Andrew Davies, leader of the Welsh Conservatives, welcomed the announcement of an inquiry into the problems at Abertawe Bro Morgannwg Health Board. He then claimed it was due to the Tory pressure for a more general inquiry into the Welsh NHS. Or at least, thatÔÇÖs what he meant to say. He had a verbal slip and used the phrase ÔÇÿgeneral campaignÔÇÖ, which was jumped on immediately by the First Minister Carwyn Jones, leader of Welsh Labour. Jones claimed it was a ÔÇÿFreudian slipÔÇÖ, agreeing there was a ÔÇÿgeneral campaignÔÇÖ by the Tories against the NHS. He continued, laughing at the ÔÇÿcat being let out of the bagÔÇÖ, disagreeing with the need for a wider inquiry, and refusing to help the Tories in their ÔÇÿgeneral campaignÔÇÖ against the NHS.
Davies angrily exclaimed that he was happy to admit there was a Tory campaign against inadequacy in the NHS – a Labour AM had congratulated him on it. Davies repeated his ÔÇÿsimple questionÔÇÖ to the First Minister ÔÇô why not a wider inquiry into the Welsh NHS? (The political motivation for this is clear ÔÇô a huge inquiry into everything wrong with the NHS would, in DaviesÔÇÖ view, provide him with lots of sticks with which to beat the Welsh Government). Again Jones rejected the proposal, insisting the smaller inquiry was into a specific matter. He claimed there was a need for an inquiry in EnglandÔÇÖs NHS, which the Tories had turned to ÔÇÿchaosÔÇÖ and ÔÇÿcrisisÔÇÖ. Davies claimed the English NHS had better results, and quoted a Labour AM on the deficiencies of the Welsh NHS. It ended with ÔÇÿAneurin Bevan [The Welsh creator of the NHS] would be turning in his graveÔÇÖ. The angry and overly aggressive tone was typical of DaviesÔÇÖ reputation, as was JonesÔÇÖ response (branded ÔÇÿflippantÔÇÖ by the Tory leader) that ÔÇÿAneurin Bevan was crematedÔÇÖ. He then challenged people to look at England to see what the Tories would do to Wales, claiming that A+E times across the Severn are ÔÇÿspirallingÔÇÖ. He stated that figures in England were going the wrong way, and figures in Wales were going the right way (an implicit admission that England still gets better results?), He then alluded to a poll of 5000 Welsh Doctors, 86% of whom stated they were glad to be in Wales.
Harry Thompson
FMQ Columnist
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