Below is Kirsty Williams’ keynote speech to Welsh Liberal Democrat Conference. It’s a good read,

Dream

Conference: ‘I had a dream’

Okay… you may have heard that one before, but as we head into our 5th set of elections since the start of the Assembly, I think back to the time it was first established

I was excited. Enthusiastic. Full of hope.

We had a dream.

Liberals had been fighting for Home Rule for over a hundred years. This was our chance.

You know, I made my first media appearance during the run up to the ’97 referendum.  I had the midnight shift – being interrogated by Andrew Neil.

Sure, I was nervous, of course I was.

I couldn’t quite believe I was sitting next to these professional politicians, who I’d only ever seen on the telly.

But what overrode my nerves was excitement.

We were on the cusp of achieving all that we had hoped for

We’d campaigned for over 100 years for this moment. For Welsh devolution. To bring power closer to the people.

Nearly two decades later, and ask yourself – has that happened?

The Welsh Government was meant to understand Wales’ needs better than Whitehall bureaucrats or politicians in London.

Meant to deliver Welsh solutions to our problems.

Meant to deliver for Wales.

Don’t get me wrong: culture, sport, the arts – you name it, Wales punches above its weight. We have so much to be proud of, so much to offer.

But the truth is that creating the Welsh Government hasn’t delivered for people. It certainly hasn’t delivered high quality public services that people deserve – and expect.

I ask you: put your hand up if you can think of a single Labour policy for this Assembly election?

There’s nothing.

This government is tired. Has nothing to offer.  Is bankrupt of ideas.

Wales now has the dubious honour of having the longest surviving Government in Europe.

[unless you wish to count Alexander Lukashenko’s 20 plus years in power in Belarus].  

In office for 17 years; yet leading for none.

Conference, let me be clear: the passion I felt on the night of that referendum has never died.

I still have that dream. I still believe. I still hope.

And I still know that Wales can achieve that dream.

But I say to people: don’t blame devolution because the Welsh Government hasn’t delivered.

Don’t blame devolution for the fact that people’s voices remain ignored

Don’t blame devolution for 16 years of falling standards

Blame Labour.                   

In creating Welsh government, we were promised a new politics: in touch with our communities; a politics in which Wales takes responsibility for its own decisions;

But above all else, we were promised better outcomes.

Yet this Government fails to even get the basics right

People don’t expect the world.  They just want their taxes spent on good public services. But these services are failing to meet our needs.

In the up and coming election, we Welsh Liberal Democrats will show our vision of a future Welsh parliament that finally gives people what they want –

Dewi Sant said, “Do the little things” – ‘Gwnewch y Pethau Bychain’

And it is the little things that add up to make a big difference

The nurse who gives that extra bit of care and attention to a frail, elderly person, making them feel like they matter, adds up to excellent healthcare for all patients

The teacher who goes out of her way to help a child read multiplied across Wales, adds up to great schools that all pupils and parents deserve.

The housing officer working with the homeless going the extra mile to ensure everyone can have a roof over their head, adds up to a country that cares about its citizens

For too long Labour has settled for second best

Well I won’t.  We won’t

We’ll take us forward to a better Wales.

A small country… that dares to think big

Hopeful, optimistic, pioneering

Full of belief in Wales’ future

That is what the Welsh Liberal Democrats will offer in this election.

I was struck recently when I read a speech by the Prime Minister of Canada – a fellow Liberal – who said this: ‘Leadership should be focused on extending the ladder of opportunity to everyone’.

Extending the ladder of opportunity to everyone … Such wise words, underpinned by the reality that being in Government is about setting priorities.

At home, like any mother, I am constantly fighting to give my children the opportunities I didn’t necessarily have, always wanting more for them, striving for them to be the best they can be.

But the truth is, I feel that passion for my country too – always fighting for better, fighting for more, fighting for Wales to reach its potential

NHS

And for Wales to reach its potential, we must have the right priorities

Labour’s health minister, in what has begun to look like something of a vanity project, has spent a large proportion of the last year battling to ban e-cigarettes in public places – contrary to scientific evidence.

In the meantime, nearly two thousand people languish over 12 hours in A&E

Over a thousand desperate young people wait over 2 months to access mental health services

25,000 people wait over 8 months on a hospital waiting list

That is appalling.

The Government has lost its way. Welsh Labour just let stuff happen to them. They are not setting priorities. They’ve lost touch with what people need and want.

And the minister’s crusade over e-cigs is the perfect example of that

A story involving Nero, Rome and a fiddle, springs to mind

They’ve forgotten Nye Bevan’s dictum about the ‘language of priorities’.  They have so many priorities that nothing is a priority

In contrast, We are clear. We are focused. And We are in touch with what people want.

Our plan starts with improving access to GPs – something all families rely on

40% of people say it difficult to even see their GP

That is why we will introduce a fully funded Access to GPs Scheme, ensuring people get the appointment they need.

Investing in primary care and virtual wards, providing support in the community to people with the most complex needs, and therefore stopping avoidable admissions to hospitals.

By doing this, we would guarantee people the best treatment, in the right place, at the right time to meet their health needs.

We will also tackle the ever-growing crisis in our mental health services

I have recently been trying to help a lady whose ten year old daughter has been really suffering

We’ve been working flat out, battling to get this poor girl therapy – yet no-one is willing to fund it

The council acknowledge that her mum is at serious risk of physical harm…. yet the council’s advice?

‘Phone the police’

They would rather she calls the police than actually offer her daughter the support she needs

Conference: It is wrong that in this day and age such an illness is treated as secondary, as less important, as not serious

Well: we say no more. No more neglect. No more abandonment. No more sweeping it under the carpet.

One in four people will experience mental ill health, and it’s vital we fix this broken system

We will enshrine equal care for mental and physical health into law

Conference, be proud we have led on this issue,

Be proud we will do what is right.

You may have guessed the third part of our plan… More Nurses.

On Wednesday, our More Nurses Bill faces its final hurdle on its way to becoming law – a Welsh Liberal Democrat achievement you have all played a part in

Under Labour, our NHS makes all the headlines for all the wrong reasons

Because of us, Wales will make the right headlines – being the first country in Europe with a legal duty on safe staffing levels.

And still more can be done. This is just the beginning.

My bill is currently for acute hospitals, but we will go further.

We will expand the power of this bill so that mental health wards, maternity wards, childrens wards will all benefit too

Plaid want another expensive NHS reorganisation by centralising hospital services to be run from Cardiff, that’s not what people want

The Tories and UKIP want to take money from the front-line to fund more politicians to run our NHS, that’s not what people want

And Labour will…. well we don’t know what they want!

But we are clear:

Better access to your GP, better mental health services, more nurses to support our loved ones.

We know what people want. We have the right priorities.

A vote for the Welsh Liberal Democrats will be a vote to put patients first.

Education

Now, part of my job is to think about what the Wales of the future could be and ought to be.

It may seem obvious that the impact of new technology is all encompassing – disruptive – a revolution on a greater scale than that of the Industrial Revolution – we do not know how it will end but we know it is happening at break-neck speed.

This revolution, or, as I see it, ‘the contemporary challenge’, changes every aspect of our lives. From shopping or paying bills to watching films or planning a holiday, from learning new skills or gaining a qualification to complaining about potholes or sending a birthday card to a friend.

This, our contemporary challenge, includes future tests and changes to our democracy, to our taxation, changes to the way we educate our children and changes the environment for business.

Of course our contemporary challenge also includes anticipating the skills and competencies required of the workforce of the future, which means getting education right – today.

My husband and I live with our three daughters.  Like all parents, we have aspirations for our children, we want them to have choices and do well in life – to be happy, intellectually curious, successful, healthy, fulfilled in their futures.

Which is why my husband and I want them, today, taught in good schools – by great teachers.

I don’t want my daughters or anyone else’s children to lose out in the future because they are in a failing school. Or in a packed, overcrowded class room.

How can you learn well in that environment? How can we expect our teachers to do their best, teaching our children, if classrooms are bulging at the seams?

The average class size in Wales is higher than nearly all other developed countries.

Over 71,000 infant pupils in Wales are taught in classes of 25 or more.

And these class sizes are growing.  Parents’ calls for smaller classes have been ignored for too long.

And you know what really makes a parents’ blood boil? When those in charge just aren’t listening and just don’t care.

Is anyone else fed up of having a First Minister that has the air of a man winging it?

He’s confessed he took his eye of the ball on education.

A generation of young people written off because of his government’s complacency.

You know, I challenged him in the chamber only a few weeks ago

He responded by telling me his children are doing well, so he’s happy.

Well that’s great for him. But what about everyone else’s children?

At the start of the year, over forty thousand children were taught in an education authority placed in special measures

Call me cynical, but it’s quite a coincidence that, a hundred days before the election, every single one has suddenly been taken out of these measures

What Welsh Government can’t engineer is the findings from the recent Estyn report showing that the number of schools viewed as ‘unsatisfactory’ has increased

Our children deserve better

Our number one education pledge in this election will be to deliver smaller class sizes for all children. We will work to ensure that infant classes normally contain no more than 25 pupils

This will be a key signal that we are the party that are on the side of pupils and parents.

And we won’t just stop there:

We will extend our Pupil Premium, a policy we secured in budget negations, and a policy that is already achieving more in closing the attainment gap between poorer pupils and their peers than anything Labour managed in over a decade

The Welsh Liberal Democrats, the party of ideas, making a difference with a policy that fights the notion that if you’re poor, that’s how it’ll always be,

That combats that even in this day and age your background decides your destiny,

That gives people a chance and an opportunity

Be in no doubt conference: we are the party of education.

Economy/aspiration

And of course, liberals believe in good education – as that is what frees people to be the best they can be

Rose Schneiderman, in 1911, said: “The woman worker needs bread, but she needs roses too,”

For nearly half a century she campaigned for betting working conditions for American women. She fought for the ‘bread’: the basic human rights everyone should be entitled to. But she knew there must be more…

There must be roses too: not only should people be surviving, but thriving 

Wales was once the land of aspiration.

We can be again, creating a spirit that enables everyone, no matter who they are, to make something for themselves

Ambition, aspiration, opportunity – these words must be the foundation stone of a future Wales.

Whether people are on low or middle incomes, they share the same desire to see aspiration rewarded

And there is a giant space in Welsh politics for a party that will champion social mobility.

Conference: I claim that space for us

You know home ownership rates among under-25s have halved in just two decades

Labour appears to have a sneering attitude to the idea of home ownership – as if this is some sort of crass wish list. I can’t understand that.

Who wouldn’t want to have their own place, to sleep safe at night in, to start a family in, to celebrate the good times in, to grow old in – to call ‘home’?

We will build 20,000 extra affordable houses, while introducing support to help people achieve their dream of owning their own home,

We’ll also oversee an apprenticeship revolution, properly investing in people for the future

And we will support our small businesses, which can be one of the most powerful engines for social mobility

Wales is the only part of the UK where SME confidence is falling

That’s incredibly depressing, but we can turn it around

Small business is the lifeblood of our country.  It’s a cliché, because it’s true

I never cease to be amazed and impressed by people who have taken a risk by starting their own business – to go it alone in this competitive world

But Welsh businesses needn’t be alone:

We will help them grow by creating a Small Business Administration, bringing independent advice and finance together, giving growing businesses the best chance of success,

We’ll empower councils to be flexible with business rates, encouraging them to invest in economic development,

And we’ll campaign to slash VAT to support our tourism industry to thrive and create jobs for others.

Wales needs a government that business can trust in and that trusts in business.

#AskWales

Because we, Welsh Liberal Democrats, are ambitious for Wales, I have a big ‘ask’ of you.

You know as well as I, we have to reinvent the way we do politics. People are sick to death of politicians telling them what is best for them.

Which is why in the run up to this election I plan to spend as much time as possible listening to the widest, not loudest, range of voices, here, in Wales.

Welsh voices – that is what I will be listening to, that is what I want hear.

To help me and my colleagues do that, I need your help. Conference, today, I am asking you to help me ‘Ask Wales’. 

What I’m proposing is a new type of political campaigning – pavement politics for the 21^st Century.

There is no doubt in the election campaign later this year, all the political parties will seek to use digital technology as a marketing tool – pushing information ‘out’ to defined groups of voters.  Well, I want to turn that on its head.

I want us to use the power of digital technology to show that we are different to the other parties because we actively seek out the views of our fellow citizens. The people, who we seek to serve. The people we work for.

Just as once David Penhaligon inspired generations of campaigners with the simple mantra: ‘If you have something to say, stick it on a piece of paper and stuff it through a letterbox’, I’m asking everyone in this hall who can, to go out from here today and ask your family, friends, neighbours, people you work with or pass in the street one question: ‘if you were the First Minister what is the first thing you would change?’.

Ideally film the person you’ve asked or take photo, then post onto Facebook or Twitter, or write what they say down and send it to me. But please don’t forget to ask their permission first!

No doubt our opponents will try to sabotage our initiative. Who knows they may even copy us. I don’t care about that. I want to know what people think the number one priority for the next government should be.

There’s no right or wrong answer to the question. But listening is the way we will do our politics.    (PAUSE)

Conference, you trusted me with the leadership of this great party seven years ago. As I look around this hall today I see so many friends. People I have campaigned alongside. People who have helped the party through those years.

May I thank you for your hard work, energy and loyalty over those seven years.

You know as well as I, it hasn’t always been easy!

I can’t pretend that ever I imagined that we would end up in coalition with the Conservatives in Westminster.

I can’t pretend that those five years were comfortable

I can’t pretend either that last May wasn’t anything but brutal.

But we’re Welsh Liberal Democrats, we don’t take the easy route do we?

For me, growing up in Llanelli, becoming a Welsh Liberal Democrat wasn’t the easy choice.

For the easy route, you’d join Labour. But, that was unthinkable.

We’re not here for ministerial cars,

Not here for fame,

Not here to give our mates jobs,

Not here to rule because it’s what we think is owed to us,

No.

We are here for people.

The outsiders, working on the inside

Working to ‘keep the Assembly honest’

Asking the tough questions. Raising the issues others would prefer us to ignore.

The only party with the guts to give people the power to recall their AMs if they abuse their position

And, never forget, the only party that voted against the unfair rise in AM’s pay – because it was the right thing to do.

Record of delivery

But, we not in the Assembly just to oppose, but to deliver too

We used our influence in Cardiff Bay to secure millions of pounds of investment in schools the length and breadth of Wales.

For young people who need support to access training and higher education, we secured a scheme so they can travel for free and have better opportunities in life.

We supported our environment by stopping work on the billion pound M4 relief road, as public transport should be the priority.

We secured a further 5,000 apprenticeships so people can learn the life skills and training to secure themselves a good job

The list goes on.  All achieved – with just five Assembly Members.

All achieved because we listen – and we act.

I ask the people of Wales to judge us on our record

Trust us to be on your side, trust us to fight for you, trust us to stand up for your communities

A better Wales was my dream in the 1997 referendum.

A better Wales is my dream now – we can fulfil it

Trust us and we can achieve that dream together.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social

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