Waiting lists funding boost to be confirmed at Labour conference

The NHS will receive an extra £22m to tackle waiting lists, the first minister is expected to say on Saturday.

Eluned Morgan will make the announcement at her first Welsh Labour conference as the party’s leader.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will also address delegates in Llandudno, Conwy.

He is expected to defend his government’s recent budget, which has attracted criticism from farming unions.

It is Welsh Labour’s third attempt at holding its spring conference, which was initially scheduled for March, then pushed to July due to the Covid-19 public inquiry, before being delayed again because of the general election.

It comes at the end of a turbulent year, during which the party has had three leaders.

Having succeeded Mark Drakeford in March – becoming Wales’ first black first minister – Vaughan Gething stepped down in July following controversy over donations to his campaign.

Earlier this week, Morgan marked 100 days as first minister by making it clear her priority was to drive down hospital waiting lists, which are at record levels with more than 600,000 people awaiting treatment.

The funding commitment of £22m follows a similar announcement of £28m last month to cut waiting times.

Welsh Labour said the funding “was evidence of the Welsh Labour leader listening, and of being the only party serious about governing and serious about delivering for the people of Wales”.

In his speech, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will announce plans put forward by the previous Conservative government for a £160m investment zone in Flintshire and Wrexham would go ahead next year.

Meanwhile, unions have said the UK government’s planned changes to inheritance on agricultural assets will have “disastrous” consequences.

But the prime minister is expected to say he would defend the decision “all day long”.

“I will defend facing up to the harsh light of fiscal reality, defend tough decisions that were necessary to stabilise our economy, and I will defend protecting the payslips of working people,” he said.

A £13m grant fund to help redundant Port Talbot steel workers and their families will also be announced by Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens, aimed at supporting people to set up their own businesses and expand and diversify local firms.

The money is part of £80m from the UK government to help 2,800 Tata workers losing their jobs and help the local economy cope with the impact.

Tata has closed its two coal-fired blast furnaces and is to replace them with an electric furnace that will need fewer workers.

Stevens said: “We said we would back workers and businesses affected by the transition at Port Talbot and we are doing so with more than £26m announced since July.”