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Plaid's Leanne Wood fails to reveal health policy cost Plaid Cymru's Leanne Wood urges Labour voters to switch
(about 2 hours later)
Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood has said she is unable to put a figure on the cost of her party's plans to integrate health and social care. Leanne Wood has urged Labour voters to "take another look at Plaid Cymru" at the 2016 assembly election.
She told BBC Radio Wales they would be "absorbed with the overall reorganisation of local government". She told Plaid's annual conference in Aberystwyth they were ready to "lead on the issues that matter most", claiming Labour took people for granted.
Ms Wood told Good Morning Wales Plaid wanted to "turn around" the Welsh NHS compared to "more stagnation and decline" under Labour. Ms Wood promised NHS reform, free care for elderly people and dementia sufferers, and the option of a lower school starting age.
She was speaking as the Plaid Cymru conference opened in Aberystwyth. She also pledged a £100m fund to invest in successful start-up companies.
The party has promised to produce a full budget before the assembly election in May 2016. A Plaid government next May would also be a mandate for a new devolution settlement from Westminster, she said, including income tax powers without a referendum.
Ms Wood said money coming to Wales due to extra spending on England's health service would be ring-fenced to go to the Welsh NHS if Plaid Cymru wins power. 'Inaction, incompetence and indifference'
She said that, after 16 years of Labour rule, Wales had fewer doctors per head than elsewhere in Britain, growing waiting times for operations, and people struggling with care costs. Ms Wood said: "I ask people in every corner of the country: take another look at Plaid Cymru.
Plaid Cymru, she promised, would recruit an extra 1,000 doctors "so that services are safe". "We have listened. We know you want a party that will lead on those issues that matter most.
The party's election pledges also include scrapping care fees for the elderly and people with dementia, at a cost of £226m. "Your hospital, your school, your workplace, your community."
However, she told BBC Radio Wales she was unable to put a figure on the overall cost of reorganising the NHS by abolishing health boards and integrating the service with social care offered by local councils. Seeking to contrast First Minister Carwyn Jones's record with the "kinder politics" promised by Labour's new UK leader Jeremy Corbyn, she said: "There has been nothing kind about seventeen years of unbroken Labour rule in Wales.
"We want to see health services run in a very different way," she said. "They have taken people for granted here and rewarded long-term loyalty with inaction, incompetence and indifference."
"I can't give you a figure for that ... there will be a cost but it has to be absorbed with the overall reorganisation of local government. Plaid Cymru is currently the third party in Cardiff Bay, with 11 seats compared to 30 for Labour and 14 for the Conservatives, with the Lib Dems on five.
"It's not something you can look at specifically on its own." Earlier there was controversy when Ms Wood admitted to BBC Radio Wales she could not give a figure on the costs of Plaid's plans to merge health and social care.
The party is planning to publish a full alternative budget before the election.
'Strong team''Strong team'
On the party's prospects of coming to power, Ms Wood told BBC Wales: "I want to see a Plaid Cymru government. On the prospect of coming to power, Ms Wood told BBC Wales before her speech: "I want to see a Plaid Cymru government.
"Now I accept that forming a majority is difficult, because of the system that we have, but a Plaid Cymru minority administration would have to work with other parties in order to gets its budget and its programme through.""Now I accept that forming a majority is difficult, because of the system that we have, but a Plaid Cymru minority administration would have to work with other parties in order to gets its budget and its programme through."
Plaid entered government for the first time in coalition with Labour in Cardiff Bay between 2007 and 2011, under Ms Wood's predecessor Ieuan Wyn Jones.Plaid entered government for the first time in coalition with Labour in Cardiff Bay between 2007 and 2011, under Ms Wood's predecessor Ieuan Wyn Jones.
She said she could not rule out forming another coalition with Labour, but said it was "very difficult to see" how Plaid could share power with the Conservatives.She said she could not rule out forming another coalition with Labour, but said it was "very difficult to see" how Plaid could share power with the Conservatives.
Ms Wood accused the Tories of being "intent on pursuing ideological cuts from Westminster" and "so far apart from us ideologically". Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also addressed the conference on Friday, saying Ms Wood was "ready and able" to lead Wales as its first minister.
"The vast majority of people in Wales are not prepared to contemplate the Conservatives being in government in Wales," she added.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon addressed the conference on Friday, saying Ms Wood was "ready and able" to lead Wales as its first minister.