The newly elected Liberal Democrat MP for Brecon, Radnor, and Cwm Tawe, David Chadwick, raised concerns about a healthcare crisis in Powys in his maiden speech in parliament.

During his maiden speech in Parliament, Mr Chadwick highlighted the importance of local healthcare services, drawing on his own experiences of being hit by a car and being paralysed by Guillain-Barre syndrome.

He criticised the Welsh Labour Government for enforcing budget cuts on local health boards, which he claims have put services at minor injury units across Mid Wales at risk.

The MP said: "I'm sorry to say that the Welsh NHS is in dire straits.

"Its outcomes are worse than in England.

"Yet no equivalent review is taking place.

"Instead, the Welsh Government is forcing health boards to make heavy budget cuts.

"They are proposing to cut the opening hours at minor injuries units at hospitals in Brecon, Llandrindod Wells, and Ystradgynlais."

Mr Chadwick used the platform to also address the impact of deindustrialisation in the Upper Swansea Valley, mentioning the closure of the last blast furnace at Port Talbot and its consequences for many workers and those in the wider supply chain.

He said: "For both of my grandfathers, the steel industry was the first rung on the career ladder.

"One of them climbed the ladders at Port Talbot, but now those ladders have been taken away.

"Those jobs must be replaced for the families in my constituency, who are now facing unemployment before Christmas."

He pledged to use his position to support the creation of new industries and jobs, encouraging the UK Government to commit funds to the Global Centre for Rail Excellence as an example of how deindustrialisation can be tackled and potentially reversed.

Mr Chadwick said: "Give us the tools and we will get on with it.

"For we still know how to dig ourselves out of a hole in Wales."