Nye bevan would be ranting and raving....

My speech to last weekends conference in Carmarthen went something like this:

"Conference I know we have been talking about the future this weekend but perhaps you could indulge me a moment and think back a couple of years to Culture net Cymru's search for the top Welsh hero.

You may remember that Nye Bevan "won" the vote in rather odd circumstances. I wonder what Nye would make of the way Labour in London and Cardiff is running the NHS.Its tempting to say he would weep or be spinning in his grave if he could see what Labour have done to the NHS. Surely he would raging against these incompetent Labour governments. In denbighshire we face cuts in hospital services and in prestatyn the closure of a well used and well loved Community Hospital. The Local health Boards approach to consultation is to decide to shut the hospital and then consult people over hwat should replace it. They then profess astonishment when people react angrily.

In next door Conwy Alan Pugh recently announced there would be 1000's of new nhs dentist places in Conwy provided by the private sector. After reading an article in the local paper I was astonished to see Mr Pugh boast that these new places would restore the number of NHS places to the level they were at in 1997! After eight years of Labour government in London and six in Cardiff we might get back to the level of NHS dentistry we had after eighteen years of Tory rule!

Nobody would seriously suggest Nye Bevan would ever have joined or supported Plaid Cymru. The fact is that those people who support the Bevan Ttradition and value the NHS need to make their political home here in Plaid Cymru".