MP Uses Maiden Speech to Draw Attention to Local Healthcare Crisis
David Chadwick, the newly elected Liberal Democrat MP for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe has used his maiden speech in Parliament today to draw attention to the healthcare crisis impacting his constituency.
The speech can be watched here: https://www.facebook.com/100089993084747/videos/840594981324338?locale=en_GB
Chadwick drew on his own experiences of being hit by a car and being left paralysed by Guillain-Barre syndrome to highlight the importance of local healthcare services.
He also criticised the Welsh Labour Government for forcing budget cuts onto local health boards which have seen services at minor injury units across Mid Wales threatened.
David Chadwick was called to make his maiden speech during a Parliamentary debate on agriculture and spoke about the importance of farming to both the local economy and the nation’s health, highlighting how good quality local produce can help tackle the strain on the NHS including the obesity crisis. He also pledged to continue the work of former Liberal Democrat MP Roger Williams to create a fairer relationship between retailers and farmers.
Mr Chadwick later spoke about the impact of deindustrialisation in the Upper Swansea Valley, highlighting how the recent closure of the last blast furnace at Port Talbot is set to have devastating consequences for many workers and those in the wider supply chain. And that a vital employer where both his grandparents had worked, has now been removed from a community just before Christmas.
He promised that he would use his voice in Parliament to harness the ‘creative spirit’ of those across Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe to create new industries and jobs, pushing the UK Government to commit funding to the Global Centre for Rail Excellence as just one example of how deindustrialisation can be tackled and even reversed.
The full text of David Chadwick's maiden speech can be read below:
I stand here as the first-ever MP for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm-Tawe – the largest constituency in England and Wales.
Therefore I have a foot in two worlds; one in rural Mid Wales. The other in the Swansea Valley.
I wish to pay tribute to my predecessors, Fay Jones and Christina Rees, for their commitment to Welsh politics and their service to these communities.
The north of the constituency starts in the uplands of Radnorshire; a historic old county, featuring the market towns of Knighton, Rhayader – the outdoor capital of Wales, and Presteigne.
Our constituency has 3 spa towns: Llandrindod Wells; Llanwrtyd & Builth Wells, where the Royal Welsh Show, Europe's largest agricultural gathering, takes place each summer.
At the centre is my handsome historic hometown of Brecon, home to the Army in Wales and a thriving Nepalese community.
The world book town of Hay-on-Wye shows that a small rural town can be a world leader, as does Britain’s best high street in Crickhowell, not forgetting the horticultural talents on display in Talgarth.
At the head of the Swansea Valley is Ystradgynlais, the birthplace of the British iron industry, and Pontardawe, where the roof of the White House itself was made.
This enormous constituency was not created by popular demand but was welded together following the last Conservative government’s decision to cut the number of Welsh MPs by a fifth.
The Welsh public responded by cutting the number of Welsh Conservative MPs to 0. Welsh farmers will not forget the trade deals they signed with Australia and New Zealand.
Wales wants a fairer deal from this parliament.
Yesterday we debated the challenges facing the NHS in England. Many of my constituents travel to England for NHS treatment.
I have tried healthcare systems across the world, I was run over by a car in the Netherlands, and was paralysed by Guillain-Barre syndrome in Argentina.
High-quality healthcare changes lives, saves lives.
I’m sorry to say that the Welsh NHS is in dire straits.
Its outcomes are worse than in England.
Yet no equivalent review is taking place.
Instead, the Welsh government is forcing health boards to make heavy budget cuts.
They are proposing to cut the opening hours at Minor Injuries Units at hospitals in Brecon, Llandrindod Wells and Ystradgynlais
Forcing local residents to travel long distances, relying on roads that are often closed, or bus journeys that can take a whole day.
People living in rural areas should not have to pay a rural penalty to access healthcare.
Indeed, rural areas can help tackle the healthcare crisis we face.
Take obesity. We can lighten the load on our NHS by bettering the nation’s diet.
If we recognise the true value of good food & and local produce,
We would appreciate the public health and environmental benefits from the money spent on the agricultural budget.
The government must be aware of the massive multiplier effect the agricultural budget has for the rural economy and should give farmers the stability and funding they need.
Food security is a major concern, 61% of farmers are considering giving up and the farming workforce is dwindling.
Our farmers and growers produce world class produce, battling harsh weather and constantly changing market conditions.
Those market conditions are often set by retail giants. My predecessor Roger Williams fought to level the relationship between retailers and farmers through strengthening the groceries code adjudicator. I will carry on that fight.
Only this past week have we seen an important campaign from Riverford, holding supermarkets to account for misleading shoppers with fake farm brands and driving Britain’s family farms to the brink.
This is just one example of the challenges farmers face.
We need to champion local food systems, not imports.
Let’s support the movement towards rebuilding local supply chains, driven by rural entrepreneurs, who are opening restaurants, building brands, bringing back jobs and remaking our high streets.
The spirit of innovation flourishes in Wales.
We once had the lead in industrial sciences,
We were the world’s first industrial nation.
But now Wales is £10,000 a head poorer than England
And still losing jobs.
For both of my grandfathers, the steel industry was the first rung on the career ladder.
One of them climbed the ladders at Port Talbot,
But now those ladders have been taken away.
Those jobs must be replaced for the families in my constituency, who are now facing unemployment before Christmas.
If this government wants to back Welsh industry and Welsh jobs, show it by backing the Global Centre for Rail Excellence in Ontllwyn.
Great Britain has no all-purpose testing centre for railway vehicles and infrastructure, this former mine has been repurposed to be that facility.
Give us the tools and we will get on with it.
For we still know how to dig ourselves out of a hole in Wales.
We are a creative people. We love music. We love words. We love reading about other people, which is why my constituency sustains three local newspapers: the Brecon and Radnor Express, the County Times and the Mid Wales Journal, as well as the Ponty mag, the Beacon, and the Rhosgoch Gossip.
Finally, I want to thank my partner, Gemma, whose bravery and resourcefulness inspire me. And to my son, William, and our next soon-to-be-born child, I dedicate my work here to fighting for the future you deserve.
ENDS
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