Speech to the Liberal Democrat Federal Conference

Speech by Micheal German AM on Tue 24th Sep 2002

In the Welsh Assembly Government, one of my portfolios is Wales Abroad.

I did wonder whether it is in this capacity that you have invited me here - to England - to speak to you today.

If so, thank you. It is always interesting to be in a foreign country, meeting different people. Only last night, I bumped into Bob Russell!

It is also interesting to experience new cultures and to see different ways of doing things. There is much in England that is different.

I use the word 'different' deliberately. In an earlier draft, I had the word 'abnormal'. But then, someone reminded me that, in Wales, we have Lembit Opik; so that put paid to any concept of normality!

'Different' and 'Difference' are key words for Welsh Liberal Democrats in Wales. For it is the Welsh Liberal Democrats who are making the difference to the people of Wales.

In every area of Welsh life you can find the unmistakable stamp of Welsh Liberal Democrat policy in action.

The Welsh education service. The Welsh NHS. The Welsh economy. The arts in Wales. Rural life. Local government. Our transport system. The environment.

In all these areas you will find Welsh Liberal Democrat policies being implemented for the benefit of Wales.

At the last election we said that education was our top priority. It is a priority because, through education, people develop their potential. Not just economic potential. But human potential, cultural potential, citizen potential.

We promised education would be our top priority. And it is in education that you will find we have achieved most.

We promised that we would cut class sizes for all children under 11, not just the infants of Labour's pledge.

Less than two years later, there are 884 more teachers in Wales. More money is spent per pupil than in English schools - an increase of 7.1 per cent on last year. And classes are smaller not just in primary schools but in secondary schools too.

We promised we would build new schools and repair crumbling school buildings.

Less than two years later, there is a record school building programme in place across Wales with children now learning in facilities of the highest standard.

And two years ago, we promised to tackle the student hardship that has discouraged so many students from taking up further or higher education.

This month, wherever they study, Welsh students - not students from England - are now eligible for an Assembly Learning Grant of up to £1,500. And they can use this grant not just in higher education but, uniquely in the United Kingdom, in further education colleges as well.

So, when Welsh Liberal Democrats said that education was our priority, we didn't need to repeat the word three times.

I often wonder of New Labour. If repetition is an indication of priority, how many times would they repeat the word 'health.' Judged on performance, it would be surprising if they used the word at all.

Not so for Welsh Liberal Democrats. Here too we are making the difference.

We promised to invest £1.2 billion in the Welsh NHS over three years.

Less than two years later, we have established more than 100 new general medical beds and employed more doctors and 500 more nurses. We have set up a new medical campus and another is on the way. There are already more than 50 new medical training places and more than 100 new places for nursing trainees.

We promised to extend free eye and dental checks. Less than two years later, everyone in Wales under the age of 26 or over 60 can have that free dental check. And many more people whose eyesight could be most at risk are entitled to a free eye test.

We promised to freeze prescription charges. Not only have we done this two years on the trot. We have also given everyone in Wales under the age of 26 or over 60 the right to prescriptions at no charge.

But Welsh Liberal Democrats are not just delivering on our promises in health and education. We are tackling the poverty found in Wales at its roots.

Poverty and injustice are features of communities in the Welsh valleys and in many isolated rural communities across the mid, west and north of Wales. Poverty is not simply an urban problem found in the inner cities. And in many ways, if combined with rural isolation, the impoverishment is all the more dangerous.

We have taken the first steps to rebuild our economy. Wales now has a development fund for investing in small businesses. We have put in place a strategy for encouraging the development of new home-grown businesses.

We have set up community-focused schemes to encourage social enterprises and voluntary contribution and to allow people to succeed in their communities so they can stay rather than be forced to move away.

In rural Wales we have also been active: additional funding, support for rural businesses and the establishment of Farming Connect, the Assembly's advisory and grants service for farmers.

We have also been proactive in speaking up for rural Wales and agriculture in all the UK and EU meetings that deal with the problems facing the industry. And tomorrow I am proud to announce that I will send off the first exportation of UK beef since the foot and mouth crisis. And it will go from Merthyr Tydfil, in Wales.

All this action - and so much more - you will find in Wales, not England.

And all this action - Assembly Government action - is the direct result of what makes the difference in Wales: the Welsh Liberal Democrats.

It is just not credible to believe that a Labour Party in sole control of the Assembly would have cut class sizes in junior schools, introduced free dental and eye checks or extended eligibility to free prescriptions.

There is absolutely no evidence to show that Alun Michael's minority Labour government would have introduced free school milk or Farming Connect.

And there is no Labour Party policy - in their manifesto or otherwise - which would have led to the re-introduction of the Assembly Learning Grant for Welsh students.

So, it is clear. The Government may be led by Labour but it is driven by the Welsh Liberal Democrats.

But, it takes two. And we cannot pretend to have all the ideas.

In Wales, every pensioner and every disabled citizen can now travel by bus for nothing. That was a Labour idea and it was a good one. Not only are our senior citizens able to travel more easily but our bus services have been boosted by the increased demand. This is leading to more bus services for everyone.

And, in Wales, uniquely in the UK, we have a Children's Commissioner to protect and champion children's rights. That was an idea shared by three of the four parties in the Assembly and, after development in committee, backed by all four.

You see, partnership politics is not just about government and opposition. It is not just about For and Against. Yah and Boo.

Partnership politics is good in itself. It is what Liberal Democrats everywhere believe is best for our country.

It is what the Assembly Government preaches in working with the voluntary sector. And it is what we have undertaken to do in order to involve Welsh business and unions.

We know that Welsh Liberal Democrats do not have every answer to every problem.

Normal people understand this. Families work on the basis of partnership. People in them can't have everything they want all the time so why should a political party?

Partnership embraces the diversity that is the human race. It encourages consensus that changes hearts and minds. And it provides a majority that gives stability.

In short, there is strength in partnership.

It's a pity the Conservatives don't understand this. Or perhaps it isn't. After all they have ruled out working with other parties in partnership in Wales. And, as they have never had a majority in Wales, that's written them out of Welsh politics.

In short, a vote for the Conservatives in Wales is a wasted vote. It won't count. It's a dead vote. A deceased vote. A vote that is no more.

You might as well vote for a dead parrot as vote for the Conservatives in the Assembly.

Conservatives say that coalitions lead to weak government. In fact, that is a problem more likely to be found under First Past the Post.

What was strong about Margaret Thatcher forcing the poll tax on the country and then backing down?

What was strong about Tony Blair telling the country that we could have better health and education services without paying more tax; only to change his mind after the election and increase taxes after all?

In Wales we no longer have a weak government. We have a powerful partnership.

It is a powerful partnership, not a weak one party, which has invested in more teachers and smaller class sizes in all schools.

It is a powerful partnership, not a weak one party, which has invested in more doctors and nurses and policy to introduce free eye and dental checks.

And it is a powerful partnership, not a weak one party, which is giving students - including those in further education - an Assembly Learning Grant.

This is no attempt by a smaller party to ram home a minority agenda.

Do you really believe that a Labour voter thinks smaller classes are wrong?

Do you really believe that a Labour student opposes grants on principle?

Can you believe that Labour voters want to pay for their dental checks?

Of course not. But what those Labour voters now know is that they cannot trust their Party to deliver such a radical agenda. They look over the border to see how Tony Blair is doing things, and it is not the same. They look to their own communities and they can see the difference the Welsh Liberal Democrats are making.

And if they want more of the same. If they want a radical, ambitious force for change they must look to us.

It is the Welsh Liberal Democrats who they can trust to keep up the investment in teachers and schools, doctors and nurses.

And it is the Welsh Liberal Democrats who they can trust to give them free personal care in old age.

People can trust the Welsh Liberal Democrats. We have a record of action. We offer a promise of more.

And the more people who vote for us, the more action they will get.