Oral Answers to Questions

Theresa Villiers Excerpts

Wednesday 8th May 2024 Commons Chamber

[Fay Jones]

In the interests of time, I will give my right hon. Friend a very short answer: no. The Welsh Government have failed to come to the table time and time again on this issue, which is close to my heart as a constituency MP for the River Wye. That has been the missing piece of the puzzle, and it is why we are seeing no action in Wales.

[Theresa Villiers (Chipping Barnet) (Con)]

5. What recent discussions he has had with the Welsh Government on NHS waiting times.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales (Fay Jones)]

Healthcare is devolved to the Welsh Government, who have received record levels of funding to deliver on all their devolved responsibilities, receiving 20% more funding per person than in England.

[Theresa Villiers]

So many people in Wales are waiting longer for NHS care than people in England, and in a 12-month period, 40,000 people had to go from Wales to England for elective care. Does that not show that Labour’s claims to be better for the NHS are completely false?

[Fay Jones]

My right hon. Friend is entirely right: the NHS is not safe in Labour’s hands, and we have living proof of that in Wales. It is a great shame that when the Secretary of State for Health in England offered the support of the NHS in England to alleviate pressures on waiting times in Wales, the Welsh Health Secretary turned that support down. That is Labour’s record on the NHS.