Welsh Conservatives pledge more cash for hospices
Emily Price
The Welsh Conservatives have pledged more money for hospices and greater support for veterans if they win the next Senedd election.
The announcement will be made at a Tory policy forum speech set to take place in Cardiff on Saturday (June 14).
The Leader of the Welsh Conservatives – Darren Millar – will commit to several new policies including an additional £3m for Veterans NHS Wales to fund peer mentoring services, free bus travel for veterans and a new National Armed Forces Museum.
Millar is expected say: “I have an ambition for Wales to become the most veteran-friendly nation in the world.
“A Welsh Conservative Government will extend free bus travel to all 115,000 military veterans in Wales, no matter their age.
“We will invest an additional £3m into Veterans NHS Wales to fund peer mentoring services.
“We will also honour our heroes, including those who are still with us, and those who have gone before, by establishing a National Military Museum for Wales.”
Pledge
It comes with less than one year to go until the 2026 Welsh election which will see an expanded Senedd and new super constituencies.
This weekend, Millar will also announce a pledge to deliver £40m in additional funding for hospices over the duration of the next Senedd term.
The policy will include a commitment to ring-fence funding to cover 50% of Wales’ children’s hospices’ running costs.
Currently the Welsh Labour Government funding covers less than 20%.
It comes as MPs in the House of Commons debate how much say Senedd politicians should have on an Assisted Dying law.
Palliative care
In his keynote speech, Millar is expected to say: “It is disgraceful that the hospice movement in Wales has been saddled with huge tax rises without one penny from the government to help.
“I do not believe we should be making it harder for dying people to get the care they deserve.
“No matter what people’s views on the Assisted Dying debate, everyone supports the need to improve access to high quality end of life and palliative care.
“A Welsh Conservative Government will invest an additional £40m over the term of the next Senedd into the Welsh hospices and palliative care.
“Ring-fencing funding for Wales’ children’s hospices to meet 50% of their operating costs and providing the biggest boost in palliative and end of life care in Welsh history.”
The fresh pledges come a month after the Senedd Tories said they will take 1p off the basic rate of income tax in Wales if they take power next year.
Millar has also promised that his government will launch a public inquiry into beleaguered Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board and to introduce a mobile phone ban in Welsh schools.
Support our Nation today
For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.
Sounds honourable. Just don’t know if it is enough to balance out all the other rubbish he spouts
I would not bet on it (sic)!
Is this the same Welsh Conservative leader Darren Millar who as a Senedd member was silent when PM Rishi Sunak robbed billions from Wales when put HS2 as an England and Wales infrastructure build. Imagine what good that money could have done to those veterans and thermally ill patients suffering in hospices. Apparently he’s developed a social conscience all of a sudden? Well knock me down with a feather. I can recall he cheered when then leader Andrew RT Davies said Wales needed a bit of Dom , this a reference to Dominic Cummings , architect of Brexit and policy… Read more »
Nicely done, you have undone his every word. The word ‘more’ in the headline means ‘less’. He is just in a battle with N.F., say anything which means nothing. The idea the party of austerity, deprivation and poverty proliferation will give anything to anyone outside of the donor class is proved in everlasting perpetuity. His offer to veterans who have been spat out to languish on the streets of Britain seems to be weighed against an offer to come and languish on the streets of Wales instead. A nil sum total plan of no consequence. Don’t forget, government has long… Read more »
He was on “any questions” suggesting coal mining was not that bad really….
Blimey, these empty offers just stink of desperation.