A NEW VOICE FOR WALES
Bore da. Good morning.
I'd like to start by welcoming you all to Cardiff, and to the Swalec Cricket Stadium,
Britain's newest Test Ground.
Some of you may have known the way already - having come to see us play Australia en route to winning the Ashes in 2009.
We're here this weekend to make sure we knock Labour for six.
We're delighted in Wales to have been asked to host this year's Conservative Spring Conference.
The first Spring Conference for a Conservative Party in Government since 1997 - and the first of many in government to be held in Cardiff, I hope.
The choice of Cardiff as venue highlights the continued importance that our party attaches to Wales.
David Cameron has been a regular and very welcome visitor - following in a proud tradition of Conservatives that have put Welsh interests first.
As far back as 1987, for instance, the Conservative Party came to Wales to begin its election campaign.
In Newport, Margaret Thatcher spoke of a 'new sense of achievement and a growing confidence in the future of Wales.'
And she noted the 'bold scheme for the redevelopment of Cardiff Bay'.
That redevelopment is now complete.
But it would not have gone ahead without the tremendous contribution of Peter Walker.
Sadly, this is the first Welsh conference when Peter is no longer with us.
He was a first class Secretary of State for Wales. And we pay tribute to his memory.
Conference, in the last few hours Wales has spoken in the referendum.
I am proud that a Conservative Prime Minister, David Cameron, and a Conservative Secretary of State, Cheryl Gillan and her Deputy David Jones, gave the people of Wales this historic say over their democratic future.
Now we must turn our attention to delivering for Wales.
Of course, the coalition government is having to clear up the mess left by the Labour Party.
When Ed Miliband came to Wales three weeks ago he spoke of the debt facing an '18 year old boy or girl.'
He didn't seem so concerned about the £23,000 of debt that Labour left for each man, woman and child in Wales as a result of his - and his Shadow Chancellor's - time in the Treasury.
It is not clear whose economic policy it is. First it was all Miliband. Then it was Johnson. Now we know for certain it is all Balls.
Labour's legacy is the £120 million - let me repeat that - the £120 million that Britain is forced to pay every day on debt interest on Labour's credit card.
Thankfully, David Cameron and our Government are once more charting Britain on a path towards sustainable finances, recovery and growth.
But if the Conservatives are busy clearing up the mess left by Labour in Westminster, spare a thought for the people of Wales - who are stuck with Labour still.
In Wales, we cannot yet speak of a 'growing confidence' in our future.
Instead Labour - and its partners Plaid Cymru - continue to preside over a policy of managed decline.
Labour's First Minister Carwyn Jones had the nerve to say two weeks ago: 'We will not let our children down.'
But the sad fact is that under Labour a child born in Wales today has a terrible chance of being born in a maternity ward that NHS Directors admit are not 'safe or sustainable.'
This despite the best efforts of our first class public servants.
If that child's mother is rushed to hospital, there is only a fifty per cent chance that the ambulance will arrive on time.
And if that child is born into some parts of Wales then it can expect to live a shorter life than children in Iraq or Haiti.
Conference, the sad fact under this Labour Assembly Government is that a child born today in Wales will be more likely to be born into severe poverty than elsewhere in the UK.
Less likely to secure the good grades needed at GCSE or A Level.
More likely to go without education, employment or training in their formative years.
And more likely to suffer the indignity of unemployment.
In Wales, Labour are tying our children's hands from the very moment they are born.
Labour's response has been characteristic.
It has not been to try and improve standards in our hospitals and schools, or to raise the bar for economic performance.
It has been to try and manage decline.
Let me give you some examples.
In health, hospital waiting lists are increasing month by month.
Despite the heroics of staff, less than half of ambulances arrive on time.
The target is 65 per cent.
Yet in 2001, it was 75 per cent - the same as in England.
Having repeatedly failed to meet this, the Labour Assembly Government did not redouble its efforts.
It simply moved the goalposts - and lowered the target.
Labour has reduced its ambitions for Wales and Welsh patients.
It has managed a decline in standards in healthcare.
In education, Welsh university student funding was on a par with England in 2001.
Ten years on, there is a massive gap.
And it's not just the gaps in funding that have grown.
The gap in performance between Welsh and English pupils at GCSE and A level has widened.
Welsh pupils are now the worst performing in the UK on international standards of literacy, numeracy and science.
And standards in one third of schools in Wales are not good enough, according to the inspectorate. The chief inspector told Labour to 'raise standards relative to other countries.'
Yet Labour says it is 'making progress'!
The truth is it is managing decline in educational standards.
Let's be clear, Conference: to us, a good education is what we want to offer rather than a school breakfast. Labour's Education Minister may prefer coco pops to the three R's - but then Labour on education is a cereal offender!
Under a Welsh Conservative Assembly Government this policy will be toast!
On economic development, Wales is now the poorest part of the United Kingdom.
On Labour's watch, our relative GVA has plummeted to less than three quarters the national average.
In fact in West Wales and the Valleys, latest figures are less than three quarters of the EU average - and behind even parts of Bulgaria.
Our economic performance has fallen in every year but one since 1997.
Conservatives could speak in the eighties of Welsh success in 'attracting firm after firm from overseas'.
Yet Labour has sat idly by as cherished economic heavyweights such as Hoover and Bosch have moved their operations abroad.
This time to countries such as Poland and Hungary. Countries that now not only match - but better - our educational achievements.
How has Labour responded?
Carwyn Jones promised us a Manufacturing Strategy three years ago. We're still waiting.
If London introduces dithering to the Olympics, we've a gold medal winner right here!
And we all remember Peter Hain telling us that Wales was better off than Rwanda.
Labour has managed the decline of the Welsh economy - and it is Welsh workers and families that have suffered most.
In a few short weeks, the people of Wales will vote in the Assembly elections.
The vote is crucial for the future of Wales.
So today I make a direct appeal to the Welsh people, who may have voted Labour or Plaid Cymru before.
If you are tired of going backwards, and want a more prosperous Wales for you and your children, where everyone can thrive.
If you are fed up with Labour revising targets downwards...
Fed up with seeing Wales at the bottom of the league...
If you are no longer prepared to accept others pushing forward, as we slip behind...
And can no longer bear Labour's policy of managed decline...
Join us, and vote Welsh Conservative.
Conservatives, after all, know a lot about reversing Labour's failures.
We've done it before.
We must do it again.
Welsh Conservatives have an ambitious programme for government - and we are ready to lead.
So over the coming weeks, we will set out how we intend to offer the people of Wales a fighting chance to live in a country where progress once again comes knocking at every door.
A Wales where people will talk again of 'a growing confidence in the future.'
In the last few months, the announcement of new jobs at Sharp and Airbus has been followed by George Osborne's announcement of £10 million for superfast broadband in Wales.
Liam Fox has signed off a £500 million contract for General Dynamics.
And electrification is coming to Wales.
Conservatives are showing that Wales is open for business.
Imagine what we could do if we held the levers to the Welsh economy in the National Assembly as well!
Well today, I can confirm that the next Welsh Conservative Assembly Government will take all small businesses out of business rates altogether.
Helping small companies by allowing them to use their profits to take on staff, expand, develop new products and thrive.
Giving our economy the boost it needs to grow.
We will publish a Manufacturing Strategy, to help our manufacturers to modernise and succeed by harnessing the skills and expertise of Welsh industry.
And because we recognise that some communities in Wales need more help than others to grow their economies, I am pleased to announce today that Welsh Conservatives will introduce a number of Enterprise Zones across Wales.
All businesses that locate in these Zones will be entitled to full business rate relief, as well as lighter touch regulation and other incentives.
Enterprise Zones have the potential to revitalise some of Wales' poorest areas, by creating much-needed employment and jobs.
In this globalised world, where progress depends on your ability to respond to the latest opportunities on an ever wider scale, those that shut their doors - as Plaid Cymru would have Wales do - are doomed to failure.
Plaid and Labour's failures on education were unmasked by the international education rankings, after all.
And good Welsh jobs are being lost to Eastern Europe.
So to give our schoolchildren the best chance of success, in an economy which no longer respects borders, and where industries can pick and choose, we'll raise standards in Welsh schools by trusting those that know their pupils the best.
Their teachers.
By funding schools directly, we'll give all schools a greater say in how they are run - redirecting the education budget to education, allowing teachers and headteachers to decide how that money is used.
But we won't just stop there.
To ensure that children have modern, fully-equipped classrooms in which to learn, I am pleased to announce to Conference today that Welsh Conservatives will plan for a massive injection of funds in our schools.
By harnessing public and private partnership agreements, we will set up a dedicated School Building Fund.
In order to give pupils across Wales a world class learning environment.
Young people in Wales should be able to look forward to a bright future.
That's why we want schools to have the power to raise standards.
Schoolchildren to have the most up-to-date facilities.
And why we believe strongly in both our national languages.
Many children are taking pride in their heritage and learning Welsh.
Dwi'n dysgu hefyd!
As the party that introduced S4C and the Welsh Language Act, we've a proud history in this area. And we want that to continue.
So today I pledge that Welsh Conservatives will introduce a voluntary Charter Mark to recognise and reward those businesses in Wales that help to promote Welsh.
And it's not just the language that makes us proud in Wales.
We are rightly proud of our troops - for their dedicated service at the heart of Britain's defence.
Which is why I am delighted to confirm that Welsh Conservatives will pay tribute to all Welsh Armed Forces personnel by providing them with an Armed Forces' Card, guaranteeing free bus travel and other benefits in recognition of their bravery and service for our nation.
And we are also proud to be the only party now protecting the NHS.
I know that many people in Wales will be disappointed that Labour is planning to slash the health budget by one billion pounds over the next three years.
The nursing sector predicts that 2,000 nurses and staff in Wales could lose their jobs under Labour.
Most of us had thought the days when Labour hired taxis 'to scuttle round ... handing out redundancy notices to its own workers' had long since passed.
Apparently not.
But at a time when new medicines are coming on stream.
When our population is ageing.
And chronic illness remains stubbornly high.
This is no time to cut the health budget.
Today I can confirm that Welsh Conservatives will reverse Labour's cuts to the health service in Wales - and protect the health budget in real terms for the next four years.
This will allow us to set up a much-needed Cancer Drugs Fund.
Boost stroke services and hospices.
And improve health outcomes directly, by investing in our ambulance services.
I am pleased to announce that Welsh Conservatives will increase funding for the Welsh Air Ambulance service by £3 million each year, allowing it to expand the incredible work it does across those parts of Wales that are so difficult to reach.
And so Conference, today let the word go out that we will restore Wales' good name - by reversing Labour's managed decline.
By injecting new funding and new thinking into our NHS.
By ensuring money goes directly to schools - and by modernising our school estate.
By recognising the valued role of our Armed Forces in defending Britain today.
And by encouraging voluntary effort through the Big Society.
On May 5th, the people of Wales have a chance to change course.
Wales needs a new voice.
Welsh Conservatives will be that voice for Wales.
Llais Newydd dros Gymru.
With your help, we can restore a 'new sense of achievement.
And a growing confidence in the future of Wales.'
Let's go out there and make it happen.