Senedd election chance to save the NHS, says Lib Dem leader
Getty ImagesThe Senedd election is an opportunity to "save the NHS", according to the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats.
Speaking ahead of her party's spring conference on Saturday, Jane Dodds said every vote for the Lib Dems would be "a vote to deliver the change people across Wales are crying out for".
Dodds is her party's only Member of the Senedd (MS) and polls suggest her party is still struggling to make an impact.
But it is hoping to benefit from the increase in the number of politicians who will be elected to the Welsh Parliament after the 7 May vote, as well as the switch to a more proportional voting system.
Dodds will address the conference in Cardiff on Saturday afternoon, but in advance of her speech she said that after nearly 27 years of a Labour government in Wales people "can see that too many public services are struggling".
"NHS waiting lists are the longest anywhere in the UK and councils are under growing pressure because social care is stretched beyond breaking point," she said.
"This election is our chance to change course and save our NHS."
The Welsh Lib Dems have already said they would be prepared to raise income tax by 1p to support social care services if the money couldn't be found elsewhere.
The party has also said it would provide 30 hours of free childcare a week for all children aged between nine months and four years old.
A number of recent polls have seen the Lib Dems lagging behind the other parties of the left including Plaid Cymru, Labour and the Green Party.
It also appears that Plaid and the Greens are the parties benefitting most from Labour's own struggles.
However, Dodds used a BBC radio interview on Friday to stress what she sees as the key difference between her party, Plaid and the Greens, which is that the Lib Dems are opposed to independence for Wales.
Some of those thinking of voting Green in May did not realise that the party wanted Wales to leave the UK, she told Radio Wales Breakfast.
"I think it's really interesting to sometimes hear from Green Party supporters, and potential voters, that they don't know that they want independence for Wales," she said.
"We're clear that is where we are distinctive."
Commenting on her own party's position in the polls, Dodds said: "We don't know what the polls are, do we really? They've never predicted an election like the one we've got."
However, she did concede that her party wouldn't win the election.
"I'm not going to be the first minister of Wales," she said, "but we may play a key role in the next Welsh Parliament".
The Lib Dems have only held one seat in the Senedd since 2016, but the party has wielded influence during that period.
Former Welsh Lib Dems leader Kirsty Williams served as education secretary between 2016 and 2021 when she stood down.
Dodds, who was first elected to Cardiff Bay in 2021, negotiated a budget deal with the Labour government last year.
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