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Carwyn Jones makes his first major policy announcement of the campaign

WELSH Labour Leadership candidate Carwyn Jones, has this afternoon issued a frank statement – shortly to be placed on Welsh Labour’s official leadership campaign website – in which he tells Labour members that under his leadership, further improvements in the delivery of healthcare would be his priority.

This decision is clearly intended to challenge the belief that health policy is the preserve only of the Health Minister and leadership rival, Edwina Hart. In a carefully worded statement Carwyn Jones praises the “Labour Health Ministers in the Assembly [who had] made the major improvements in the delivery of health care in Wales”. But he also points to areas of perceived weakness in current health provision, and promises that if he becomes Welsh Labour leader there would be “better access to GP services, and working with staff and their unions to improve areas like the Ambulance service… I want to see continuing action to reduce waiting times, and a new focus on primary care, enabling patients to see their GPs in the evenings and at weekends, to make surgery bookings online, and to book hospital appointments through GP surgeries.”

The statement on the party website will also focus on other issues such as placing a new focus on Welsh manufacturing, increasing the emphasis on green jobs, and delivering on affordable childcare.

Nevertheless, it is no accident that he has chosen to focus particularly on health care as the core policy area in his statement. Expect his rivals to respond.