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Kirsty Williams took to the Lib Dem conference stage today to set out these messages ahead of the looming Assembly elections.

1. Kirsty feels a mother’s passion to see Wales improve

She said: “You know, at home like any mother I am constantly fighting to give my children the best of opportunities, the ones that I didn’t necessarily have when I was growing up – always wanting more for them, striving for them to be the best that they can be. But the truth is I feel that passion for my country too – always fighting for better, fighting for more, fighting for Wales to reach its potential.

2. Kirsty believes the Welsh Government hasn’t delivered on the promise of the 1997 referendum

She says: “[The] truth is that creating the Welsh Government hasn’t delivered for people. It certainly hasn't delivered the high quality public services that people deserve and expect.”

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3. Kirsty wants you to blame Labour – not devolution – for disappointments

She said: “The Government has lost its way. Welsh Labour, well, they just let stuff happen to them.

“They are not setting priorities and they have lost touch with what people really want.”

She added: “Is anyone else fed up of having a First Minister that has the air of a man winging it?”

4. Kirsty thinks Labour has been in power for too long

She said: “This Government is tired. It has nothing to offer and it is bankrupt of ideas.

“And Wales now has the dubious honour of having the longest surviving Government in Europe – well, that is unless you want to count Alexander Lukashenko’s 20 years-plus in power in Belarus. In office for 17 years and leading for none of them.”

5. Kirsty considers Health Minister Mark Drakeford’s push to ban the use of e-cigarettes in public a ‘vanity project’

She argues scientific evidence does not back up the need for a ban and that while energy has been devoted on this policy “nearly 2,000 people languished over 12 hours in A&E departments.”

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6. Kirsty thinks the mental health system is “broken”

She said: “I’ve recently been trying to help a lady whose 10-year-old daughter has been really suffering. We’ve been working flat-out battling to get this poor girl the therapy that she needs but no-one is willing to fund it.

“The council has acknowledged that her mum is at serious risk of physical harm yet the council’s advice to that mum if her daughter kicks off? Phone the police.

“They would rather she calls the police to her 10-year-old daughter than actually give her the support that they both need...

“One in four people will experience mental ill health and it is vital we fix this broken system.”

7. Kirsty thinks class sizes are too big

She said: “Do you know, the average class size in Wales is higher than in nearly all other developed countries. Over 71,000 pupils in Wales are taught in classes of 25 or more in the infant age group... They are getting bigger.”

8. Kirsty is adamant there is still a role for the Lib Dems in Wales.

She said: “Whether people are on low or middle incomes they share the same desires to see aspiration rewarded. And there is a giant space in Welsh politics for a party that will champion social mobility. And conference, I claim that space for us.”

She claims Labour has a “sneering” attitude to home ownership.