WALES “SHACKLED” BY WESTMINSTER

Plaid demands freedom to grow Welsh economy

Plaid Cymru has demanded that Wales be “released from its Westminster shackles” so that its economy can grow.

The party’s treasury spokesperson, Jonathan Edwards, has said that Westminster’s legacy is making Wales one of the poorest regions in Europe whilst inner London has become the richest, and pledged to “fight tooth and nail” if re-elected in June, for Wales to be “released from its Westminster shackles” and allowed to re-build its economy.

Mr Edwards said that people in Wales suffer with lower wages and a more challenging standard of living than their English and Scottish neighbours as a result of being unable to grow its own economy. He said that Wales has been “shackled” by Westminster, reliant on Tory politicians representing constituencies outside Wales to make decisions for Wales.

The Carmarthen East and Dinefwr MP, who is standing for re-election in June, said that Wales must be given the freedom to “fix its own problems”.

Commenting, Plaid Cymru MP for Carmarthen East & Dinefwr, Jonathan Edwards, said:

“Westminster’s legacy is making Wales one of the poorest of all the nations and regions in Europe whilst inner London has become the richest.

“For how long will we put up with having to ask Westminster to build roads and railways in Wales as well as England? For how long will we put up with having to ask Westminster to support Wales’s exporters and manufacturers, as well as London’s banking sector? The reality is, no Westminster MP representing constituencies outside Wales will ever have the unique needs of Wales as their priority.

“People across Wales are suffering with lower wages and a poorer standard of living than elsewhere across the British State. And is it any wonder, when we see billions of taxpayers’ money being spent on projects such as HS2 and Crossrail, when the people of Wales can’t even travel from the north to the south of our own country on a train without leaving it?

“If we want our economy to grow, our wages to increase and our standard of living to be improved, we have to do it ourselves.

“We must demand that Wales be released from its Westminster shackles so that we can fix the problems that have been left unattended by Westminster and start building our country into the country it could and should be.

“We don’t have to put up with low wages. We can demand that we be given the responsibility to grow our own economy, bypassing the bureaucracy of Westminster. If Westminster won’t electrify our railways then we will, and if Westminster wants to spend all taxpayers’ money in one corner of England then they can allow us to make our own investments in Wales.

“It’s time Wales took control of its own future and stopped relying on a bureaucratic Westminster establishment who will never have Wales’ interests at heart.”

ENDS