Labour leader Ed Miliband has urged Wales to "send a message" to the rest of the UK at May's assembly election.
Mr Miliband said that under Labour, Wales' devolved administration could show a "better alternative" to the "dogma" of the UK government.
He told Welsh Labour's annual conference in Llandudno he believed in the politics of the "common good".
He also accused Prime Minister David Cameron of wanting to "break apart" the NHS in England.
Mr Miliband said a vote for Labour on 5 May was a "vote for a different way".
He said: "Make no mistake, the result of these elections will send a message across Wales and across the United Kingdom.
"I want to see Carwyn [Jones] back as first minister in a Welsh Labour government in May. That's the best hope for Wales.
End Quote Ed Miliband Labour Party leaderJust like they wanted to sell off the forests to the highest bidder, now they want healthcare sold to the lowest bidder”
"And for Britain: a Labour Welsh Assembly Government showcasing with every decision it makes how there is a better alternative to the dogma of the Conservative-led government at Westminster."
Labour is using the conference in Llandudno to pledge it will "stand up for Wales", attacking UK government decisions such as the shelved plans for a military training academy at St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan.
Making his second visit to Wales in a week, Mr Miliband said that in the assembly government - a coalition between Labour and Plaid Cymru - Wales had an administration that "understands the common good" and whose decisions were based on a "quite different vision - a Labour vision" to that in Westminster.
'Promise of Britain'The planned rise in university tuition fees for students in England was "simply about individuals in a marketplace", he claimed.
Welsh students will avoid the hike under a subsidy being offered by the assembly government.
Everyone should care about whether bright youngsters can get into top universities regardless of their backgrounds, Mr Miliband said.
"That is the promise of Britain, the promise that each generation can do better than the last," he said.
He gave his support to the campaign for a Yes vote in next month's referendum on the assembly's law-making powers, attacking the Conservatives for accepting devolution "through gritted teeth".
The Tories were the "don't know party", he said.
"Or when it comes to Wales and especially the secretary of state: the 'I'm sorry I haven't a clue' party," he added in a jibe at Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan.
'Real anger'
David Cameron's vision of a Big Society was based on a smaller state and was a "dangerous ideological mistake", Mr Miliband said.
This week's U-turn on selling off state-owned forests in England was an example of what happens when a government did not understand what mattered to people, he said.
He warned that the ill-feeling over the forests "will be nothing compared to the real anger" Mr Cameron will face in opposition to his "dangerous plans" for the NHS in England.
"Just like they wanted to sell off the forests to the highest bidder, now they want healthcare sold to the lowest bidder."
But Health Secretary Andrew Lansley dismissed the criticisms, and said Labour had no vision of their own for the NHS.
