3 Votes for Plaid

Today's Welsh national election is our chance to help change our country for the better. In these challenging times Wales needs a strong and ambitious party in government, not more managed decline as offered by the other political parties. Plaid has shown what needs to be done to protect Wales and it’s now time to do more. Raising standards in schools, allowing teachers to teach, creating new jobs, improving our hospitals and protecting our environment are priorities. Reducing and then abolishing the Severn Bridge tolls and redeveloping and reopening our railways as part of the SE Wales Metro are a necessity. If we want an ambitious Welsh Government to get on with the job, then vote for it. So today vote for Wales - an ambitious Wales, a well-educated Wales, a healthier Wales. Remember to vote Plaid three times - for a better Wales.  The Polls open until 10pm tonight! We can change things for the better.

MANAGED DECLINE OR PROSPERITY?

Plaid Cymru Shadow Economy Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth has vowed today that a Plaid Cymru government would write Wales's economic success story by implementing a detailed National Economic Plan unrivalled by any other party in this election. Rhun ap Iorwerth said that the Party of Wales's medium-term objective was to close the economic gap between Wales and the rest of the UK, by focusing on upskilling the workforce, creating well-paid jobs and stimulating economic growth.

Shadow Economy Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth said:

"Plaid Cymru recognises that Wales needs a strong and resilient economy in order to support our vital public services.

"To achieve this, our National Economic Plan will focus on raising skill levels, implementing an active industrial strategy and bringing forward a comprehensive plan for infrastructure investment.

"By creating 50,000 new apprenticeships, boosting innovation throughout Wales and doubling the Welsh R&D budget through our National Innovation body we will create more high-skilled, well-paid jobs.

"Plaid Cymru's National Infrastructure Commission - NICW - will be the largest infrastructure investment project since devolution, designed to transform Wales's roads, railways, schools, hospitals and homes.

"Our Wales Development Agency will help home-grown businesses succeed and boost exports, and will attract investment from around the world, reviving the globally-recognised Welsh brand.

"The Party of Wales's economic vision is unrivalled in its ambition and scope. If we are to close the economic gap between Wales and the rest of the UK it is vital that we inject new vigour into the Welsh economy.

"While Labour and the Tories are content to use our nation's poverty as a tool for political point-scoring, Plaid Cymru refuses to accept that this is as good as it gets for Wales."

INVESTING IN OUR INFRASTRUCTURE

A Plaid Cymru government will embark upon the biggest programme of reconstruction our nation has seen since devolution. We will establish a new body, the National Infrastructure Commission Wales, (NICW), an independent public corporation that will be responsible for planning, funding and delivering the aspirations set out in the National Infrastructure Investment Plan.

NICW will develop as a centre of specialist knowledge in the procurement and project management of major infrastructure projects to achieve best value for money while maximizing opportunities for Welsh firms in partnership with the National Procurement Service together with sector-specific non-profit distributing organisations.

Projects in transport, for example, will involve substantial investment in new rolling stock, creating new economic opportunities for local manufacturers for innovation and collaboration. Similarly in energy generation we will seek to maximise the proportion of the new technology that is manufactured in Wales. In housing we will support the manufacture of public rental housing in German-style house factories.

NICW will seek to arrange for the funding of these projects in a variety of different ways, including from the European Investment Bank and other European institutions, UK sources like the Green Investment bank and Infrastructure UK, working with local authorities, pension funds and other institutional investors and using long term leasing arrangements to raise funds independently of the UK Government’s balance sheet, enabling it to borrow additional funding at historically low interest rates to invest in vital Welsh infrastructure projects, creating jobs in the Welsh economy.

Investing using these sources of finance, together with those of the Welsh Government will enable us to double the current capital investment totals with an additional £1.5 billion of investment per year. The borrowing would be for long periods (e.g. 25 years) and we anticipate that the debt service ratio would be some 2.2% after five years at the end of the first Senedd term, and it is not intended that the debt service for all outstanding debt would rise above 4.5% under a long term rolling investment programme.

Our broad priorities for investment, beyond those contained in current spending plans, would include:

• housing where it would be possible for an additional 10,000 homes to be built beyond current targets, for local and affordable housing needs throughout Wales

• a comprehensive programme to improve the energy efficiency of housing in Wales with a sustained programme over the next twenty years o creating a network of local energy grids for Wales. 

• creating the south-east Metro as well as a similar Metro-style network for both north Wales and Swansea and the western valleys 

• creating a national rail link from north to south along the west Wales coast.

The Party of Wales will also expand capital investment in health to include investing in new NHS medical care homes and patient hotels, plus modern residential care facilities to be leased by local SMEs and social enterprises and education, with universal upgrading of existing facilities, new school-community hubs, together with the development of new Welsh medium schools and 3-14 and 3-19 through-schools where there is local demand.

A NATIONAL BANK OF WALES

A Plaid Cymru government will seek to establish a National Bank of Wales (NBW), a publicly-owned bank similar to the German Landeskreditbanken, providing debt finance to Welsh businesses and taking longer-term equity stakes to help plug the estimated funding gap of £500m a year faced by Welsh SMEs. Finance Wales operations will be merged into new institution.

This institution will work with Welsh Government and the new WDA to grow Welsh Mittelstand companies; it will in particular offer succession and equity release planning specialists, involving the use of management buyouts and employee ownership trusts, and the adoption of long-term equity stakes as a public bank, providing a source of patient finance on the German model in successful Welsh companies in order to maintain Welsh ownership, preventing the ownership churn that has damaged so many successful Welsh companies, and therefore safeguarding jobs.

The term Mittelstand mostly applies to small to mid-sized firms in German speaking countries. Most importantly Mittelstand companies are characterized by a common set of values and management practices. What defines the Mittelstand, is a broad set of values such as: Family-like corporate culture; long-term focus; independence; nimbleness; emotional attachment, investment into the workforce; flexibility; innovativeness; customer focus; social responsibility; strong regional ties.

The owner or owners take the business decisions largely on their own – and assume the risks and liability. In these companies, the boss usually has close ties with the business and the employees and bears a particular responsibility for ensuring job security. Mittelstand companies are often hailed for providing the backbone of the world’s fourth-largest economy. They tend to be family-owned, tucked away in small towns and familiar only to the businesses that buy their specialised machinery and components.

The Mittelstand also appears to offer a solution to some of the biggest worries of the capitalist system. One being the centralisation of wealth and the other is unemployment. The combination of medium-sized companies with deep local roots and a strong apprenticeship system means that in Germany only 7.8% of those aged 25 or under are unemployed, compared with 22.1% in Sweden and 54% in Spain. Mittelstand firms inspire extraordinary loyalty in their workers: on average only 2.7% of them leave each year, compared with the 30% turnover at some big American companies.

Over time NBW will develop into a deposit taking institution, involved in mainstream business banking, and providing banking facilities to the Welsh public sector, allowing it to use fractional reserve banking to expand its lending capacity. It will separately create a series of sector specific and independently managed seed and risk capital funds for high-growth innovation-based businesses.

Plaid Cymru will also look to build on the work of the Sector Panels, Industry Wales and other existing industry fora to support the development of sector associations to help us develop strategies in every area of the economy. We will do everything we can to support the steel industry in Wales, pressing the UK Government and EU to take radical action to protects the industry from unfair competition, procuring Welsh steel wherever possible as part of our infrastructure investment programme and actively exploring the possibility of a joint venture investment to improve the long-term competitiveness of the Port Talbot steelworks.

GOING FOR A HOME WIN

When spending public money, it’s important to work it extremely hard and extract every single possible benefit. We need to take a fresh look public sector procurement of goods and services in Wales and ensure that an increasing percentage of our public sector spend is targeted towards local businesses and local suppliers. When taxpayers’ money is being spent, it is important that every single possible added value be squeezed out of it and it is vital that we spend as much of possible of it as we can to support Welsh businesses. 

At a very simple economic level a sustained and encouraged ‘buy local’ campaign is a real economic must, while this will necessitate legislation to improve public procurement, it is something that can provide real opportunities for Welsh based business within the procurement chain – potentially this could create some 50,000 new jobs. Significantly improved local procurement policy can create and secure jobs, boost employment levels and help small to medium sized enterprises in many of our communities. 

Again at a very basic level it comes down to maximising the local economic opportunities from the £ 4.3 billion pound public sector spend in Wales – which is used to procure and purchase goods and services.  There have been some real improvements when it comes to public procurement over the last ten years, but, there is still room for substantial improvements to be made.  The increase in Welsh procurement of goods and services from 34% in 2003 to 52%  (June 2012) something that follows extensive efforts by Plaid Cymru as part of the One Wales government (between 2007 and 2011).

A Plaid Cymru government will legislate to make it mandatory for public sector bodies to follow Welsh Government policy on procurement. Social, employment and environmental considerations will be given the same weight of consideration as price when choosing a supplier.

The Party of Wales will use the freedoms provided under the new Public Contracts Directive to achieve maximum social and environmental benefits, including payment of the Welsh Living Wage for all employees and the MacFarlane standard of a minimum of one year’s employment for a person from a disadvantaged background employed per £1 million expenditure. We will also seek to expand and extend the role of the social sector in the provision of public services and goods.

All public sector agencies will need to reach agreed standards of one procurement specialist, with appropriate professional accreditation, per £10 million expenditure by 2020. We will provide direct funding for an additional ten experienced public procurement managers to the National Procurement Service to increase our ability to achieve our goal of increasing local purchasing while continuing to improve quality of service.

All public authorities in Wales, under the aegis of the Welsh Government, will be required to provide comprehensive real-time supplier information so that we can operate a Open Contract system publishing the details of every public service supplier and buyer in Wales, including future pipelines, providing an accurate and up-to-date picture of the level of Welsh SME procurement while helping increase it.

We will set a target of keeping 75% of first-tier Welsh public procurement expenditure within Wales, with locally-owned or locally controlled firms, cooperatives and charities (defined on an independently agreed basis), to create in excess of 40,000 new private and social sector jobs, and develop a further target for 2^nd tier and 3rd tier suppliers in larger contracts.

We will achieve this in part through ensuring appropriately sized contracts for small and medium sized companies and by providing direct support to Welsh firms seeking Welsh public contracts. The new WDA will work with the National Procurement Service to identify two to three initial priority areas for supply chain development e.g. construction and care services. Our Government will establish a digital currency for Wales – the first of its kind at a national scale – and use it on an experimental basis to procure services and accept payments to measure its potential for retaining the flow of money within the Welsh economy.

The bottom line has to be that if we are going to spend public money then it is only right that it be worked extremely hard and we need to maximise the economic impact every single penny and every single pound and to make sure that it works to help the Welsh economy. Back in 2013 for every £2 spent procuring goods and services, £1 of that ‘leaked’ out of Wales and the Welsh economy.  Value Wales suggested that for each 1% increase in goods or services procured from Wales, some 2,000 jobs are created.

So if we can achieve a local public spend of something close to 75% then potentially some 46,000 additional jobs can be created. The impact of a well thought out and implemented public procurement policy is something that could economically give and give again. This is the crux of the matter, it could be a real win win situation for Wales, potentially cutting unemployment by around a third or about the same number as the increase in unemployment that we have suffered since the recession began. 

AFFORDABLE HOMES

Wales needs to have substantially more affordable housing otherwise an entire generation will miss out on the reasonable expectation of having a decent home.  Plaid Cymru believes that the supply of more affordable housing should be met through a combination of bringing empty properties back into use, and new developments of mixed housing in the social and private sectors. However, we also want local needs and environmental sustainability to be taken into account.

The Party of Wale will create a National Housing Company which will borrow against rents to build a new generation of public rental housing in Wales limited in number only by demand. We will also support Local Authorities wishing to build new Council Housing.

Local Authorities will be expected to agree targets for supplying affordable housing, including new social housing, with the Welsh Government, but will be given the flexibility to decide how they would achieve this based upon the needs of their area. Local Authorities will be able to develop joint plans with neighbouring local authorities, or work through housing associations or the National Housing Company, if they believed this was the best way to meet the needs of their areas.

A Plaid Cymru government will fund the development of new homes in small-scale housing developments in rural Wales on ‘exception sites’, whose land plots, not covered by general planning permission, will be capped at an affordable price designed to benefit those in local housing need with family and work ties to the area, and whose sale will be conditional on these houses continuing in local ownership in perpetuity.

Plaid Cymru has consistently opposed the Right to Buy scheme and we will take action to ensure the social housing stock remains intact in order to meet the demand for homes. We need to introduce a more rigorous system in the allocation of social housing to give priority to those in local housing need. And to support the release of public land as self-build plots for affordable homes, to buy and to lease, and allow housing associations to build their own high-quality prefabricated homes as the Accord Housing Association successfully does in Walsall.

Historically our communities have been ill-served by the planning system, by our local authorities (via the flawed system of Unitary Development Plans) and more recently by the Labour in Wales Welsh Government in Cardiff. With increasing pressure from over development community cohesion is under threat, along with increased demand on overstretched local amenities, our NHS and our green spaces.

Perhaps before constructing large numbers of new houses which fail to tackle local housing needs we should take a long hard look at the number of empty properties – something that remains largely unaddressed in many of our communities. We need a planning system that takes account of local housing needs, the environment (and seeks to create protected green belt land around and within our large and small urban communities) and also looks sustainability at the whole of Wales – and we will only get it with a Plaid Cymru government in Cardiff Bay.

GROWING OUR SMALL BUSINESSES

A Plaid Cymru government will involve the private sector and its representative bodies in providing business support and advice aimed at small businesses (less than 10 employees) by strengthening the current Business Wales network. Plaid Cymru will also pass a Regulatory Reform Act to lower the bureaucratic burden on business.

Plaid will increase business rate relief so that more than 70,000 small and medium companies will pay no business rates at all. Any firm with a rateable value of less than £10,000 per year will pay no business rates and a Plaid government will introduce a tapered relief for another 20,000 firms whose rateable value is between £10,000 and £20,000. In order to enourage new startups Plaid will not charge any business rates due for the first year of operation.

The Party of Wales will review business rates every three years, so that they are kept up-to-date, and investigate the impact of premises investment so that businesses are not penalised for improvements that they make. We will subject small and large businesses to different multipliers as is the case in Scotland and England and will index rates to CPI not RPI.

Additionally targeted business rate reliefs will be offered for larger companies that agree to meet certain criteria on corporate social responsibility – including opportunities for local suppliers, the Welsh Living Wage, the minimisation of waste and the use of renewable energy. Businesses of all sizes that meet the criteria will be entitled to display a kitemark as responsible Welsh businesses.

Plaid Cymru in government will act immediately to set up a new fund to enable local authorities and community groups to offer two hours free car parking in towns throughout Wales, providing a vital boost to town centre regeneration across all of Wales. 

We will support social innovation, social enterprise, employee and consumer co-ops. We will establish a co-operative challenge fund to provide financial support for feasibility and market studies and early stage finance for groups exploring the option of establishing cooperatives. Plaid Cymru will support the establishment of a social business school to develop the skills of social entrepreneurs, and a social innovation park to incubate new ideas.

THE CHANGE THAT WALES NEEDS

Plaid Cymru Leader Leanne Wood

Plaid Cymru Leader Leanne Wood has today said that her party offers the "only real hope" of brining about and end to 17 years of unbroken Labour rule in Wales. Latest poll shows Plaid closing gap with Labour by four points in just two weeks.

Speaking to Radio 4's Today programme this morning, Leanne Wood said that Plaid Cymru goes into the Welsh Assembly elections with the most ambitious, transformative and workable programme for government of any party in Wales, and is ready to lead the change Wales needs.

The last three opinion polls in Wales have put Plaid Cymru in second place, overtaking the Tories, in terms of the number of projected seats, setting up the party as the main challenger to the current Labour government before people in Wales go to the polls on May 5th 2016.

Speaking after the Today programme, Party of Wales leader Leanne Wood said:

"With just ten days remaining until people in Wales go to the polls, Plaid Cymru's message is one of hope.

"If you're fed up of growing waiting times, falling standards in our schools and a stagnant economy, use all your votes to elect a Plaid Cymru government on May 5th.

"The current administration's complacency and poverty of ambition is holding our country back, but it doesn't have to be this way.

"The Party of Wales represents the only real hope of ending 17 years of unbroken Labour rule. With the Tories slipping back to third place, we are the main challenger and have closed the gap with them on the regional list vote by four points in just two weeks.

"The momentum is firmly with Plaid Cymru. We are confident that we have the most ambitious, transformative and workable programme for government of any party in Wales, alongside the strong and united team required to deliver it.

"If people want change, they have to vote for it. This election is the greatest opportunity in the Assembly's history to chart a new course for our nation. I urge everyone in Wales to seize it."

A SOUTH EAST WALES METRO

Time to get SE Wales moving...

In Monmouth constituency and across the south east we need to ensure that our railway stations have more frequent stopping services and have safe, secure and reasonably priced park and ride facilities at Abergavenny, Severn Tunnel and Chepstow. New railway stations at Llanwern, Magor and at Caerleon would do much to cut congestion and boost connectivity within a SE Wales Metro. 

Our bus services should be fully integrated with our rail services and our railway stations should be fully accessible with easy access to services for all passengers. The National Assembly should commit to redevelop and expand our rail services, as has happened in Scotland. Personally I would work for feasibility studies into opening a new station near Little Mill / Penperlleni and into the reopening of the line to Usk and the construction of a new station west of the town. 

Research by the IMF in 2015 calculated that for every £1 spent on infrastructure some £3’s worth of additional economic activity is created. Wales needs investment, job creation and improvements in its infrastructure; such investment could yield real meaningful and lasting benefits for our people and our communities. The more job creation we can stimulate and the better improvements to our infrastructure, then the better the long-term prospects will be for the Welsh economy.

SAVING OUR NHS

This election for many people comes down to who can be trusted to save and strengthen the NHS in Wales. We thankfully have more than a choice of running it down or selling it off. Previously under Labour the NHS in Wales had been run down and over centralised, with services such as local A&E departments being downgraded. While the Tories, all our NHS services would be at risk of privatisation.

This election is seen by many, as a referendum on the way our NHS is run. Under Labour it has been run down and over centralised; under the Tories it could be sold off. Only Plaid Cymru will deliver high quality hospital services delivered as close to people as possible.

Centralisation has not worked, and flies in the face of geographical reality this is why Plaid Cymru will seek to develop a strong network of hospital services throughout Wales, with community and life-saving services delivered as close to home as possible, and a network of specialist services serving the nation as a whole.

After seventeen years of Labour rule, patients in Wales have to wait longer for services than elsewhere in the UK. Welsh patients and our NHS staff deserve much better. We deserve a comprehensive service that is planned and managed properly. Plaid Cymru is the change Wales needs.

It’s time for a party with clear plans to save and strengthen the NHS. Plaid Cymru will increase the number of doctors and nurses in NHS, reduce waiting times by speeding up test and discharge times, and will ensure that hospital services remain close to people. Only the Party of Wales can be trusted to protect hospital services.

A Plaid Cymru government will work to deliver hospital services as close to patients as possible, by creating a Community NHS to deliver primary care services as close to home as possible, providing consultant-led Accident and Emergency and Maternity services within one hour’s reach of rural and peripheral communities, and a network of specialist treatment centres serving the nation as a whole.

IF IT’S THURSDAY… IT MUST BE MONMOUTH

Here's one I did earlier...  back in 2015

Civic society is truly alive and well in Monmouth constituency, and just as in every election I have been involved in since 1999 there are plenty of well-attended Hustings, where voters can quiz the candidates. 

The only other way to talk to voters is literally on the doorstep - when you catch people a) in and b) with the time to talk, in Monmouth constituency people raise many issues, including the bankers, Westminster MP’s corruption and expenses, recycling, affordable housing, council tax, and our NHS. 

The closing of local post offices and banks remains an issue, Europe, the referendum and immigration come up but not that regularly. The poor state of public transport (especially buses to and from Monmouth town) does come up more regularly, along with the need for better school transport, saving the smaller village and community schools. The Severn Bridge Tolls, which are a tax on jobs, commuters and businesses, comes up regularly as does the ongoing issue of better treatment for our solders, their families, our service veterans, the legacy of Blair’s wars along with other issues.

WHAT'S NEXT?

• The next Hustings in Monmouth constituency has been organised by Transition Towns. It's taking place tonight Thursday 21st April (at 7:30pm) at The Bridges Community Centre, in Monmouth (NP25 5AShttp://www.bridgescommunity.org.uk/)

• After that comes the Farmers Union Wales Hustings, which is taking place on Tuesday 26th April 2016 at 19.30pm Abergavenny RFC, in Abergavenny.

BUILDING OUR WORLD-CLASS REPUTATION

Monmouth Bridge

Plaid’s is committed to boosting the tourism sector by doubling the budget for Visit Wales and increasing the Visit Wales budget from £7m to £14m. A Party of Wales government would designate 2018 a Year of Welsh Food and Drink, 2019 a ‘Celebrate Wales’ year, and create a National Academy for the Welsh Tourism sector to provide ‘hands-on’ learning experience for students.

The importance of the tourism across Wales both as an employer and as a way of attracting investment into the country has long been recognised. This is why a Plaid government will double the Welsh Government’s funding for Visit Wales (from £7m to £14m) so that they are better placed to attract tourists to Wales.

The Party of Wales will continue to bring more people to Wales and improve the tourist experience by ensuring joined-up services and knowledge so that tourists can stay close to events, that hotels have access to the latest tourism information, that public transport is available when required and that hotels can provide the best quality of service, including the use of foreign languages.”

Something that will directly benefit the small businesses, food suppliers and food producers in Monmouth constituency is Plaid Cymru’s plan to designate 2018 a Year of Welsh Food and Drink, in order to boost local producers and our vital agricultural industry, as well as support small businesses and sellers who form the stepping stone between farm and fork.

The Welsh Government must also work hard to promote Wales as a world-class, sustainable tourism destination with activities and experiences based on our natural resources, our produce, our unique coast and landscape and our language, culture and heritage. 

We also need to give our young people the opportunity to develop careers and businesses in the hospitality industry. This is why Plaid Cymru will also create a National Academy for the Welsh Tourism sector to provide ‘hand-on’ learning to students in catering and hospitality from apprenticeships up to degree level