Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss both attacked devolution and the Welsh Labour government as they took part in a hustings in Cardiff on Wednesday night.
The two contenders to be the next Prime Minister had strong words of criticism for the process of devolution itself as well as the actions of the Welsh Labour ministers in Cardiff Bay. Former chancellor Mr Sunak declared that "the path of onward devolution has not worked" and he suggested that that leaders at Westminster to "fix" it.
Mr Sunak also accused the Welsh Government of "squandering" money and "failing" children and hospital patients while Foreign Secretary Liz Truss attacked Mark Drakeford personally over his personality and decision on the M4 relief road. See criticism of her for that here.
You can recap on all the events of the hustings, held in Cardiff, here and see the big things we learnt. The candidates both got to make a speech, then face questions by host Hannah Vaughan Jones before questions from members in the audience. The two candidates were asked a variety of questions on topics including Ukraine, tax and their plans for green and energy policies.
What Rishi Sunak said:
1. "I'm going to call out the fact in spite of receiving 20% more funding, here in Wales, waiting lists on the NHS are the worst in the UK and that's why we need to kick out the Labour Government and give the people of Wales the NHS they deserve."
2. "Of course I'm going to help people with the cost of living, that's what politicians should be focused on right now, not spending millions of pounds increasing the number of politicians in the Welsh Senedd".
3. "We need to call out this other Labour policy of not building any more roads for what it is, an act of enormous economic self harm, and the people of Wales deserve better".
4. "I'm enormously ambitious for for Wales and you know, when I look at Wales, I just see the incredible potential that it has...when I see Wales, I just see a country which has got enormous potential, and I want to help work with everyone here to deliver that and actually make sure that people in Wales get the public services that they demand, and that's where we need to be more prepared to call out the failures of the devolved government here because this path of onward devolution has not worked and actually delivering better health care and education for the people in Wales. And that's what we need to fix."
5. "I want to be active by holding the Welsh Government to account. If I'm fortunate to be Prime Minister, I'm Prime Minister for the entire United Kingdom, for every single person, and I want the people in Wales to be able to rely on the public services that they deserve and if the UK Government is sending millions of pounds over to Wales, and it's being squandered, it's not being spent properly and children are not being taught properly in schools and people are waiting unacceptably long for health care treatment. We need to call that out. And we need to make sure that we improve it because that's what the people of Wales deserve".
6. "I want to be an activist Prime Minister. When it comes to Wales, we need to call out devolution for failing when it's failing, as we talked about, the Welsh Government are letting down people in Wales with schools that are underfunded, right, what do we have in Wales we have we have a stagnant economy. We have spiralling waiting lists in the NHS, and we have chronically underfunded schools which are depriving people of a life of aspiration and hope. Right? The answer to that question is not more devolution. The answer to that question is calling out the Labour government for what they're doing and having the UK Government do more. Right. So that's how we're going to start changing that we're going to start calling it out. We're going to start holding them accountable. We're going to be a more active presence in Wales delivering for people that's how I think we can work together to solve this problem. "
What Liz Truss said:
7. "The fact is that there are too many people in this country who are ashamed of our, who talk our country down and say the best days are behind us. They are completely wrong, and one of those is Mark Drakeford. Whether it's stopping the M4 relief road, whacking a tax on our tourist industry, I will crack down on his negativity about Wales and the United Kingdom."
8. "We will be able to take on the low-energy version of Jeremy Corbyn that is Mark Drakeford".
9. "I think it's a very different situation in Scotland and Wales, because what's happening in Scotland, is the entire resources of the Scottish Government are being used to run essentially an independence campaign and I think that is grossly irresponsible...I think the issue in Wales is different. You know, the problem we've got in Wales, and I mentioned Mark Drakeford earlier is that the opportunities that are being brought forward by the UK Government are not being taken up, like the M4 relief Road, which would actually generate new jobs and growth here in Wales.
10. "I've made it very clear, I don't like taxes very much and the fact that he wants to put a tax on tourism in Wales, I think is a very big problem, just as we are trying to recover the economy after Covid.
11. "I would want to work with Andrew RT Davies and the team at the Senedd to make sure that together we have a very strong plan to challenge Drakeford's record in Wales, Labour has been in power for 20 years, but also to challenge what Labour are doing across the United Kingdom and what Keir Starmer is doing and I would want to have regular meetings with Andrew and his team, I'd want to involve our Welsh colleagues, members of the Senedd in work that we do at Westminster so we are really making sure that we are putting the best possible case to the Welsh people."
12. Asked: "Would your government build the M4 relief road?," she replied: "Yes".
Welsh Labour and the Welsh Government have been asked if they wish to comment. The Welsh Government said it was declining to comment on anything said by the candidates in the leadership contest.
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