WALES’s First Minister marked International Women’s Day today by pledging to boost support for women’s health and for victims of domestic violence.

Eluned Morgan promised to make the next Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence strategy the most ambitious if Welsh Labour is re-elected.

The First Minister and Welsh Labour leader said the four-year strategy would include a “Fund to Leave” which would provide practical support to women fleeing domestic violence.

“For too long, issues experienced by women, including their safety, health and wellbeing, have not received the attention they deserve,” Ms Morgan said

“As Wales’s first woman First Minister, I put women’s health as a top priority for government, launching the first ever Women’s Health Plan in Wales and seeing the roll-out of women’s health hubs across Wales.

“And if we’re re-elected, we’re going to go further to tackle the scourge of violence against women and women’s health inequalities head-on.

The FM also said a Welsh Labour government would introduce guaranteed paid leave for domestic abuse survivors employed in the public sector.

Ms Morgan became the first woman First Minister in Wales and the first woman leader of the Welsh Labour Party, and she also focused on women’s health as a key tenet of her party’s pledge to offer a new deal for the NHS.

At the Welsh Labour Senedd election launch last week, she said: “As the first woman to lead Wales, I was struck in my early days in the job by how many women told me that the health service was not delivering for them and was not designed for their needs.”