MORE SMOKE AND MIRRORS

Despite the promises of more money for Wales if Labour in Westminster actually implement the Mansion Tax, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has forecast that Labour’s plans will in fact lead to real term cuts. Perhaps it’s time for Labour to come clean and admit that they plan to cut the Welsh Budget.

Plaid Cymru has rightly warned voters not to be deceived by the Labour party’s spin. For while Labour has been talking about raising money through a mansion tax, they have already signed up to plans that will cut more than a billion pounds from Wales’ economy.

Labour has already confirmed that previously that it will stick to the Con Dem  plan to cut departmental spending by over £1.5bn across the UK. This lower base for expenditure means that Wales will lose an additional £365 million over the next five years compared with 2014-15.

The IFS has estimated (March 2015) that starting this year (2015) Wales and the other devolved administrations will end up losing 2.2 per cent of their funding in real terms by the end of the next parliament leading to a cumulative, real terms loss for Wales of £835 million. Taken together Labour will cut funding to Wales by £1.2bn (£365m plus £835m) in real terms over the coming five years.

Despite Labour’s belated acknowledgement that Wales is underfunded, Labour still intend to make yet deeper cuts into the Welsh budget. Once again Labour are trying to pull the wool over our eyes by claiming that they will put more money into Wales’ economy while signing off spending plans that will cut more than £1 billion from Wales. This is a classic case of giving with one hand and taking away with the other.

Plaid Cymru is the only party in Wales making the case to stop austerity and to grow our economy. We also want Wales to be funded to the same level as Scotland. Plaid Cymru’s economic plans are focused on growing Wales’ economy. We need to invest to create jobs, increase our tax intake and bring down the deficit. We need to close the gap between the rich and the poor and we are the only party focused on rebalancing power and wealth throughout the UK.

1.2 BILLION REASONS…

Since the last election £1.5 billion has been slashed from Welsh public services and all parties agree that Wales has been underfunded since at least 1978. Yet only Plaid Cymru has called for a reversal of the cuts agenda pursued by the Con Dem coalition since the last election, and equality of funding with Scotland.

Plaid Cymru’s has a double pledge to end the current austerity agenda and right forty-year’s of under-funding. The other parties have now confirmed that should they win the election outright, they will not deliver parity for Wales on funding.  There is a real risk that our funding disadvantage could be locked in for another generation, this in simply unacceptable.

With Polling Day pending the polls continue to suggest that we will end up with a hung Parliament. This makes it more important than ever to make sure that Wales has a strong voice in the next Westminster parliament. Only Plaid Cymru MPs will continue to fight for Welsh public services and to secure equality of funding with Scotland. If Plaid Cymru holds the balance of power at Westminster then we have an unprecedented opportunity to deliver that investment for Wales.

In making promises to keep the current funding arrangements in place for Scotland, the Westminster parties should commit to rectifying Wales’ poor treatment. There is no compelling argument in favour of Wales being treated as a second-class nation or any reason why patients and pupils in Wales should be disadvantaged. Equality of funding would amount to an additional £1.2 billion a year for the country. That’s 1.2 billion reasons to back Plaid Cymru at this election.

THE TAX ON GOING TO WORK

Cross the Bridge(s) and pay the tax on jobs! 

The Severn bridge tolls are a tax on going to work and are a tax on doing business and its time to bring an end to the tax on going to work. Even though the private toll franchise may come to an end in 2018 the tolls may yet continue to be collected until 2027 by the Westminster Government and the Department for Transport.

A Plaid Cymru freedom of information request revealed that while the Severn crossings are likely to finally return to public ownership by 2018, the Westminster Government will still have the right to recover its costs. This right lasts until 2027. With the present toll rates it would take one to two years for the Westminster Government to recoup its costs but at the moment it is deliberately keeping its intentions hidden.

The Westminster Government needs to come clean on its plans after 2018 and whether it intends to keep charging up to 2027 and beyond. With control of the tolls devolve a Plaid Cymru Government would reduce the tolls to around £2 (under today’s prices) to cover maintenance, staff costs and contingencies. Eliminating the tolls altogether would be kept under review and would depend on costs.

The tolls could form a useful revenue stream for Welsh Governments, but the priority of Plaid Cymru is to cut the tolls. By the time the two Severn Bridges come back into public ownership in 2018, Severn River Crossings plc will have milked its cash cow to the tune of about £ 1.029 billion pounds. The scale of the profits has been helped by the fact that routine maintenance of the old (M48) Severn Bridge (which is periodically closed at weekends) has continued to be funded by the Department for Transport, from the public coffers.

We simply cannot rely on the Department for Transport to act to further our interests at all. It is important that preparations for the end of the privately administered toll franchise begin as soon as possible. The Severn Bridges (and tolls) might well be out or sight and out of mind to most Westminster based ministers but they loom very large in the imagination (and the wallets) of long suffering commuters, businesses and visitors here in the south as they are literally a tax on going to work and on doing business.

The tolls to cross the Severn Bridge and Second Severn Crossing into Wales have risen yet again. From 1 January (2015), cars have to pay £6.50 - up from the current £6.40 - small goods vehicles and small buses received a 30p rise to £13.10, and heavy goods vehicles and buses faced a rise up to £19.60, from £19.20. The current owners of the Severn Toll bridges are Severn River Crossing PLC who are able to increase the cost every January in line with the Retail Price Index.

In a response to a Freedom of Information Act by Plaid, the UK Highways Agency, said:

“Severn River Crossing (SRC) is entitled to collect a defined sum from the tolls (£1,028.9m in July 1989 prices) and the current forecasts indicate that this sum will be recouped in 2018. 

“After this time, the crossings will be handed back to the Government. No decisions have been made regarding the future of the Severn bridges.  From this point onwards, government has the right to recoup its own costs from the construction, maintenance and management of the bridge until 2027.  This would be for costs that fall outside of the scope of the current concession for example costs incurred for cable corrosion work. 

“Based on a continuation of current arrangements it is expected to take 1-2 years to recover this money, however, the exact nature of that regime has yet to be determined.”

The Highways Agency listed spending on work on main cable corrosion on the first Severn crossing as  £5,272,000 between 2010-11 and 2014-15. Then in the following three financial years the project spending costs will be another £4,767,000 from next April through to 2017-18.

Back in 2012, Plaid Cymru submitted a Freedom of Information request to the Department of Transport seeking details of any correspondence between it and the Welsh Government on the level of tolls since May 2011, the last Assembly elections. In its response the Department of Transport merely listed emails between the Highways Agency and the Welsh Government advising of planned increases in tolls for 2012 and 2013. An FOI request revealed that there was no other correspondence between the Welsh Government and the Westminster Government. 

In 2012 a report for the Welsh government suggested that abolishing the tolls would increase traffic by an estimated 12% - equivalent to about 11,000 vehicles a day – and that businesses and commuters forked out around £ 80 million pounds a year crossing the Severn bridges.

Back in October 2010, Professor Peter Midmore produced an independent economic study of the Severn Bridge tolls, which recommended that the revenues should stay in Wales, once the crossings revert to public hands. This study of 122 businesses was commissioned by the Federation of Small Businesses revealed that the tolls had a negative impact on 30% of firms in South Wales, this compared with 18% in the Greater Bristol area.

While noting that the economic impact was not substantial for most, the 2010 study found that transport; construction and tourism-related companies reliant on regular crossings suffered increased costs and reduced competitiveness. The 2010 study found that Welsh businesses were unfairly penalised by the tolls and concluded that the money should be shared with the Assembly Government and used to improve Wales’ roads and public transport.

Studies and reports aside we continue to have little choice but to pay what is effectively for many people simply a tax on going to work, doing business or simply visiting Wales.

IN NEED OF A RENEWABLES REVOLUTION

Wales is home to vast natural wealth but for too long, Westminster has benefited from the exploitation and export of our resources. Plaid Cymru wants to see control over these natural resources and major energy projects devolved from Westminster to the National Assembly so that the people of Wales benefit from them.

That way, we can dramatically increase our renewable energy capacity with a focus on tidal and hydro sources, and protect our communities from damaging Westminster policies such as fracking and over-reliance on fossil fuels. Plaid would also introduce a Climate Change Act for Wales, adopting challenging but achievable greenhouse gas reduction targets for 2030 and 2050.

Plaid Cymru believes that communities should be able to benefit more from energy generation. We want to see local people owning and investing in energy projects as has happened in Scotland. We would also look into establishing local power grids and a Wales-wide national energy grid to secure energy transmission around Wales, linking north and south entry points undersea.

Some 85,000 households in Wales fell into fuel poverty between 2011-2014 bringing the total to 450,000. In such an energy-rich nation this is nothing short of a disgrace. Plaid Cymru is committed to a fairer, greener, more prosperous Wales. Our plans would see Welsh resources being put to use in a manner that benefits our communities, our environment and our economy.

SECONDS OUT… ROUND TWO

The view from the back of the hall...

With barely 28 or so days to go until Polling, on what has been a long campaign that started back in the October of 2013, the clock can now be said to be well and truly ticking. One week after the Hustings organised by the Bryn Y Cwm forum, at The Angel, in Abergavenny. 

The second evening Hustings meeting of this campaign took place last evening. The Hustings, which took place at The Priory Centre in Abergavenny, was organised collectively by the Abergavenny Churches.  It was packed out (200+), something that over the years you come to expect from pretty much any Hustings organised in Monmouth constituency.  

Despite some wobbly moments with the microphone (a failing battery – rapidly replaced) it proved an interesting evening. In truth though, in an hour and half, and with 7 candidates or their representatives present, it means that not that many questions get asked or answered, even with strict timekeeping. Whittling down close to 30 pages of policy notes into coherent bite sized chunks is yet another challenge that you face as a candidate.

PLAID OUTLINES A THRIVING FUTURE FOR FARMING

Plaid Cymru’s farming mini-manifesto, launched ahead of the Westminster General Election, outlines how Plaid Cymru wants to work to make sure the Common Agriculture Policy works for Welsh farmers. It also focuses on reducing bureaucracy, ensuring that Rural Development Programme funding is used effectively, and that public procurement better supports Welsh farmers and Welsh jobs.

Llyr Gruffydd AM, Plaid Cymru's Shadow Minister for Sustainable Communities, Energy and Food; said:  

"Plaid Cymru is committed to reducing red tape in order to give the industry the flexibility it needs to respond effectively to these challenging times. We would start by scrapping the six-day standstill rule which has served its purpose.

"We have our sights set on improving services in rural communities. We are committed to delivering Superfast broadband to 100% of Wales to ensure everybody is connected and anyone can do business from home.

"We will also fight to make sure rural Wales is brought into the EU's Rural Fuel Rebate scheme which will deliver a 5p cut in the price of fuel to rural areas whose inhabitants are forced to spend a higher portion of their income on fuel than people in urban areas.

"Plaid Cymru understands our communities and their needs. We are fighting to return the strongest ever group of MPs to the Commons to make sure that those needs are served in Westminster."

MAKE WESTMINSTER WORK FOR WALES

Plaid Cymru is right to clearly state that it would use a hung parliament to push for measures to strengthen the Welsh economy in order to secure a recovery that benefits all the people of Wales. Plaid wants to see a steadier, more responsible rational approach to tackling the deficit that would include a modest increase in government departmental spending and a boost for infrastructure investment.  

Plaid has outlined plans to tackle the UK deficit in a steadier, more responsible manner than the current Westminster government's approach. Plaid refuses to balance the books on the back of the poor. Instead, Plaid want to see a modest increase of 0.5% per year in government departmental spending, starting in 2016-2017. This would lead to a decline in the budget deficit from 4.2% in 2015-2016 to 1.4% in 2019-2020 - a reduction of over 60% that wouldn't come from savage cuts to our vital public services.

An additional 1% of GDP invested across the UK in infrastructure in order to boost the economy and create jobs would grant Wales an extra £950 million each year to spend on our roads, railways and more. In the event of a hung parliament, Plaid Cymru will rightly demand the same deal for Wales as Scotland, in terms of resources and responsibilities. This is vital so we can invest in jobs and generate growth. Quite simply this would mean an additional £1.2 billion a year for our nation - £400 per head for every person in Wales - and is a simple matter of equality. 

Plaid Cymru would also press Westminster to introduce a living wage by 2020. This would not only secure a pay rise for 250,000 Welsh workers, it could also bring about £2.1 billion additional income through tax and save around £1.1 billion in in-work benefits. These proposals would help to bring down the deficit without inflicting more pain on our communities and also shatters the Westminster consensus that there is no alternative to cuts.