WELL THOUGHT OUT?

Now, some of us may have noticed that it's election time (again) and that all sorts of people are making all sorts of promises and pledges to gain electoral support (again). The Tories, who occasionally pass themselves of as being business friendly (although the combination of the current economic climate and the swinging Conservative driven cuts agenda might make many small businesses think twice about that particular claim), are suggesting that they will scrap business rates - yet their shadow budget shows that there would be significant reductions across the board, which would directly hit the economic budget, if they got their way.

The Conservatives in Wales have claimed they will provide rate-relief of 100% to all small businesses with a rateable value up to £12,000. However this promise is simply not affordable. The Tories pledge has absolutely no credibility especially when you consider that the Conservatives current plans to cut the local government budget, which deals with rate-relief, by 12.5%, far greater than that currently proposed.

I think that the Conservatives are seriously misleading the business community on their business rates pledge. In the past the Conservatives have stated they plan to give responsibility for rate relief to the Economic Development department. however at the same time they are campaigning for a massive 30% cut to that portfolio, almost a third more than what the Welsh Government believes is necessary. Plaid Cymru’s plans for business rates have been costed and are deliverable, something that certainly cannot be said for the Conservatives seemingly hastily calculated on the back of a fag packet.

Plaid Cymru is proposing to maintain the temporary business rate relief scheme until 2016, this will ensure that around half of small businesses will continue to pay no business rates at all. This will have a significant impact on businesses in Wales and will allow our economy to continue to recover from the disastrous mess that New Labour created and which the Con Dems are intent on making worse. Unlike the Conservatives at Plaid's plans are both ambitious and also deliverable.

A VOTE FOR THE FUTURE NOT THE PAST

PLAID - A VOTE FOR THE FUTURE NOT THE PAST

REMEMBER - AMBITION IS CRITICAL

Ambition is Critical

New Labour (or whatever they want to call themselves these days) are quietly hoping that we all suffer an attack of collective amnesia and by the Labour line that it's the Tories fault. It's a big simple lie, but, one that the Labour Party (both old and new) has used again and again over the years. It's also totally untrue - they held the reigns of power at Westminster between 1997 and 2010 and did nothing to curb the bankers, improve the NHS, and deliver fair funding for Wales. Lacking the ambition and the motivation to govern Wales effectively they should not be rewarded for their poor record over the past 12 years.

Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones has pledged that Plaid would bring about a ‘revolution’ in the way Welsh Government works for the people of Wales.The Plaid leader labelled Labour’s lack of policy ideas during this election campaign as tragic. Mr Jones said that their dearth of ambition clearly showed how electing a Labour government in Wales in this election would allow their Ministers to continue to manage failure and halt progress.

Mr Jones listed among Labour’s failures:

• Plummeting education standards
• Poor public health and bloated bureaucracy in the NHS
• Devastating handling of the UK economy and clueless approach to job creation in Wales
• Refusal to reform the way Wales is funded

Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones 

Speaking at a press conference in Cardiff, the Plaid leader also said that Labour had failed to lead and unite the Welsh Civil Service behind a clear sense of purpose and a determination to deliver – and had a devastatingly poor record in providing a strong voice for Wales in Westminster. He cited their failure to ensure fair funding for Wales whilst in power in London as a clear example of why Labour cannot claim to ‘stand up for Wales.’

Mr Jones was joined by Plaid’s candidate for Caerphilly Ron Davies who said that Labour’s record on education, health and the economy had been devastating for devolution in its first twelve years. Mr Davies said that despite their arrogance in this election, Labour had failed to produce any shred of evidence that they wanted to improve Wales’s social and economic prosperity. He said that their record of decline had given them no right to ask Wales to give them a majority on May the 5th.

Plaid Leader Ieuan Wyn Jones said:

“Despite weeks of campaigning we still haven't heard anything from Labour about how they will improve our education or health services, and how they plan to develop Wales's economy for the next generation. For a party which has held power for 12 years in Wales, their lack of vision and ambition is tragic. Wales cannot afford to reward Labour failure by giving them a free hand to manage decline for the next 5 years. Our people and our communities deserve so much more, and Plaid Cymru is the only party which believes that a better Wales is possible.”

Jocelyn Davies

Plaid Cymru’s candidate in South Wales East Jocelyn Davies said:

"We need to ensure that Welsh government is fit for the future and not a relic of the past. We also need a Welsh Government that can force the Conservative and Lib Dem Coalition in London to sit up and take notice of the needs of Wales. If Labour is given a majority on May the 5th the UK Government will yawn, roll over and go back to sleep again on matters relating to Wales. We cannot allow that to happen.”

Plaid’s candidate in Caerphilly, Ron Davies said:

Ron Davies

“Those who know Labour inside out understand what drives the party’s political aspirations –it's power for its own sake, rather than any ambition to make a real difference to people's lives. The Welsh Labour party lacks substance and ambition – and their claim that they will stand up for Wales lacks credibility after their failure to do so for the last 12 years. We can't go on like this. They want it to be 'business as usual’. My vision for devolution has always been of a Welsh Government which has the capacity, the solutions and the drive to really change Wales and to make it a more confident, more prosperous country. The only party in this election which has shown any evidence that it is in any way qualified to do this is Plaid Cymru.”

Ieuan Wyn Jones said that, in contrast to Labour, in this election Plaid is proposing a package of ideas to improve services and to reform the way government works in Wales. Plaid’s manifesto will be designed to

• Transform our schools, health service and economy
• Save money and increase transparency
• Devolve further key services to Wales and ensure fair funding from the Treasury
• Improve efficient working within the Welsh government and local government
• Strengthen Wales’s voice in London and Brussels by creating new formal intergovernmental relationships

CON DEM CAP CUT

News that the Conservative and Lib Dem plans to cut European farming subsidies over the coming years would spell disaster for the local economy. At the moment the Con Dem government is lobbying the European commission to cut the payments which amount to £280 million in Wales every year which comes in at a staggering injection of £1.4 billion over the course of the next Assembly term.

In a recent response to the Commission, the Conservative and Lib Dem UK government said, "There must therefore be a very substantial cut to the CAP Budget during the next Financial Framework." It's important to remember that one size does not fit all, farming in Wales works differently when compared to large parts of England, so if such a huge amount of money is taken out of the rural economy of Wales, jobs will be lost and many agricultural towns would be decimated.

If the Con Dem plans come into effect it will be a pretty well near fatal blow to many if not most farming businesses in Wales. The UK government doesn't seem to care about the implications of what its saying in our agricultural areas. The hundreds of millions of pounds that come to Wales from Europe every year do not stay in the pockets of farmers - it is the life-blood of farming and rural communities across Wales, and helps to keep shops, post offices and local banks open and keeps people in jobs.

Fortunately in Wales, we have had, Plaid's Elin Jones who (as Agriculture Minister) has fought hard to ensure that Wales' farmers concerns are heard at the highest level in Europe and that the Commission knows how damaging the Tory Lib Dem plans would be for our farmers.

No doubt some Conservatives will cynically deny what their party is trying to do - but we have it in black and white. The UK government's response to the commission says it all - they care nothing for our farming industry and they care nothing for the rural towns that depend on it. Yet another reason to think about voting Plaid twice on May 5th!

SMALL SCHOOLS

Over the years there have been a number of campaigns to save local village and community schools within Monmouth and Torfaen County Boroughs - some have been successful, some have not and some of the campaigns continue to this day. Now, while very few people, least of all the children and parents, would want to see a village or community school close, yet the closure programme across most of Wales continues from Gwent to Gwynedd and in between.

Much is made of cost savings, but, a closed or closing village or community school is more than just bricks and mortar and additions or subtractions to a cold clinical and balance sheet. One immediate effect is that aside from the damage done by the loss of the school to the local community, and immediate result is that parents or the county council end up in the businesses or providing transportation to and from more distant schools, especially in rural areas.

It is also worth remembering the fact that the communities affected end up losing yet another focus (often along with their Post Office and their Pub) as well as losing potential community facilities and almost no one ends up with smaller class sizes. MCC has blamed the Welsh Government for the budget settlement and the Welsh Government has said that it is a matter for MCC - none of which helps concerned parents, teachers and members of the communities affected.

Now while, I cannot comment on what’s going on outside of Monmouthshire, in the eyes of many people Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) is pursuing a policy of short term thinking when it comes to the closure of Primary Schools across the county. Certainly MCC needs fair funding and proper financial settlement from the Welsh Government, it's needs should be properly assessed, accounted and catered for the money pit as most people would agree is not bottomless.

Many local people (not just concerned parents) have real concerns about the small schools closure policy as it has been carried out in Monmouthshire where it is suspected of being driven by potentially questionable motives whether they be immediate short term financial gains from school closures and a more medium term motive of cashing in when it comes to disposing of the former school sites for simple short term commercial gain.

Over the last few years there have been a number of campaigns to save community and village schools, some have been successful in their fight like in Ponthir, at Llanfair Kilgeddin and in and around Abergavenny as well as elsewhere within the county of Monmouthshire, and elsewhere across Wales. Other campaigns across the county and across Wales, from north to south will continue despite some pretty tepid assurances from local County Councils.

This issue of retaining village and community schools is of particular importance; both MCC, other County Council’s across Wales and the Welsh Government needs to seriously think about again and take a much more mature longer term view, and should have the courage to take a fresh look at the way small community schools fit into our education system - the English model of education does not necessarily fit in Wales and the current Welsh version needs some serious thought.

While school rolls may fall in the short-term (in urban and rural areas), over the longer term population and school rolls will rise in the villages of Monmouthshire because people will (and do) want to live in these communities. The cost of building a brand new school will be significantly larger than improving an older school that may has been retained for educational, non educational and community use.

Elsewhere people do things differently, some governments take a much longer more community minded (and ultimately more economically sensible) view of education, while travelling in Asturias, in Spain, a few years ago I came across rural schools that were open with school rolls as low as 10 pupils, with shared teachers, support staff and shared administration.

We need to rethink the way we run our community and village schools, there is now reason why a head teacher could not be responsible for 4 or 5 smaller schools (this something that Church in Wales vicars have been doing for many years) across relatively wide rural area, modern technology can be used for shared administrative services and we could even end up with smaller class sizes, which would be a first.

Here in Wales we must not use the new austerity as an excuse for poor or lazy thinking, we need the courage and ambition to develop new ideas and new approaches as to how our small schools can continue to play a key role at the heart of our communities.