First Minister says lots to celebrate in mid-Wales despite risks to schools and health services

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00:00Well, look, for the first time since the establishment of the Senedd, you have someone who actually

00:06represents mid Wales. You know, I'm a regional member for mid and west Wales. I've represented

00:13the area for 25 years, so I'm kind of, you know, before as a member of the European Parliament,

00:17so I'm sensitive to the needs. I'm a champion for rural areas. One of the things I did as

00:23soon as I came into the Senedd was to write a rural economic development plan, and what's

00:28good is how much of that has actually been enacted. I think actually there's loads of

00:34really positive things going on in mid Wales. You know, the fact that you have, for example,

00:37the new college in Aberystwyth being completely refurbished. You know, I think that kind of

00:42thing gives hope. The fact that we've put massive investment into flood protection in

00:47Aberaeron. We've got a brand new health centre in Cardigan that is open for much longer now.

00:55So there's loads and loads of things going on in mid Wales that we probably don't celebrate

01:00as much as we should. Local authority in Wales have done much, much better than local authorities

01:06in England, who've seen cuts and cuts and cuts and cuts, right? We have supported local

01:11government over decades in Wales, despite austerity. And this year, again, it's gone

01:19up. They've just had significantly more money. In fact, I was with the chief executive of

01:22the council today, and the leader of Ceredigion, who were saying thank you for the uplift that

01:28they've been given. So, you know, I don't think it's fair to say it's been cut. Obviously,

01:34they are dealing with inflationary pressures, like all of us. Their bills are higher, like

01:39all of our bills are higher. So, you know, I get that that's an issue. But actually,

01:45they are supporting thousands and thousands of people in their communities. And people

01:50take things for granted in Wales. And it's one of the things that I find really frustrating.

01:55People just accept things like, you know, free prescriptions. You don't get that in

02:00England. You have to pay for them. In Wales, when it comes to care, paying for care, you

02:06don't pay more than £100 a week if you're at home. There's an unlimited amount in England.

02:11People just take it for granted. All of those things benefit people in mid Wales. Okay,

02:17so we're supporting people in mid Wales all the time. And we're giving the council a significant

02:23uplift. They always want more money. They always need more money. You know, but I've

02:27just also come from the farmers who say we need more money as well. Everybody needs more

02:31money. Our job as government is to determine, you know, where and who should have that.

02:37The key thing is, what's best for the patients in mid Wales, right? If you have a stroke,

02:43you want to have the best possible outcome you can have. And we've been working with

02:48stroke experts to look at how do we do that across the whole of Wales? How do we get the

02:53best outcomes for everybody? And what they've said is, rather than every single place having

03:03a centre for stroke, we should have four centres. Now, nobody's decided where those four centres

03:10are going to be. You may have to go for some really specialist service somewhere else.

03:14And nobody knows where that is yet. But, you know, there will be stroke services in Aberystwyth

03:21in future. Part of the real issue here is recruitment of specialist experts on a scale

03:29that is sustainable. You know, you can't magic these people up. I'm very worried that people

03:36are being suckered into easy answers to complex questions. And the interesting thing about

03:45reform, of course, is that they're not offering any answers. They're offering a whole long

03:51winded whine about what's wrong with the world. Well, we can all identify what's wrong with

03:56the world. The difficulty is how do you fix it? And what we've got in the Welsh government

04:01now is a very clear plan of action in relation to the priorities that people want to see.

04:08So the first thing I did when I became First Minister was to go and listen to what people

04:13in Wales wanted us to prioritise. And we're totally focused now on making sure we improve

04:19the NHS, making sure that we connect our communities through things like, you know, filling potholes

04:25and making sure that we re-regulate buses, driving the economy, and making sure we create

04:33ideally kind of green growth jobs. And then making sure that we give everybody an opportunity.

04:41And that's why it was such a joy this morning to open the new Ysgol Ddaffrin Eirionn, because

04:48it's about making sure everyone gets a chance to do the best with the talents that they've got.

04:54Well, I think what they need is hope. I think that what you've got now, for the first time

05:00in many years, is a significant uplift in the budget. So we've just passed the budget,

05:06£1.6 billion, and it's probably worth emphasising that Labour was the only party to vote for

05:12that. Everybody else voted against the budget. So as that money comes through, we hope that

05:16that will make a difference, will bring the weightiness down, and will transform people's lives.

05:24For more information visit www.dfid.gov.uk

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