In a robust speech on the final day of the Welsh Conservative Conference, Andrew RT Davies AM/AC – the Shadow Minister for Environment – slammed the Welsh Labour Administration over its handling of rural and environmental matters.
He began by recalling the response it made to recent devastating floods in many parts of Wales, describing as “… mediocre at best, bipolar at worst”.
“It’s time we raised the bar, because what we’re seeing right now from Labour politicians in the Assembly is an unsavoury mess.
“We have a Labour Welsh Government that’s declared a climate emergency but delivered a real-terms cut in funding to Natural Resources Wales, its primary body for ensuring the environment and natural resources of Wales are sustainably maintained and enhanced.”
He added: “I passionately believe environmental principles are instinctively Conservative principles, and as advocates of individual responsibility, they go to the very heart of what we believe in.
He said that a Welsh Conservative Government would overhaul the Environment department in the Welsh Government, bringing greater focus to the job, and would ensure there is a minister directly responsible for powering economic prosperity into agriculture, forestry and our rural communities.
He said: “This minister would also be responsible for ‘rural proofing’ all government policy moving forward to stop the needs of our rural communities falling through the cracks in Cardiff Bay.
“No rural area in Wales should be left behind and we want to ensure we close the prosperity and opportunity gap which currently exists, and ensure we develop a rural economy in Wales that is fit for the future, and where young people can stay and thrive.”
Mr Davies added that he wanted to see a “… whole government approach to tackling climate change because the current set-up is simply not working”.
“We currently have a government that can’t even muster enough energy to deliver on one of the First Minister’s very own leadership manifesto commitments; a clean air act. We’ve already heard this morning of the importance of tackling this problem – a problem that contributes to over 2,000 premature deaths in Wales.
“It’s a national scandal, and a Welsh Conservative Government would tackle that head-on and a clean air act would be a priority within the first 100 days.
“We’ve outlined our plans to scrap the organisation NRW, a merger that has been a catastrophic failure from the Welsh Labour Government and which is not fit for purpose.”
Mr Davies also outlined plans to transform the Environment Act, putting key targets into law, and said that Welsh Conservatives would also establish a Climate Assembly.
Concluding, an enthusiastic audience applauded Mr Davies’ pledge to create a One Nation Wales, led by the Welsh Conservatives, unleashing Wales’ true environmental and agricultural potential.