Labour leader Keir Starmer has defended Welsh Labour's record on the NHS in Wales despite the Labour-led Welsh Government giving health services a smaller funding increase in Wales than the NHS in England is receiving. See our report on the Welsh Government's budget here.
Sir Keir was in Wales to help the party launch its campaign for the local elections in May. He spoke at the event at Bridgend College alongside Welsh Labour leader Mark Drakeford and Rhondda Cynon Taf leader Andrew Morgan. He said that Labour in Wales has taken the right decisions with the health service in Wales and that he is "proud" of all its decisions.
When stories like those of Emlyn Roberts who spent 10 hours on the pavement waiting for an ambulance or the mum-of-two who spent days waiting in A&E at the Grange Hospital, were put to him, Sir Keir said: "The Welsh Labour government is taking difficult decisions in difficult circumstances. I don't know the individual circumstances of incidents around Wales forgive me. But I do think that the overall approach is the right approach and that was taken to the country last May, it'll be taken to the country again in these local elections and with that simple message if you value vote for it, and that's what people did last year."
