At the Tenby and Saundersfoot branch Labour Party meeting on Saturday, October 20, it was good to welcome Nick Ainger MP with the latest news of Westminster. After a welcome and coffee-time chat, the chairman, Tony Wales, took apologies, and read the minutes of the last meeting, before going on to 'matters arising'. Here, it was agreed, that payment by cheque for the Annual Dinner could be made straightaway, with Marjorie accepting post-dated cheques. In his own report, the chairman addressed the issue of the proposal to merge the three local NHS Trusts, and said that the CHC - of which he was a member, did not, at this time support the merger. He went on to tell members of the Minister for Health, Edwina Hart's visit to Withybush the day before and of the huge investment being put there, assuring its future, despite the contradictory propaganda being aired by some parties. He also spoke of the cluster meeting being held at Carmarthen to discuss the report on last May's election campaign. When Nick stood to speak, it was to tell members about Conference, among other things. Nick also talked about the huge investment Labour has put into Aid and Development overseas. The Aid budget has more than doubled over the past 10 years and Britain is seen as the most effective aid donor. Nick has personally written to all the churches in the constituency to thank the people in them for the pressure they kept up on the Government in terms of campaigns such as 'Make Poverty History' etc. In contrast to Tony, Nick put a strong case for the merger of the three local NHS Trusts, and pointed to the experience of merger in other Trusts along the M4 corridor. He also talked about the additional money put into dentistry in the Pembrokeshire Local Health Board, so that a super-practice has opened at Whitland, serving 12,000 patients (fully NHS) and there are now opening two practices at Milford and four in Haverfordwest which will serve a further 14,000 patients (NHS only). On unemployment, Nick re-iterated that Pembrokeshire had been a blackspot of unemployment for 50 years, but now sees unemployment at two per cent, due to focused Government investment. After dealing with a number of interesting questions, Nick was thanked by Tony for an excellent report. The next meeting is on Saturday, November 17, when Joyce Watson AM will address the meeting.
