The Voice

Kirsty Williams: Vote Lib Dem to make more nurses and smaller class sizes a reality

By | Wed 4th May 2016 - 4:55 pm

Kirsty Williams has made her final pitch for Lib Dem votes in Montgomeryshire, supporting candidate Jane Dodds, where she will say that the Welsh Liberal Democrats are the only party to consistently work to achieve results and put narrow party-political interest aside, their leader Kirsty Williams has said today on the eve of the Assembly election.

Tomorrow’s vote is your chance to make a difference for your community. Before you cast it, I want you to ask yourself: who has delivered the most for you and your family?

More often than not, the people I talk to across Wales aren’t interested in the cheap party-political point-scoring. What they always ask me is, ‘What have you done to make my life better?’ As a Welsh Liberal Democrat, I always have a long list of things to tell them about.

When Labour wanted to cut the numbers of apprenticeships in Wales, we used our influence to stop them. When rural councils were getting a raw funding deal, it was us who secured more money. When our poorest pupils were consistently underachieving in our schools, it was us who stepped in and gave them that extra support.

Unlike the other parties, we’re not content with whinging from the sidelines. Welsh Liberal Democrats always roll up our sleeves and get things done for our communities, and for the people of Wales.

If our record over the last five years shows anything, it’s that a vote for the Welsh Liberal Democrats is a vote for our policies being put into action. Tomorrow will be no different – your vote could help make our ideas a reality.

If you support smaller class sizes, if you want more nurses on hospital wards, if you want an Opportunity Economy that enables people to get on life, then you have to vote for it – you have to vote Welsh Liberal Democrat. Only then can we begin to deliver a Wales that works for you.

The last few days of her campaign have been a whirlwind of campaigning that has seen her everywhere from Ceredigion to Cardiff to North Wales to her home patch of Brecon and Radnorshire.

In an interview with the Daily Post, Kirsty said that the choice was between Lib Dems and UKIP for list seats and asked Labour and Plaid Cymru supporters to lend the Liberal Democrats their regional vote:

 

Ms Williams said: “The people of North Wales have the future of Wales in their hands, the choice is clear: it is between us and Ukip.

“They need to decide what kind of politicians they want to send to Cardiff Bay.”

She highlighted what the Lib Dems have achieved in the past five years compared to Plaid:

She said that even though the Lib Dems are the smallest party they have made the biggest difference in Wales, pointing to the Nurse Staffing Levels (Wales) Bill and a two year budget deal securing a number of measures including 5,000 new apprenticeships.

Passed earlier this year the law makes Wales the first part of Europe to have a legal duty ensuring a safe number of nurses on hospital wards at all times.

Introduced by Ms Williams it is only the second private members’ bill ever to have made it the whole way through the legislative system to become law in the history of the Assembly.

Extending on the legislation to apply to maternity and mental health wards, reducing class sizes and ending mental health discrimination are some of the party’s key policies ahead of May 5.

Ms Williams said: “Official opposition has more than twice the number of AMs we have but they have achieved absolutely nothing over the last five years.

You might notice that Sal Brinton featured in several of these photographs. The party president has travelled the length and breadth of the UK supporting candidates and her visits have done so much to invigorate and inspire activists on the ground.

Good luck to all Liberal Democrats in Wales tomorrow.

 

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This entry was posted in Op-eds.
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One Comment

  • johnmc 4th May '16 - 5:37pm

    Fingers crossed – and I do hope Montgomery can be won back after it was frittered away. I also hope that a number of LDs are returned. There will though be some surprising outcomes here tomorrow, alas …

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