OFFERING HOPE

At the end of the day it may come down to offering hope over fear. Disillusioned voters who have been let down after lending their votes to the Liberal Democrats at the last election, should back Plaid Cymru this time in the knowledge that the Party of Wales will always do what’s in the best interests of their communities. Leanne Wood said that people are rightly angry by the way the Liberal Democrats have let them down and said that Plaid Cymru’s vision chimes with many of their values.

Leanne Wood, the Party of Wales leader said:

“I know that many placed their faith in parties that did not keep their promises. People are still, rightfully angry, by the events of five years ago.

“There will be in all likelihood a hung parliament again this week. And to those who were disappointed by the outcome five years ago, I ask you not to despair but to consider which party, which candidate you can trust to do right for your community, for Wales, and on the issues that matter to you.”

She said:

“We are committed to social justice, to ending austerity, to closing the gap between richest and poorest, keeping public services in public hands, committed to free education for all.

“And to ending the Bedroom Tax introduced by the Tory-Lib Dem government.

“Plaid Cymru takes our obligations to the environment seriously.”

She concluded:

“We are an internationalist party, believing global cooperation can benefit all.

“That’s why we’ll fight hard to keep Wales in the European Union and why we want to see our country a promoter of conflict resolution and peace.

“And Plaid Cymru MPs will be the only ones from Wales who will never, ever support a new generation of nuclear weapons of mass destruction.

“The Party of Wales is part of a progressive alliance that has challenged the very foundations of the Westminster system.”

A MULTI-NATIONAL WESTMINSTER

The emergence of distinct aspirations from the nations means the Westminster establishment must now adapt and modernize. Plaid Cymru - Party of Wales leader Leanne Wood has unveiled her party's three-point plan for a 'multi-national UK'.

Her three priorities for the 'multi-nationalisation' of the UK are:

•   Parity of powers and resources for Wales with Scotland;

•   The introduction of STV for elections to the House of Commons;

•   A new UK Council of Ministers comprising the devolved governments and UK government to deliberate on UK-wide policy.

Party of Wales leader Leanne Wood said:

“This Westminster election is unprecedented in not simply being multi-party, but also multi-national, with Wales and Scotland a central feature due to our respective national parties.

“But we must ensure that the new multi-national nature of politics is not ended once the votes are cast; Westminster cannot go back to business as usual on 8th of May.

“The establishment must now respect the demands of the nations. For Wales, Plaid Cymru seeks parity of powers and resources for Wales with Scotland. That would end our third-rate devolution framework and an additional £1.2 billion a year for services and the economy in Wales.

“It is also time to deliver a democratic House of Commons. According to the Voter Power Index, the average voter in has only 0.3 votes. This is due to the archaic first-past-the-post system. The introduction of STV would lead to a House of Commons that reflects, proportionately, the democratic wishes of people everywhere.

“The sovereignty of Westminster has ended. Parliaments and assemblies across these islands are the democratically-elected national bodies and sovereignty now rests with people. The establishment must now recognise the realities of post-devolution UK and replace the talking shop that is the Joint Ministerial Committee with a UK Council of Ministers.

“This body could bring together the governments to deal with matters that affect communities and nations across the UK and should facilitate differences of opinion as well as fostering co-operation on matters of mutual interest.

“This election could potentially be the most exciting UK election in Wales. With a strong mandate for Plaid Cymru, we can win equality for Wales and a new politics for all.”

INTEGRATING HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE

Streamlining the Health and Social Care system is a fundamental part of Plaid Cymru’s plans to stop delayed discharges of care from hospital. Plaid Cymru‘s plans to fully integrate Health and Social Care will also free up more resources that can be reinvested into community health service so that people can receive quality care as close to home as possible. Plaid Cymru has said that breaking down the barriers that exist between Health and Social Services will bring down waiting lists and strengthen the NHS.

Plaid Cymru’s Ceredigion candidate Mike Parker said:

“When Health and Social Care services work well together the patient gets the care and support they need as close to home as possible on every step of the way. 

"But at the moment the arbitrary borders that exist between services lead to delayed transfers of care, and a lack of community care means that often patients become emergency cases because they can’t access the care they need sooner.

“Social Care has historically been the poorer cousin of health and has lacked the same status. This has made it an easy target for cuts, but this has only led to more pressure on the health service.

“Plaid Cymru wants to break down these unnecessary barriers so that we can streamline the service and give patients the wraparound care they need. 

"By integrating Health and Social Care we can address these problems, free up more resources to invest in community health services and make sure that patients receive consistent care and support every step of the way.”

A CHOICE OF WHOSE HAND IS IN THE TILL?

This election is about more than a cynical choice between which of the usual suspects will end up with theirs hand in the till. Austerity aside, one of the largely unspoken themes, at least by the Westminster based political parties; of this election campaign is the on-going problem of tax evasion. The HSBC foreign accounts scandal that broke back in February was merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the avoidance of paying tax.

The UK suffers from a Tax Gap; this is scandalous and goes to show how much the Westminster elite has completely disregarded any commitment towards fairness and social justice at a time of unprecedented cuts to public services. Beyond the tax evasion, the real problem is that the Westminster based political parties have been fundamentally compromised by the prolonged and unhealthily close relationship with the City.

We are where we are because of the cumulative effect of the legacy of 18 years of Conservative and 13 years of New Labour government. Over recent decades, successive Labour and Tory governments literally looked the other way, when it came to tax evasion, allowing the UK's tax gap to grow to an eye-watering £34 billion each year. Total fiscal consolidation over the course of this Parliament amounts to £120 billon pounds, which indicates the scale of the problem.

Labour can cry wolf until it goes horse over this scandal, but these lost billions are their legacy as much as the Tories'.  Back in 2005, the last Labour UK Westminster Government merged Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise and then proceeded to cut almost a third of jobs in five years (99,000 to 68,000).  They also slashed the budget for tackling the tax gap by nearly 50% (£3.6 billon to £1.9 billion) between 2006-10.

The weasel-like cop out of simply relying on ‘business as usual’ to fix the tax evasion issue is duplicitous at best – for all the hot air and the rhetoric from the usual suspects - expecting Westminster to fix the problem could at best be described as naive. We need to deal with Tax evasion with concerted worldwide action – the Swiss banks have crumbled in the face of court cases in the US (a few Swiss banks have even collapsed) in relation to tax avoidance by US citizens.

So if the USA can do it, then why not the UK – for one thing there is a lack of any great desire to do anything about it (hence Ed Ball’s telling silence). The UK’s Crown Dependency Tax havens are based in some of the few remaining (fiscally useful) scattered remnants of Empire lie at the dark heart of the tax evasion problem.

Plaid Cymru will not compromise on its commitment to tackling tax evasion. Vast sums of money that should have been collected properly and invested in vital public services such as health and education have been lost. Plaid Cymru, while the Westminster parties fall over themselves to appease the City bankers and their wealthy backers, puts Welsh communities first.

GDP FIGURES SHOW AUSTERITY HAS FAILED

The latest GDP figures show the Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition government’s austerity experiment has failed. Plaid Cymru's plans for modest growth in departmental spending of 0.5 per cent in addition to an increase in infrastructure spend would lead to a balanced economy and healthier public finances.

Leanne Wood AM/AC Party of Wales leader said:

“The latest GDP figures reflect the fact that the economy has been choked by the austerity experiment. This has been the slowest post-recession recovery in living memory resulting in an imbalanced economy and missed fiscal targets.

"The UK is the only major economy where the gap between rich and poor is widening. The poorest ten per cent have borne the brunt for harsh cuts. Wages in parts of Wales are ten times lower per head than parts of inner London and people are stuck in under-employment and zero hours contracts.

"Austerity is a choice. We cannot have healthy public finances without first securing a balanced economy. That is why Plaid Cymru advocates breathing space for businesses and communities. Modestly increasing government investment in services and improving infrastructure would provide the basis for a balanced economy and job opportunities across the UK.

"For every pound spent on infrastructure, a further three pounds of activity is generated in the economy. For every percentage increase in GDP, around £700 million is added to the tax take.

"Bringing down the deficit through investment is the only responsible approach. People in Wales have the option of rejecting further counter-productive cuts and backing investment with Plaid Cymru at this election. It's time for a humane economic policy that protects our treasured public services and delivers a climate for businesses to flourish."

DOING NO EVEL…

Plaid Cymru is in principle in favour of English votes for English laws. But for an EVEL system to work there has to be a real equality of powers amongst the nations or else we risk ending up with a complete constitutional and legislative shambles. We cannot either have a situation whereby Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish MPs are barred from voting on matters that have a direct funding implication for those nations and that's why the Barnett Formula should be scrapped and replaced with a fairer funding settlement. Our family of nations is going through a period of rapid change, and Plaid Cymru wants to see us develop into a family of equals, but with the half-baked proposals outlined by the unionist parties that is just not going happen. The real danger is that Wales gets left behind and the only way we can stop this happening is by having a strong representation of Plaid Cymru MPs making the case for Wales in Westminster. Only Plaid Cymru will look after Wales’ interests no one else.

FOUR BUSY DAYS

It’s been a busy four days with three Hustings on consecutive evening in Monmouth (a  Transition towns Monmouth and Abergavenny / Crickhowell Friends of the Earth Green Hustings) on Wednesday, a BMA Hustings in Newport (on Thursday evening) and a Church in Wales Hustings at Trellech (on Friday evening). All were well attended and the audiences produced interesting questions. 

First out of three consecutive Hustings...

This was followed up a commemorative parade to malt the 100^th Anniversary of Gallipoli Campaign (Anzac Day) on Saturday organised by Chepstow town council and the Chepstow Branch of the British Legion and contingents from veterans organisations and voluntary bodies, watch by a sizeable crowd of onlookers. 

On parade in Chepstow

This was followed by a late morning and afternoon canvassing session (it’s still very positive on the doors) in Bulwark, in Chepstow. 

On the stump in Bulwark, Chepstow

A few more housings last week (with the last one being at Monmouth Baptist Church, in Monmouth, which kicks off at 7.30pm on Friday May 1st) and the final round of canvassing and leafleting.