This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-22321011
The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Version 0 | Version 1 |
---|---|
David Cameron urges Welsh Tories to fight 'battle of ideas' | David Cameron urges Welsh Tories to fight 'battle of ideas' |
(35 minutes later) | |
David Cameron has urged Welsh Conservatives to fight a "battle of ideas" on the deficit, welfare and the economy. | |
In a rallying cry to a conference in Swansea, the prime minister said Wales and the UK were in a "global race". | In a rallying cry to a conference in Swansea, the prime minister said Wales and the UK were in a "global race". |
Britain faced tests that would decide whether it would be "a success story or an also ran". | Britain faced tests that would decide whether it would be "a success story or an also ran". |
Attacking the Welsh government, Mr Cameron said: "The only people who don't get it is Labour in Cardiff Bay." | Attacking the Welsh government, Mr Cameron said: "The only people who don't get it is Labour in Cardiff Bay." |
He said the devolved administration was "determined to drag Wales down". | |
It had created an education system that "holds young people back" and "endless regulation that's holding business back". | |
"But while they're messing it up, we're sorting it out," he said. | |
Mr Cameron pointed to the planned electrification of the railways in south Wales, cuts to income tax and a commitment to upgrade the M4 motorway. | |
Reflecting on the death of Baroness Thatcher, he said her greatest lesson was that "you can't just take a decision and think 'that's it, job done'. | |
"You've got to marshal your arguments, make them with great force, and realise the job isn't done unless you win the greatest battle of them all - the battle of ideas." | |
Listing three "big arguments" that the Tories had to confront, the prime minister said it was not true that "you can spend your way out of debt". | |
Secondly, Conservatives had to take on opponents who say UK government welfare changes "are unnecessary and unfair". | |
And Tories had to "stand up for enterprise", he said, insisting that the UK "works best when we're connected in the world". | |
"When people say 'pull up the drawbridge, Britain can make it on our own', they're wrong," he said. | |
Meanwhile Welsh Secretary David Jones accused Welsh ministers of establishing a "Soviet-style" system of enterprise zones which is "holding Wales back". | |
He said Labour ministers had created bureaucracy for the zones but "nothing is happening" on the ground. | |
Assembly group leader Andrew RT Davies was also announcing a commission on providing more affordable childcare. |