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.

EARTH HOUR 2016

I am backing Earth Hour 2016 when people across Wales and around the world will be switching off the lights for an hour to help save energy and build a more sustainable future. Earth Hour is a global initiative and takes place this year on Saturday 19^th March at 8.30pm, organised by WWF. this year increasing numbers of Welsh businesses and public bodies including County Councils, Universities, and the Senedd have already pledged their support. Back in 2015, WWF Cymru asked people in Wales to mark the event by holding a candlelit dinner. Simply by switching off the lights for just an hour as a gesture that can makes a difference to our energy consumption, it will teach us to consume less and send a message that saving energy and developing sustainable energy is important. By consuming less energy and making sure that the energy we do use comes from sustainable renewable sources is vital for all of our futures. Let's show the world in 2016 how much we in Wales care about the planet.

What next for Wales?

19.00 24/09/2015 - Melville Theatre, Abergavenny

Leanne Wood is visiting Abergavenny as part of her tour of Wales. Come along to hear what Leanne has to say and to share your thought on what the next steps should be for Wales and the Abergavenny area.

Mae Leanne Wood yn ymweld â'r Fenni fel rhan o'i thaith o amgylch Cymru. Dewch draw i glywed beth sydd gan Leanne i'w ddweud ac i rannu'ch barn am be ddylai'r camau nesaf fod ar gyfer Y Fenni ac ar gyfer Cymru.

BACKING THE EARTH HOUR IN 2015

I am backing Earth Hour 2015, when people across Wales and around the world will be switching off the lights for an hour to help save energy and build a more sustainable future. Earth Hour is a global initiative and takes place this year on Saturday 28 March at 8.30pm, organised by WWF. Increasing numbers of Welsh businesses and public bodies including County Councils, Universities, the Senedd and Caerphilly Castle have already pledged their support. In 2015, WWF Cymru is asking people in Wales to mark the event by holding a candlelit dinner. Simply switching off the lights for just an hour is a gesture that can makes a difference to our energy consumption, it will teach us to consume less and send a message that saving energy and developing sustainable energy is important. By consuming less energy and making sure that the energy we do use comes from sustainable renewable sources is vital for all of our futures. Let's show the world how much we in Wales care about the planet.

INVESTING IN OUR NHS

Plaid Cymru wants to press ahead with an achievable training and recruitment plan that brings the number of doctors per head in Wales initially to the UK average then beyond. This is the 1000 doctors policy. 1000 extra doctors would take us to the level of the North East of England, which has similar health needs. Wales would still be substantially below the EU average or Scotland – but it would be a step forward.

One thousand extra doctors would add between £70 to £100 million to the payroll at current rates depending on which specialisms the doctors ended up working in (and includes calculations for additional financial incentives). However, because this cost would be a gradual rise of the wage bill over the next 10 years as the doctors were recruited and trained, the financial hit wouldn’t be experienced immediately. The current health and social care budget is £6.5 billion – so our proposal involves increasing spending by less than 1% of the current budget within 10 years.

The adoption of this policy would lead to substantial savings from the agency and locum bills – which amount to over £100 million a year. Furthermore a pop tax would raise £45 million, plus reduce NHS expenditure on diabetes – which currently represents 10% of the NHS budget.

However, people who are familiar with the NHS know that finance is not the obstacle to recruitment of doctors. Making the NHS in Wales more attractive for doctors to work in is the main challenge we would face. That’s why we proposed many policies such as a paperless NHS, making the NHS research friendly, and developing more home grown doctors through investments in training

The need is obvious; wards are closing and services being moved from local hospitals because of a shortage of doctors, almost a quarter of GPs are close to retirement and will need to be replaced (in the valleys this figure approaches 50%), and the demands on the health service are rising daily. We simply won’t have an NHS without doctors – solving the GP shortage by asking people in the Valleys to travel to Cardiff or in our rural areas to travel long distances to see a GP is just not an option.

GOING FOR GROWTH!

Small businesses are vital for our economy, they form the backbone of our economy and they are vital in terms of spreading economic growth beyond the cities and into our smaller towns like Abergavenny, Chepstow, Caldicot, Monmouth and Usk. If we want our small towns across Wales to be thriving, then we have to support small businesses. Business rates are a burden – they account for a far greater proportion of operating costs for a small business than they do for large businesses.

A Plaid Cymru government would extend the rate relief scheme that we implemented in Government so that it covers all businesses whose rateable value is £15,000 or less.  Some 83,000 businesses would see a reduction in their business rates as a result and more than 70,000 businesses across Wales would be taken out of the rates system altogether - this would cost £35 million.

Plaid would raise the money, which would go towards paying for this, by mirroring the business rates system, as it currently exists in England where large businesses pay more than small businesses. While larger businesses would pay more, they would still pay less in Wales than they would across the border. The extra money raised through the increased bill for large businesses would raise more than enough to cut bills for small businesses