people who

:11:29. > :11:31.need support to access training and higher education we secured a scheme

:11:32. > :11:35.so they could travel for free and have better opportunities for life.

:11:36. > :11:41.We've supported our environment by stopping work on a ?1 billion M4

:11:42. > :11:46.relief road because we know public transport is the priority. We

:11:47. > :11:50.accused 5,000 apprenticeships so people can learn the life skills to

:11:51. > :11:54.secure a decent job. The list goes on and on. All achieved with just

:11:55. > :12:00.five Assembly Members. All achieved because we listen and then we act. I

:12:01. > :12:04.asked the people of Wales to judge us on our record at the Assembly,

:12:05. > :12:09.trust us to be on your side, trust us to fight for you. Trust us to

:12:10. > :12:13.stand up for your communities. A better Wales. That was my dream in

:12:14. > :12:20.the 1997 referendum. And a better Wales is my dream now. And we can

:12:21. > :12:21.fulfil it. Trust us, and we can achieve that dream together. Thank

:12:22. > :12:34.you. APPLAUSE. Kirsty Williams addressing

:12:35. > :12:39.the conference it is a lunch time. The longest serving leader but

:12:40. > :12:43.probably facing her tough test election so far. What was it like

:12:44. > :12:52.for you. It was a well constructed speech and

:12:53. > :12:55.a well delivered speech. But it contained within it some of the

:12:56. > :13:00.contradiction it's, maybe problems is a better word, that party faces

:13:01. > :13:04.in this coming election. For instance you had an attack on Labour

:13:05. > :13:08.that was saying that Labour was stale, that they hadn't achieved

:13:09. > :13:13.anything, that all these problems were because of 17 years of lazy

:13:14. > :13:18.Labour Government. And the average voter might say to that, well, why

:13:19. > :13:22.then are you prepared to consider going into coalition with Labour and

:13:23. > :13:26.maintaining Labour in power? And then we had a second section which

:13:27. > :13:29.was about health, which was attacking what would happen if the

:13:30. > :13:33.Conservatives or Plaid Cymru were responsible for the health service.

:13:34. > :13:36.She said you watch how fast the doctors would leave if those

:13:37. > :13:41.happened. Well, the voter again would say, so why are you willing to

:13:42. > :13:48.consider going into power with those people? I think that's always the

:13:49. > :13:51.trouble for a smaller party when this coalition questions comes up.

:13:52. > :13:56.It is Trude for are Plaid Cymru and the Conservatives as well, but to a

:13:57. > :13:59.lesser extent. The you are saying trust us and the voter response

:14:00. > :14:07.could well be, why should I trust you unless you will tell me what

:14:08. > :14:12.you're going to do? I think that may be the contradiction, the dilemma

:14:13. > :14:15.the party faces. It is not a criticism of what they're doing

:14:16. > :14:20.really, because I don't know what the answer to that dilemma is. I

:14:21. > :14:24.think it is a really difficult problem in a proportional

:14:25. > :14:28.representation system nor a party that can't credibly claim that it is

:14:29. > :14:33.about to win a majority or about to become the largest party. We can put

:14:34. > :14:37.that dilemma to Kirsty Williams shortly. But given their situation

:14:38. > :14:42.both in the Assembly, in Westminster, in the polls, whether

:14:43. > :14:46.we believe them or not, they seem to need a game changer. When you look

:14:47. > :14:50.at the ideas that they are going to focus on public services is, more

:14:51. > :14:53.nurses, smaller class sizes, this digital campaigning. Tell us what

:14:54. > :15:02.you think. Is there something there that's really going to boost their

:15:03. > :15:06.numbers? I think not. The message they have constructive is a changed

:15:07. > :15:09.message and I have no doubt were changed message is the correct

:15:10. > :15:12.message for the selection. But I think this is an election where they

:15:13. > :15:18.are going to have to scrap it out on the ground. You know, I think it's

:15:19. > :15:21.about identifying your vote, getting it out, particularly in those key

:15:22. > :15:26.constituencies that we've already mentioned, Cardiff Central, and

:15:27. > :15:34.cumree, perhaps Ceredigion, as well, hoping... I think, in my view, it is

:15:35. > :15:40.probably easier that the Lib Dems took constituency seat in this year

:15:41. > :15:44.'s election than it is for them to win list seats, because of the

:15:45. > :15:47.impact Ukip is going to have on the threshold. So, if I was them, I

:15:48. > :15:52.would be pouring everything into those target seats under more less

:15:53. > :15:56.letting the lists take care of themselves. Thank you very much, for

:15:57. > :16:00.now. I'm pleased to say Kirsty Williams can join us now live from

:16:01. > :16:05.the conference. Good afternoon. Are you worried you're facing wipe-out

:16:06. > :16:12.as a party in these elections? Nice to talk to, Bethan, and I think you

:16:13. > :16:18.remember we had a similar conversation in the run-up to the

:16:19. > :16:21.last election where journalists were predicting wipe-out and became back

:16:22. > :16:26.with five Assembly members, and they have been working very, very hard to

:16:27. > :16:30.with five Assembly members, and they keep the Labour Government under

:16:31. > :16:35.pressure for their failings, but we've also been using our influence

:16:36. > :16:40.to deliver policies we've had in our manifesto, such as ensuring we put

:16:41. > :16:44.more money into the education of our poorest children, so it's a

:16:45. > :16:48.challenge but it's a challenge we are up for. You need to do better

:16:49. > :16:53.than he did last time just to stand still, don't you? In terms of seat,

:16:54. > :16:59.what are you predicting you will hold onto? I never predict the

:17:00. > :17:05.outcome of elections. That is a fool 's game. My job is to articulate why

:17:06. > :17:10.people should go out and vote for the Welsh Liberal Democrats in this

:17:11. > :17:17.election. And also to remind them that, just because we have had 16-17

:17:18. > :17:21.years of devolution which has not delivered for them, it doesn't have

:17:22. > :17:24.to be that way. We can have a Welsh Government that ensures that when

:17:25. > :17:28.people want to see a GP that I've had to wait three weeks. When their

:17:29. > :17:33.child is an overcrowded classroom, it doesn't have to be that way. Just

:17:34. > :17:37.because you're on a low wage, you always have to stay there. We can

:17:38. > :17:41.fix the Welsh economy, improve the education system and deliver a

:17:42. > :17:46.first-class health care system. We just need a different Government to

:17:47. > :17:52.do it. You are talking about your dream and how it has been shattered

:17:53. > :17:56.and how you don't want a continuation of a Labour Government.

:17:57. > :18:00.Don't blame devolution, you said, blame Welsh Labour. Why would you as

:18:01. > :18:06.a party contemplate putting them back in power? If you speak to

:18:07. > :18:10.people on the streets like I do, people underestimate how cheesed off

:18:11. > :18:15.many people are with the failure of Welsh Government to deliver for

:18:16. > :18:19.them. It's my job to show those people that we have new ideas, fresh

:18:20. > :18:24.ideas and energy that can make a difference to the lives... Sorry to

:18:25. > :18:28.interrupt, but just to be clear, you're not saying you're going to

:18:29. > :18:31.form a Government because a leap from five to more than 30 is huge,

:18:32. > :18:37.even you would acknowledge that, wouldn't you? Bethan, we've been the

:18:38. > :18:45.smallest group of the National Assembly of the past five years but

:18:46. > :18:48.we have been able to put in extra resources for education... OK, we're

:18:49. > :18:52.talking about a potential coalition. Dot. If we can do that with five,

:18:53. > :18:57.imagine what we can do with more Assembly members. We are talking

:18:58. > :19:00.about a potential coalition. Would you therefore, having just spent

:19:01. > :19:05.your whole speech saying how terrible Welsh Labour is, still prop

:19:06. > :19:10.them up as a Government? That question does not arrive at this

:19:11. > :19:13.time. I don't believe another Labour administration that we have

:19:14. > :19:18.witnessed over the last five years is the change Welsh people need and

:19:19. > :19:23.devolution needs. So you would not go into partnership with them? We

:19:24. > :19:27.will not fix our problems here and Wales if we have another five years

:19:28. > :19:30.of Labour sitting back believing that they have got a God-given right

:19:31. > :19:34.to run Wales because they are Labour. It doesn't have to be this

:19:35. > :19:38.way. There can be an alternative and the Welsh Lib Dems want to be a part

:19:39. > :19:43.of that alternative so we can give people devolution that delivers for

:19:44. > :19:46.them, improve the education system, delivers a decent health care

:19:47. > :19:50.service for them and a strong economy, which gives people the

:19:51. > :19:54.dignity of a well-paid job and we will not get that if we have another

:19:55. > :19:56.year of Labour sitting back believing it's a God-given right to

:19:57. > :20:03.run that Assembly. But you'd still do a deal with them? I can't predict

:20:04. > :20:06.what the electorate will do. All I can do is appeal to them to say to

:20:07. > :20:11.them, it doesn't have to be this way. OK, let's look at the

:20:12. > :20:13.alternative. Welsh Lib Dems have ideas and we would love the

:20:14. > :20:20.opportunity to put them into practice. Potentially, let's say the

:20:21. > :20:25.Conservatives are closer to form a Government. Would you back them up?

:20:26. > :20:28.One minute you're saying I'm going to back the Labour Party next money

:20:29. > :20:32.your say I'm going to back the Tories. What I'm going to do with

:20:33. > :20:38.the Lib Dem Assembly members is to actually change things. Tell me

:20:39. > :20:42.won't do either. What I'm going to do is use my influence to ensure

:20:43. > :20:46.that we can ensure that if people want a GP appointment they can get

:20:47. > :20:50.that appointment, when they go to hospital there will be more nurses

:20:51. > :20:53.on the ward to care for them. When their youngsters want to buy their

:20:54. > :20:58.first home they will be an affordable home available for them.

:20:59. > :21:02.There will be well-paid jobs for Welsh workers. We have been able to

:21:03. > :21:06.achieve many things over the last five years with just five Assembly

:21:07. > :21:10.members, nobody in the Cabinet. We have won the power of our given. If

:21:11. > :21:13.we can do that with five members can imagine what we could do with the

:21:14. > :21:18.ideas we have and what family members. You got your fingers burned

:21:19. > :21:21.in Westminster, with a coalition. You didn't enjoy that period seeing

:21:22. > :21:25.David Cameron and Nick Clegg being shoulder to shoulder. You know

:21:26. > :21:31.Electric could do some good to say, if you don't fret, don't worry, we

:21:32. > :21:35.will not back a potential Tory Government in Wales. Why not say

:21:36. > :21:42.that and be honest and just come out say that? I am being truthfully

:21:43. > :21:46.honest, my priorities are getting Welsh Lib Dems are elected. And

:21:47. > :21:51.ensuring we can use that influence to deliver on the policies that we

:21:52. > :21:55.think will fix what's wrong with devolution at the moment. That is my

:21:56. > :22:00.job. What happens after the election I can assure the people of Wales I

:22:01. > :22:04.will be relentless in trying to ensure we have a health service that

:22:05. > :22:09.treats people properly, a strong economy and an education system that

:22:10. > :22:15.make sure our kids are equipped for the future challenges of their life.

:22:16. > :22:22.So you won't rule out Ukip? Would you ever do a deal that involved

:22:23. > :22:27.Ukip? I'm not quite sure what Ukip bring to the debate in the Assembly.

:22:28. > :22:32.The only policies I've heard them say if they want to bring extra

:22:33. > :22:37.politicians into running the health service. I think that's what the

:22:38. > :22:42.health service needs like a hole in the head. I simply don't know what

:22:43. > :22:45.that party once. Then shipping in candidates are used to be MPs in

:22:46. > :22:48.parts of the south-east of England, I really don't believe they

:22:49. > :22:53.understand the true needs of the people of Wales and I don't think

:22:54. > :22:58.they play a positive contribution in the Assembly. Is that a no? As I

:22:59. > :23:02.said, I have little idea what they think they're going to achieve in

:23:03. > :23:06.Wales. It seems to me they spend their time arguing about whether

:23:07. > :23:09.they should have local Welsh candidates or ship in people have

:23:10. > :23:14.been kicked out of Westminster for all sorts of reasons and tried to

:23:15. > :23:20.parachute them into Wales. I have no idea what else they hope to achieve.

:23:21. > :23:25.Just on policy, you want smaller class sizes, which implies more

:23:26. > :23:29.teachers. You want more nurses, these are not cheap policies, are

:23:30. > :23:34.they? Will we get full costings and where the money would come from

:23:35. > :23:37.before the election? You know me, my party always publishes a fully

:23:38. > :23:41.costed manifesto before each Assembly election. We want to be

:23:42. > :23:46.credible. We want to make sure were not promising things back on to be

:23:47. > :23:52.delivered. We know for instance that the policy on smaller class sizes,

:23:53. > :23:56.the cost of delivering that, we will create a special grant to be used to

:23:57. > :24:00.employ more teachers, or if a school is to be made ergo, there will be

:24:01. > :24:04.money available for that and people can trust us. When we work in

:24:05. > :24:10.Government before, we had a policy that did just that. We delivered on

:24:11. > :24:14.that. We have a track record and will have fully costed plans. With

:24:15. > :24:19.nurses, we do know that by relying on agency nurses like about NHS

:24:20. > :24:25.does, that's a really expensive way of manning the wards, and creating

:24:26. > :24:28.an environment where nurses want to have full-time positions, actually

:24:29. > :24:34.in the medium to long-term, it will make the NHS more sustainable and be

:24:35. > :24:37.better for the taxpayer and will deliver sustainable hospital

:24:38. > :24:40.services, too. We heard about getting people to tell you basically

:24:41. > :24:44.what they would do if they were First Minister digitally. If you

:24:45. > :24:49.were First Minister, what would be the first thing you would do on your

:24:50. > :24:54.first day in office? Oh my goodness me. I would scrap the Assembly

:24:55. > :24:57.members pay rise which I think it's outrageous. I would then look to

:24:58. > :25:02.ensure that week raided an authority that could help small businesses

:25:03. > :25:05.thrive, to give people job opportunities. I would extend the

:25:06. > :25:09.law to ensure we have saved numbers of nurses and hospital wards. It

:25:10. > :25:12.would be impossible to decide what to do first because there's so much

:25:13. > :25:23.in Wales but needs to be fixed. That will make devolution possible and we

:25:24. > :25:26.could live up to the 1997 promises. Welsh Lib Dems are up for the

:25:27. > :25:28.challenge and we have got those ideas and would relish the

:25:29. > :25:33.opportunity to put them into practice. Kirsty Williams, thank you

:25:34. > :25:34.very much for your time this afternoon light at the conference

:25:35. > :25:35.there. The South Wales Central

:25:36. > :25:37.AM, Eluned Parrott, She accused the Welsh Government

:25:38. > :25:41.of lacking urgency over helping the steel industry and said that

:25:42. > :25:55.Wales needed a distinctive economic The tragedy of Labour is 17 years of

:25:56. > :26:00.failure is that so many people have been left behind. Behind every job

:26:01. > :26:07.loss headline a family faces an uncertain future and individuals are

:26:08. > :26:10.forced abruptly to rebuild their lives from scratch. It makes me

:26:11. > :26:15.furious to watch a Government that has, at times, scratched around for

:26:16. > :26:19.somebody else to blame. On steel, I've watched the warning signs are

:26:20. > :26:22.that industry in trouble not for months but for years. I've stood up

:26:23. > :26:26.in the chamber and ask the Minister to do something about it, to cut

:26:27. > :26:31.business rates on heavy machinery, demand the highest standards in our

:26:32. > :26:35.procurement policy, make sure no imports are ever used in our

:26:36. > :26:39.Government contracts. This is not abstract but to protect livelihoods

:26:40. > :26:43.and communities. I've heard back time and time again we'll think

:26:44. > :26:48.about it. And yes, I know the Welsh Government can't do everything. But

:26:49. > :26:51.since when was that an excuse to do nothing? 17 years since the Welsh

:26:52. > :26:57.Assembly was founded, is the Welsh economy in a better place? Is it?

:26:58. > :27:02.For 17 years, Labour have been the largest party, that's been 17 years

:27:03. > :27:06.of managed in Ayrshire. In the good years, while the rest of the UK

:27:07. > :27:10.economy grew, Wales was left behind and in the badgers, Wales has been

:27:11. > :27:15.hit hardest by a recession. The productivity gap between the UK and

:27:16. > :27:20.Wales is 30% and the gap is growing, not closing. Welsh workers on

:27:21. > :27:23.average paid 80% of the UK average and why? Because there was a

:27:24. > :27:29.structural problem the Welsh economy that nobody is trying to tackle. And

:27:30. > :27:32.that is this. The Welsh economy is characterised by a huge number of

:27:33. > :27:36.micro-businesses at the one end of the scale and at the other, by big

:27:37. > :27:42.multinational companies with branch operations here. We lack the

:27:43. > :27:47.stronger medium sized businesses that are the key to a sustainable

:27:48. > :27:51.economy. And put simply, that means Wales can't whether the mildest of

:27:52. > :27:53.storms. When times are tough, the smallest businesses lack the deep

:27:54. > :27:57.pockets they would need to tide them over. And those shallow rooted

:27:58. > :28:02.multinationals cut back their branches in Wales to protect that

:28:03. > :28:06.global dream. Without a class of middle sized businesses, our economy

:28:07. > :28:10.falters and the reality is that there are no short-term answers to

:28:11. > :28:16.these problems. To properly close that productivity gap and close it

:28:17. > :28:18.for good, we need a plan to build sustainable growth, through

:28:19. > :28:22.resolving that structural problem. We need to end a kind of chocolate

:28:23. > :28:27.box politics which offers a shiny new name with the same hackneyed old

:28:28. > :28:30.ideas and whether Labour or Plaid Cymru have been the driving seat,

:28:31. > :28:35.all they've done is reinvent the wheel. The wheels fell off sometime

:28:36. > :28:40.ago folks. The Lib Dems alone are calling for a new direction, a

:28:41. > :28:44.long-time internationalist economic plan which fixes the foundations,

:28:45. > :28:48.brings balanced growth to our economy and allows our deeply rooted

:28:49. > :28:52.industry is of enterprise to grow and develop. So what of the

:28:53. > :28:55.Conservatives? Well, we are used to them telling us about the party of

:28:56. > :29:01.business but that does not actually make it true. The Conservatives want

:29:02. > :29:05.to take us back to 1976, by recreating the WDA, lock stock and

:29:06. > :29:15.barrel. To be fair, but left a throwback than many of the other

:29:16. > :29:18.policy areas, but it achieved them, it's not what we need now. In its

:29:19. > :29:20.heyday of course the WDA did bring jobs as many of Wales' traditional

:29:21. > :29:24.industries died but recreating it now will just reinforce the weakness

:29:25. > :29:28.at the heart of our economy. We need to change it fundamentally for ever.

:29:29. > :29:32.There is a well trodden truism in British politics that if you create

:29:33. > :29:37.the right conditions, and economy will grow by itself. It's a concept

:29:38. > :29:40.that was a core of Thatcherism and held fast by Tony Blair and Gordon

:29:41. > :29:46.Brown. But it never worked for Wales. And it never will. It is

:29:47. > :29:51.simply not enough to copy what everyone else is doing when you are

:29:52. > :29:54.already this far behind. If you're only ever aping what your friends

:29:55. > :29:59.are doing at the other end of the M4, you can only ever hoped at the

:30:00. > :30:03.very best to do is keep pace, you will never close the gap and we're

:30:04. > :30:06.not even doing that very well. We will never bridge of the economic

:30:07. > :30:13.divide unless we choose to do something different. Only the Welsh

:30:14. > :30:20.Lib Dems recognise that to change Wales' fate, we must change.

:30:21. > :30:21.Time for another speech from this morning.

:30:22. > :30:24.Peter Black is the AM for South Wales West and told

:30:25. > :30:27.the conference that May's elections were a big challenge

:30:28. > :30:33.but they have a manifesto to deal with it.

:30:34. > :30:41.Devolution did make great promises back in 1999, that it would be

:30:42. > :30:47.different. Different. That Cardiff would understand this better than

:30:48. > :30:53.London did. But too much of Wales from rural Powys and Ceredigion, to

:30:54. > :30:57.urban Swansea, Newport and wrecks ham, even parts of Cardiff feel left

:30:58. > :31:03.behind by Cardiff by and Welsh Labour. The main challenges facing

:31:04. > :31:06.the Welsh Government will be building effective and

:31:07. > :31:10.people-centred public services, such as the NHS during budget pressures.

:31:11. > :31:13.Growing our economy for the benefit of all and giving everyone in

:31:14. > :31:18.society the opportunity to get on in life for themselves and their

:31:19. > :31:22.families. We can only do this and Wales can only reach its potential

:31:23. > :31:27.if we make the most of our country's strengths. Our culture, our

:31:28. > :31:34.resources, and, most of all, our people. We need good governance by a

:31:35. > :31:38.Government that values transparency and scrutiny, accountability and

:31:39. > :31:43.local empowerment. In the Assembly Welsh Liberal Democrats have driven

:31:44. > :31:46.this forward in recent years, scoring major victories for

:31:47. > :31:52.liberalism and social mobility. In budget deals we've introduced a

:31:53. > :32:02.pupil premium, the youth concessionary first scheme, the

:32:03. > :32:07.intermediate care fund and Help to Buy, and the 5,000 apprenticeships.

:32:08. > :32:12.Apprenticeships. On subjects as important and diverse as the economy

:32:13. > :32:16.and health, further and higher education, the environment and

:32:17. > :32:22.energy, local government and democratic reform. As our fightback

:32:23. > :32:26.last summer we spoke to over 100 members, many of them only having

:32:27. > :32:31.joined up since May, talking about the policies and campaigns we wanted

:32:32. > :32:37.to push forward in the run-up to May 2016. We've engaged with members

:32:38. > :32:42.online, with policy surveys and local events, and engaged with the

:32:43. > :32:47.third sector, talking to charities and experts, many of whom join us

:32:48. > :32:53.here today. This motion builds on the manifesto motion we debated at

:32:54. > :32:57.Swansea conference last year, passed unanimously and unamended, a ringing

:32:58. > :33:03.endorsement of our plan going forward. Our policy committee have

:33:04. > :33:07.debated these issues at great length and brought them to you today. In

:33:08. > :33:12.this party it is the members who make policy. We don't dictate it

:33:13. > :33:16.from the centre like Labour, the Conservatives and Ukip. We form our

:33:17. > :33:21.policies by talking to people, learning and listening. We have our

:33:22. > :33:25.policies now in this motion and in the manifesto. Now what we need to

:33:26. > :33:30.do is go out and spread these to the people of Wales. Knock on doors,

:33:31. > :33:35.make phone calls, talk to people. The only way people will know of our

:33:36. > :33:38.ideas is to make Wales a better place for us all is if we go out

:33:39. > :33:43.there and tell them. We have the policies and we have the ideas which

:33:44. > :33:48.can actually make devolution a success once more. Conference, are I

:33:49. > :33:53.commend this motion to you and ask you to support it and to give us

:33:54. > :33:56.your wholehearted endorsement, because these are the policies that

:33:57. > :34:00.will make a difference to Wales, to our communities, for our neighbours

:34:01. > :34:03.and our friends and everybody else living this this country. It will

:34:04. > :34:06.make a difference to our public services is, because we can deliver,

:34:07. > :34:10.the Welsh Liberal Democrats have a track record of delivering, and we

:34:11. > :34:11.will deliver again in the next Assembly. Thank you very much.

:34:12. > :34:22.APPLAUSE. Vaughan, they talk about delivering

:34:23. > :34:27.all the time, but to deliver real policies, as we were talking to

:34:28. > :34:30.Kirsty Williams, there they would have to form a coalition.

:34:31. > :34:34.Interesting that all options are on the table. It is a dilemma isn't it,

:34:35. > :34:41.if you are in the position of a party that can't claim that it is

:34:42. > :34:46.going to form a Government either a majority or alt least lead a

:34:47. > :34:52.minority Government or a coalition. If you start losing things out, as

:34:53. > :34:57.Leanne Wood has done did, you would get the attacks she has received

:34:58. > :35:01.from the Liberal Democrats. Vote Plaid Cymru, get Labour, as Tim

:35:02. > :35:07.Farron said earlier. But if you say nothing, people will say, why should

:35:08. > :35:12.I buy a pig in a poke? You say you are going to concentrate on these

:35:13. > :35:14.policies, but who are you going to negotiate with? Which of those

:35:15. > :35:22.policies are you prepared to drop? Which are you going to insist on

:35:23. > :35:26.keeping? And what are your personal ambitions in terms of ministries? It

:35:27. > :35:31.is incredibly difficult. I don't think there is an easy answer for

:35:32. > :35:36.the political parties. I'll don't blame Kirsty Williams for trying to

:35:37. > :35:40.keep all her options open. Although it does surprise me she didn't close

:35:41. > :35:46.the Ukip option down. I would have thought for a party which at its

:35:47. > :35:53.heart has... We heard that passionate defence from Tim Farron

:35:54. > :35:58.earlier about the treatment of refugees, about Calais, about

:35:59. > :36:03.Ostend, Syria. Can you really imagine a party with that at its

:36:04. > :36:07.heart and soul seriously willing to do a deal with Ukip? I find it very

:36:08. > :36:12.difficult to understand why she wasn't prepared to close that one

:36:13. > :36:17.down. Any coalition deal, we are looking into the future now, could

:36:18. > :36:21.be against an EU referendum. That could be the backdrop to this,

:36:22. > :36:25.another extra dimension. That's true, but it is important to

:36:26. > :36:28.remember that the formation of a Government in Cardiff Bay is very

:36:29. > :36:33.different from the formation of a Government in Westminster. In

:36:34. > :36:39.Westminster, to form a Government you have to get the support of 50%

:36:40. > :36:45.plus 1 of MPs. So you have to build a coalition quickly. Now, in Wales,

:36:46. > :36:49.that's not the ways. You elect a First Minister with a plurality of

:36:50. > :36:54.AMs. In other words, the personal who gets the most votes. Even if it

:36:55. > :37:00.is only 20 out of 60 becomes First Minister. So you can have a longer

:37:01. > :37:06.process where deals are discussed and done. I suspect what you might

:37:07. > :37:10.well get, because if the euro referendum is in June you might well

:37:11. > :37:15.get the election of a First Minister in May with the real discussions

:37:16. > :37:19.about Government formation taking place after that referendum was out

:37:20. > :37:24.of the way, once the temperature was beginning to cool down a bit

:37:25. > :37:28.politically, and once it was clear what sort of Europe and United

:37:29. > :37:33.Kingdom Wales is going to be a part of. If you talk about an alternative

:37:34. > :37:38.to a Labour Government in Wales, we are talking about the so-called

:37:39. > :37:44.rainbow coalition aren't we? We know that Plaid Cymru wouldn't be part of

:37:45. > :37:46.that, so we are talking about what's left, the Conservatives, Ukip

:37:47. > :37:52.potentially, and the Liberal Democrats, would that be a runner?

:37:53. > :37:58.Well, it is highly unlikely that would get to 30 votes. I cannot

:37:59. > :38:04.imagine a coalition Government that includes Ukip and the Liberal

:38:05. > :38:07.Democrats any more that I could imagine Ukip and Plaid Cymru

:38:08. > :38:11.incidentally. There are many more forms of government in the Assembly

:38:12. > :38:18.system than perhaps the Westminster system throws up. For instance, say

:38:19. > :38:21.you had a minority Labour Government, something very unlikely

:38:22. > :38:25.to do deals with either Ukip or the Conservatives. If they didn't have

:38:26. > :38:30.Plaid Cymru and the the Lib Dems to play off you could get a minority

:38:31. > :38:34.Labour Government, could govern quite effectively by doing a deal on

:38:35. > :38:40.the budget last year. Alex Salmond managed to govern like that in

:38:41. > :38:43.Scotland. He only had one more MSP than the Labour Party did, yet he

:38:44. > :38:46.was able to pick out deals with the Conservatives and the Liberal

:38:47. > :38:52.Democrats on individual votes and he survived the full term as a minority

:38:53. > :38:55.Government. You mustn't assume as you assume at Westminster that a

:38:56. > :38:59.Government that doesn't have a majority is necessarily unstable. In

:39:00. > :39:04.a devolved institution that's not necessarily the case. Thank you

:39:05. > :39:09.Vaughan. Let's go back to Arwyn Jones, at the Conference Centre.

:39:10. > :39:14.Centre. A few guests I think. You've been talking to the federal leader

:39:15. > :39:22.haven't you? Yes. Just to clarify one thing, I said earlier on there

:39:23. > :39:26.were around 150 delegates here. I'm reliably informeded that 150 is the

:39:27. > :39:29.official number, but on top of that another 100 or so are milling behind

:39:30. > :39:34.me, representing charities and organisations. One of those is a

:39:35. > :39:37.giant red squirrel. I don't know if they count that in the official

:39:38. > :39:40.figures. Earlier this morning I spoke to Tim Farron, the UK leader

:39:41. > :39:45.of the Liberal Democrats. It is nearly seven months since he was

:39:46. > :39:49.elected as leader last July. When he was elected in his speech he said,

:39:50. > :39:54.after those disappointing sets of results until the general election,

:39:55. > :40:01.the fightback starts now. So when I met with him earlier I asked how

:40:02. > :40:05.that fightback was going. We make no assumptions, you have to deal with

:40:06. > :40:07.the world in which you are in, you have an incredibly arrogant

:40:08. > :40:11.Conservative Government, only a majority of 12 across Westminster,

:40:12. > :40:18.and yet with what appears to be an unvulnerable position. And a Labour

:40:19. > :40:22.Party in Wales which by all independentage assess has let Wales

:40:23. > :40:28.down. We are lacking serious opposition. A situation in

:40:29. > :40:37.Westminster where nice though Jeremy Corbyn is, he has vacated serious

:40:38. > :40:40.politics. And in Wales if you our by-election wins in Brecon and

:40:41. > :40:45.Wrexham show that the Liberal Democrats are fighting back. Under

:40:46. > :40:51.Kirsty Williams we have a standout leader in Wales. At a Westminster

:40:52. > :40:55.level, how difficult is it for you to make your voice heard and more

:40:56. > :40:59.importantly to be relevant in a parliamentary situation? If you are

:41:00. > :41:03.one of those people obsessed with playing the Westminster game and

:41:04. > :41:07.breathing the air in the Westminster bubble, it will be pretty hard. But

:41:08. > :41:10.I've always taken the view that the most important people in the United

:41:11. > :41:13.Kingdom are a long way from that world in Westminster. If you spend

:41:14. > :41:17.your time with them and finding out what they think and fighting on the

:41:18. > :41:23.ground, you will see we've made significant progress. The only way

:41:24. > :41:26.you can measure this in any real way, the ballot box. The Liberal

:41:27. > :41:33.Democrats have gained more votes than any other party and more seats

:41:34. > :41:37.than in Brecon and Wrexham. It is not rats fer tick progress but it is

:41:38. > :41:44.progress. What your gut feeling telling you about the performance of

:41:45. > :41:47.the party? It is 0-0. All the pollsters and journalists who made

:41:48. > :41:51.predictions about our performance five years ago in the Welsh Assembly

:41:52. > :41:55.and about the general election full stop last May have loads of egg on

:41:56. > :42:00.their faces. I'm not going to join that crew. You've got to look to the

:42:01. > :42:05.future. Wales has an option to choose in a liberal force led by

:42:06. > :42:09.Wales' most outstanding a leader, Kirsty Williams, that's achieved

:42:10. > :42:13.tonnes in opposition in five years. The pupil premium, ?200 million for

:42:14. > :42:18.the poorest people in Wales. Because the Liberal Democrats made it

:42:19. > :42:21.happen. The free bus pass for young travel ers. The extra

:42:22. > :42:23.apprenticeships, more nurses the, all because of what the Liberal

:42:24. > :42:27.Democrats have done in opposition with five members. Give us more and

:42:28. > :42:32.we could do more. You've done that with your five members. Do you think

:42:33. > :42:40.you will have five, or will you have more, or fewer? What is your gut

:42:41. > :42:45.instinct telling So come bloke to Cumbria comes to Cardiff and tell

:42:46. > :42:49.you how many members we are going to have in no, that's up to the people

:42:50. > :42:54.of Wales. We have the most effective opposition in Wales in Kirsty

:42:55. > :42:59.Williams, of whom I'm massively proud and Wales is proud. It is a

:43:00. > :43:02.largely failed Labour administration. Plaid Cymru have

:43:03. > :43:06.said we will prop up the administration if you vote for us.

:43:07. > :43:10.The Tories damaging Westminster from Westminster and the English

:43:11. > :43:16.nationalists who call themselves Ukip have a Liberal of that's spiky,

:43:17. > :43:23.independent, stands up for the people of Wales, brilliantly led by

:43:24. > :43:28.Kirsty. Would wouldn't you vote for #24e78 In 2014, in Wales your share

:43:29. > :43:35.of the vote was lower than in England and Scotland. People don't

:43:36. > :43:39.see you as that relevant. If you spend all your time looking behind,

:43:40. > :43:43.you fall over. Since that election, we've provided the only honest

:43:44. > :43:46.opposition to the Tories on Westminster on tax credits, the

:43:47. > :43:53.refugees, on cuts to the green energy. We know the threat to the

:43:54. > :43:59.tidal lagoon in Swansea Bay by the Tories. Whatever size we are in

:44:00. > :44:04.Westminster, size we are in Wales, in Cardiff Bay, it is the size of

:44:05. > :44:07.party you've got and the passion to take on the administration and stand

:44:08. > :44:10.up for the people of Wales that counts. Looking back, I'm not going

:44:11. > :44:14.to do that. Looking forward is what I want to do. Looking forward we are

:44:15. > :44:19.told for the Assembly campaign it will be back to basics. It will be

:44:20. > :44:23.let's have smaller class size, more nurses, more help for businesses.

:44:24. > :44:28.What's main priority going to be for the Lib Dems?ty only ask because you

:44:29. > :44:33.are not expecting to form a majority Government. You are part of a small

:44:34. > :44:38.group who can effect policy from the Government. What will you be saying

:44:39. > :44:41.we are definitely not going to row back on that one? Kirsty's

:44:42. > :44:45.leadership has been centred aroundton services that people in

:44:46. > :44:49.Wales experience this their daily lives, the quality of education. The

:44:50. > :44:53.pupil premium, an immense achievement. That didn't happen by

:44:54. > :44:57.any other reason than Kirsty Williams and the Liberal Democrats

:44:58. > :45:02.made it happen. Going forward with that is vital. Supporting young

:45:03. > :45:08.people and accessing is services is across the country, the free bus

:45:09. > :45:13.pass, and more apprenticeships. What will be... It is making sure protect

:45:14. > :45:18.the wins. We are keen to make sure that we cap class sizes at 25 per

:45:19. > :45:24.class. When we say things like that, when we talk about protecting green

:45:25. > :45:26.energy, the building more football homes, protecting plural communities

:45:27. > :45:32.and our farmers, reducing class sizes to no more than #25rks when we

:45:33. > :45:36.that you can trust us. In the last five years in opposition Kirsty has

:45:37. > :45:47.delivered those already. When Kirsty says she will do things, she will.

:45:48. > :45:54.If you talk to teachers it has a massive impact on the quality of the

:45:55. > :45:59.outcome of education. The ability of teachers and teaching assistants to

:46:00. > :46:04.support gifted pupils, with special educational needs, health problems,

:46:05. > :46:08.slipping behind, to make sure they don't coast is hugely aided by the

:46:09. > :46:13.fact you have a class of a manageable size, so there's loads of

:46:14. > :46:18.evidence in the UK and Europe of class sizes of significant

:46:19. > :46:20.importance and as making that a priority, the people of Wales know

:46:21. > :46:24.we mean it and we will deliver it because we said we'd make it a

:46:25. > :46:27.priority and we delivered at an opposition is that if we say we'll

:46:28. > :46:32.do it now, we will deliver it. Finally, just after the huge defeat

:46:33. > :46:38.of last year, how important is it that that has avoided a game in

:46:39. > :46:41.Wales, and you don't see huge rerun of that in this year 's Assembly

:46:42. > :46:47.elections? So much is good about Wales and the UK, and it's based

:46:48. > :46:50.upon Wales' strong beating liberal heart. We have a national health

:46:51. > :46:53.service because of Lloyd George starting it off, a welfare state

:46:54. > :47:01.across this country because of Lloyd George in initiating it and the

:47:02. > :47:06.liberal fourth in Wales has often been spread across the UK. You see

:47:07. > :47:10.in Kirsty the energy and passion to allow us to deliver those services,

:47:11. > :47:14.schools, housing, going forward, so is essential not just to Wales but

:47:15. > :47:19.for politics in the UK we have a decent credible liberal alternative

:47:20. > :47:23.to a Conservative administration in Westminster which takes us for

:47:24. > :47:27.granted and the Welsh Labour administration which assumes it has

:47:28. > :47:30.a right to rule, a right to inherit power. The people of Wales have a

:47:31. > :47:39.real alternative made Vale led by Kirsty Williams to elect an

:47:40. > :47:43.alternative. It's not only the Assembly elections on May the 5th

:47:44. > :47:46.but there will also be voting for police and crime Commissioners. The

:47:47. > :47:50.Welsh Lib Dems did not put forward for the first election back in 2012,

:47:51. > :47:53.but they have decided they will field candidates in a couple of

:47:54. > :48:01.months' time. Richard Church will stand for the election in Powys and

:48:02. > :48:08.called for a motion on policing and crime in Wales. We need to develop

:48:09. > :48:12.our own police forces and held on them to account. To do that, the

:48:13. > :48:18.Home Office in Whitehall needs to release its iron grip on policing

:48:19. > :48:22.and let us develop our own model for Wales which takes account of the

:48:23. > :48:29.special geography of our communities. You can't do that with

:48:30. > :48:35.just four police commissioners. You can do it by involving local

:48:36. > :48:43.communities and elected councillors. For a police service to effectively

:48:44. > :48:51.service committees, it has to listen and learn. Policing policy has to do

:48:52. > :48:57.is look at what works and not what popular prejudice dictates. We know

:48:58. > :49:02.that the effective rehabilitation of offenders recitative justice,

:49:03. > :49:08.education and training, works. Just locking people up doesn't. We know

:49:09. > :49:14.that treating drug addiction as a health issue and helping people

:49:15. > :49:18.break free from drug dependency reduces further criminal behaviour.

:49:19. > :49:26.Criminalising addict just for possession does not work. We know

:49:27. > :49:32.that the police are too often a last resort when other public services

:49:33. > :49:37.fail. Cuts in social services, youth services, and mental health

:49:38. > :49:42.provision puts extra pressure on an overstretched police service. We

:49:43. > :49:48.know that an effective police service is drawn from and earns the

:49:49. > :49:52.trust of the communities it serves. So people from ethnic minorities and

:49:53. > :50:02.the gauge immunity will be confident to report racist and homophobic

:50:03. > :50:04.abuse -- gay community. If you give one person control of a

:50:05. > :50:12.multi-million pound budget, then there is a risk and it's a risk we

:50:13. > :50:18.can see coming to reality. Their top priority will be the team they work

:50:19. > :50:21.with most closely and for police commissioners, that is their

:50:22. > :50:27.immediate team. And, over the last three years, police commissioners'

:50:28. > :50:34.own office teams have done well while a local police service has

:50:35. > :50:45.been cut. The total cost of the staff in the four offices in Wales

:50:46. > :50:48.in 2014 was 2 million 816000 and all four of them are spending more on

:50:49. > :50:57.staff than the former police authority officers did. Both Gwent

:50:58. > :51:01.and my own Dyfed-Powys Police Commissioner in the top six most

:51:02. > :51:10.costly offices per resident in the UK. Bring these costs down to a

:51:11. > :51:19.realistic level ?1 per person per year, could release a quarter of ?1

:51:20. > :51:24.million for each of those areas to invest in front line police. For

:51:25. > :51:29.Dyfed Powys, it might be launching a road safety campaign to deal with

:51:30. > :51:34.the appalling loss of life and serious incidents in our rural

:51:35. > :51:39.roads. And it is a record in the area I live in which our Police

:51:40. > :51:45.Commissioner should be ashamed of. We are fighting these Police

:51:46. > :51:51.Commissioner elections because we want a police service that is

:51:52. > :51:57.responsive to community needs, that treat people fairly, and listens and

:51:58. > :51:59.acts based on facts. Not prejudice. We are fighting these Police

:52:00. > :52:06.Commissioner elections not because we want the power that they wield,

:52:07. > :52:11.but because we want to break up that power and handed back to the

:52:12. > :52:15.communities where it belongs. Please support the motion.

:52:16. > :52:18.APPLAUSE Richard Church will be standing in

:52:19. > :52:20.the peace and crime Commissioners elections.

:52:21. > :52:23.Let's go back to the conference now for a final time and get the

:52:24. > :52:29.thoughts of our political editor Nick Savini. Good afternoon. Go back

:52:30. > :52:36.to Kirsty Williams 's speech. Your thoughts on that one? She laid out

:52:37. > :52:38.in a way, this back to basics strategy. I know they don't want to

:52:39. > :52:43.call it that because of the political connotations, but this

:52:44. > :52:46.attempt to strip away anything they feel is deemed surplus to

:52:47. > :52:51.requirement in the assembler campaign very much a justification

:52:52. > :52:56.of what they've managed to achieve, the five Assembly members over the

:52:57. > :53:00.past five years, but what was interesting I thought was the extent

:53:01. > :53:06.to which she really laid into labour. If you listened and watched

:53:07. > :53:09.Kirsty Williams' speeches at the Spring conferences, she's always

:53:10. > :53:18.pretty hard on labour but it raised up a notch or two today, talking

:53:19. > :53:20.about Carwyn Jones winging it, the health minister being responsible

:53:21. > :53:27.for vanity projects, with his attempt to ban e-cigarettes in

:53:28. > :53:35.public places, and also I think she was touching on a disillusionment

:53:36. > :53:39.that she is seen over the years. Really a devastating critique of

:53:40. > :53:42.devolution in a way or Labour' handling being in Government during

:53:43. > :53:46.the course of devolution, talking about public services should be

:53:47. > :53:52.better than people expect, there should be better outcomes on many

:53:53. > :53:59.public services. So I think the question is how that rhetoric is

:54:00. > :54:05.squared with the political reality of the past five years, where four

:54:06. > :54:08.out of the five budget that Labour have managed to get through, because

:54:09. > :54:12.they don't have an overall majority, have been as a result of doing a

:54:13. > :54:17.deal with the Lib Dems. And also how she squares that rhetoric with the

:54:18. > :54:19.fact that she has not ruled out doing a future coalition with

:54:20. > :54:27.Labour, something I know you talked about with her. The brutal with

:54:28. > :54:32.political reality is you got to trash the opposition as much as

:54:33. > :54:37.possible as we head into election season but nevertheless, the sheer

:54:38. > :54:43.scale of the criticism that she did that today was striking. It poses an

:54:44. > :54:46.interesting question is, I think. If you look at the polls and believe

:54:47. > :54:52.them, of course, they have a huge mountain to climb. They seem pretty

:54:53. > :54:55.optimistic. You have been there today and yesterday. What is the

:54:56. > :55:03.mood really like? Do they really think they can do it? Well, they are

:55:04. > :55:06.amazingly upbeat. This is the first Welsh Liberal Democrat conference

:55:07. > :55:11.I've been to work they have not been part of UK Government, so we have

:55:12. > :55:15.not had Cabinet ministers walking around, less security than there has

:55:16. > :55:21.been previously, so it does feel very different. The Tim Farron

:55:22. > :55:26.speech. It was a core Liberal Democrat message which focused on

:55:27. > :55:29.international development, the environment, and a lot of people I

:55:30. > :55:36.spoke to after said things like, you know, that's what being a Lib Dem is

:55:37. > :55:40.all about. And feeling partly liberated, I suspect as a result of

:55:41. > :55:48.not being in the coalition. It does bring with it the danger that they

:55:49. > :55:52.lose a degree of relevance if you haven't got senior Cabinet ministers

:55:53. > :55:55.from Westminster here today. Of course, the big focus is on the

:55:56. > :56:02.Assembly campaign. In terms of that campaign, Mark Williams, the Kennedy

:56:03. > :56:06.given MP, the only MP in Wales, said there was a big difference that

:56:07. > :56:10.people need to take into difference -- territory beyond.

:56:11. > :56:17.In the Assembly campaign, there won't be these factors like people

:56:18. > :56:22.voting for the Conservatives because they didn't want to see an Ed

:56:23. > :56:25.Miliband Prime Minister or concerned about the potential influence of

:56:26. > :56:29.Nicola Sturgeon in British politics, all of those factors will be taken

:56:30. > :56:36.out, it'll be all about Assembly politics and the argument goes that

:56:37. > :56:40.it will help the Lib Dems. Time will tell, of course, whether they are

:56:41. > :56:43.being overly optimistic or they are fully accepting the brutal reality

:56:44. > :56:51.of the situation. Nick, at the conference, thanks very much. Let's

:56:52. > :56:55.get some final thoughts from the command. How bad could the brutal

:56:56. > :57:00.reality be? The Welsh Lib Dems are in a very tough place. Down to one

:57:01. > :57:10.MP, but they've been in tougher places. They've been down to one MP

:57:11. > :57:15.on a couple of occasions. So, this is a party with 150 years of

:57:16. > :57:20.history, which is tough. It is durable because it does have at its

:57:21. > :57:24.heart and ideology. But, you know, it is going to being credibly

:57:25. > :57:30.difficult for them to hold onto anything like their present strength

:57:31. > :57:34.in the Assembly because of the electoral factors we been discussing

:57:35. > :57:39.this afternoon, so it is tough, but they are not going to disappear. In

:57:40. > :57:44.terms of predictions, Vaughan, very difficult, I know, but you got to

:57:45. > :57:49.check out the seeds, rather than the regional seats, you are saying. In

:57:50. > :57:53.terms of numbers, can you go there? I don't think they will go down to

:57:54. > :58:01.zero. I think they were either held tracking and Radnor all they will

:58:02. > :58:07.have a seat in mid Wales. I think it is very difficult for them to win

:58:08. > :58:13.this seat in North Wales, South Wales West, South Wales East, they

:58:14. > :58:15.don't have one. They might have a chance in South Wales Central but

:58:16. > :58:20.another chance, I think taking Cardiff Central and I think you have

:58:21. > :58:25.an outside chance of taking Montgomerie, as well, so you are

:58:26. > :58:33.looking, I think at between one and three seats, probably. But, one on

:58:34. > :58:37.the margins, elections are. And one thing this part is good is

:58:38. > :58:38.maximising their vote. Vaughan thank you very much for your vote.

:58:39. > :58:41.Well, that's it for our live coverage of the conference

:58:42. > :58:44.here on BBC Two, but for the latest, don't forget our online coverage.

:58:45. > :58:46.And Vaughan will be back on Sunday Supplement

:58:47. > :58:47.on BBC Radio Wales tomorrow at 8.00am.

:58:48. > :58:51.But from all of us on the team this afternoon, prynhawn da.