03/02/2016 BBC Wales Today

Welcome to Wales Today - our top stories tonight...

The state of the NHS takes centre stage in Cardiff and Westminster

as the First Minister and the Prime Minister attack each

And Sam Warburton's in Wales' starting 15 to face Ireland,

despite only playing once in two months.

The state of the NHS in Wales was back in the spotlight today,

as the Welsh and UK governments attacked each other's records.

The Prime Minister criticised waiting times, after an exclusive

report by BBC Wales showed that average waits here are longer

for most key treatments and diagnoses, than in England.

And in a major speech in Cardiff, the First Minister attacked

what he called the "macho confrontational philosophy"

Here's our political editor, Nick Servini.

Two leaders and two very different takes on the state of the Welsh NHS.

As the First Minister, Carwyn Jones, gave a major speech

defending his record over the past five years and setting

out his vision for the next, David Cameron used Prime

Minister's Questions in the Commons to respond to our story last week,

which revealed how many waiting times in the NHS in Wales

Hip operations in England take 75 days

Diagnosis of pneumonia takes two weeks longer.

Treatment of cataracts, hernias, heart operations

take two months longer than in England.

But is the Welsh NHS living in the shadow

Not so, according to Carwyn Jones, who told senior health figures

in Cardiff that the accountability of

the Welsh NHS contrasted with the baffling complexity

in England and pointed to research showing nine out

of ten patients rated the care they received.

A crisis is an easy headline to write about the system.

But when people face a crisis of their own,

as the statistic show, the system is there for them.

But we can't be complacent, we want that figure to be ten

This was very much a speech from the First Minister,

designed to give reassurance to the great and the good

Unlike in England, he said there would be no major

reorganisation and as a result, no strikes by doctors.

There is undoubtedly a much closer and friendlier relationship

between government and the health service in Wales, than in England.

There's nothing between the Minister and the health

service, there are no intermediate levels.

So that requires the Minister to hold back a bit, not to get

The health service, I think, has benefited from the fact

But we've got an election approaching, all normal rules

are put into abeyance, aren't they, for the next four months?

That pre-election scrutiny will ramp up

even further next week, when a major report is published

into the relative strengths and weaknesses of the different

A factory employing around 150 people in Cwmfelinfach,

near Caerphilly, will close next year.

Curtiss-Wright, the American-based company which owns the Penny

and Giles factory, says the closure's due

The firm makes equipment including joysticks and motion sensors

for commercial vehicles and industrial use.

Police say the body of a man found on cliffs at South Stack

on Anglesey, is the father of two children found murdered in Leeds

Geraldine Newman, her 11 year-old daughter Shannon,

and her son Shane, who was six, were found yesterday.

Detectives say they're not looking for anyone else.

Calls to postpone the EU referendum until later in the year to avoid

a clash with the National Assembly election in May, have been rejected

David Cameron received a letter from the First Ministers of Wales,

Scotland and Northern Ireland, warning that a June referendum

But he told MPs that voters are able to differentiate between polls.

Research that could lead to new drugs to tackle resistance

to current antibiotics is being given a lifeline,

with investment from a Welsh life sciences fund.

Ground-breaking work is being done at universities,

but in the past many ideas haven't gone further,

because they haven't been developed enough to be adopted commercially.

Now of course there's an impetus on commercialisation and actually

But yeah, without this funding, certainly

a lot of this would fall by the wayside.

Plans to build Newport's first Welsh language secondary school alongside

Duffryn High School have been refused over flooding fears.

The council had proposed splitting the existing site,

but the planning committee rejected it, after Natural Resources Wales

warned the area was at risk of flooding.

Dwr Cymru Welsh Water has announced that household bills will remain

The not-for-profit company says customers will pay an average

Rugby - and there are a few surprises in the Wales team to face

defending champions Ireland in the 6 Nations on Sunday.

Scarlets prop Rob Evans will start instead of the record cap-holder,

Despite playing just one game in two months, captain Sam

And Tom James will play, six years after his last cap.

Head coach, Warren Gatland, said there is always trepidation

But he had no worries about taking a bold team for the trip to Ireland

for the match against the defending champions.

After six years away from the international stage,

wing, Tom James, is back in Wales shirt, to win his 10th cap.

Reward for excelling with the Cardiff Blues.

And having spent a couple of seasons at Exeter in recent years,

Warren Gatland insisted time away from Wales has

He was under the Welsh goldfish bowl, he needed to get out.

He went out and went into the Premiership and went

to play for Exeter and had some excellent form

I think he's grown up, matured fantastically well.

for the first time since last year's Six Nations.

He's named alongside Jamie Roberts, Wales' most capped

And Cardiff Blues' Gareth Anscombe makes his Six

Nations debut at fullback, having started there in the last two

In the pack, Scarlet prop, Rob Evans, is preferred to Gethin

So with the record cap holder on the bench,

does this represent a changing of the guard?

He's a young player of the future and he's had a few caps now,

I've been impressed with his form for the Scalets.

Evans is joined by Scott Baldwin and Samson Lee in the front row.

Luke Charteris and Alun Wyn Jones begin their partnership

While Justin Tipuric starts the game at open side flanker

with Captain Sam Warburton moving to blindside.

He's played just one game in two months, but insists he's

So from that point of view, my mind and body is ready for that.

I will go as hard as I can and if I blow a gasket,

you know, you blow a gasket and that is what you've got.

A British Lion to come off the bench.

And that British and Irish Lion is Dan Lydiate, part

Wales' replacements have earned more than

The Wales management is hoping they will come

on and make an impact in Dublin this Sunday.

Time for the weather now, here's Derek.

It is likely to be windy in Dublin on Sunday at the same goes for us in

Wales. The weather and the change, we have a warm front line to the

Irish Sea. It will introduce a milder, warm air from the Atlantic.

Rain from Anglesey in the West will spread across the country tonight.

The breeze picking up with temperatures rising. Feeling milder

tomorrow morning. Cannot promise much of any sunshine. 20 of cloud

with rain and drizzle as well. Across the rest of the UK, rain and

drizzle spreading east during the day. Most of the rain in the North.

Further south, a few brighter moments in southern England where it

will be drier. Cold in the north-east, six in Aberdeen, turning

milder elsewhere. Temperatures in double figures. In Wales tomorrow

afternoon, cloudy, damp at times with low cloud and hill fog. Should

be dry in the east and the marches. Tomorrow night, further pockets of

rain and drizzle in the south and west and on the hills. Another mild

night. It stays mild and breezy on Friday, strong winds in the West and

north-west, further patches of rain and drizzle. Over North East,

Wrexham and Flintshire should be drier. Dry for a time on Saturday,

but it won't last. Turning wet and windy. On Sunday, brighter with

blustery showers, some sunshine. It could turn stormy on Monday with

gales. We'll be back with updates

in breakfast from 6.25am tomorrow But from everyone on the late

team - goodnight.