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Welsh Affairs

I understand why a separatist party would require services that are currently delivered from England to Wales to be delivered only in Wales. The fallacy of the Plaid Cymru position is that it pretends that services currently delivered by specialist centres in England would continue to be delivered in an independent Wales. I have heard from Wrexham residents who have been treated at Broadgreen in Liverpool for heart surgery, at Christie hospital in Manchester for cancer, at Alder Hey in Liverpool for children's services or at Walton for neurosurgery. They are concerned that patients may be denied access to those centres of excellence simply because those centres are in England. I have been comforted by assurances given by the Minister for Health and Social Services in the Welsh Assembly Government, but we must assert the value of a national health service delivered across the UK.