VIDEO: Plaid 2012 broadcast - What is being welsh?

Take a look at Plaid Cymru's latest broadcast where people from across Wales tell us what it is to be Welsh.

Local communities: Our vision

Local communities: Our vision

What is Plaid's vision for our local communities?

Plaid will work to ensure that local government is more open and answerable to the public. We will also ensure that our local councils work effectively in partnership with other local councils and organisations for the benefit of our communities. We oppose the micro management of local councils by central government and are committed to ensuring that local councils have the freedom and funding to respond appropriately to local issues.

In the long term, Plaid will create an All-Wales Civil Service, with civil servants and officers able to move freely between the National Assembly for Wales, Local Government in Wales and The National Health Service in Wales. We believe that this model will encourage cooperation, the sharing of best practice, and will result in more joined-up thinking.

Plaid-run councils operate with robust scrutiny mechanisms so that decision-making power is not just concentrated in the hands of the executive board and senior local government officials. Plaid values the important work of town and community councils as they are a vital link in Welsh democracy. We will work to strengthen their role as we believe that they have the potential to play a fuller role in revitalising our communities.

We know that community involvement is vital to effective local government. We will make sure that voluntary groups, local businesses and individuals have every opportunity to share their views on decisions impacting their local community. We will support the campaign for participatory budgeting in our local authorities to ensure that local citizens have a voice in how money is spent.

Plaid is committed to a fairer voting system and will continue to campaign for the introduction of the Single Transferable Vote for every election in Wales including local authority elections. We will also continue to call for the right to vote at 16 as a way of encouraging young people to take part in the political process.

Plaid believes that we should abolish the unfair and outdated council tax system and introduce a local income tax. A local income tax would be based on the ability to pay, not on the value of property. It would be fairer and more efficient.

We know that Post Offices are often central to the vibrancy of communities, especially in our rural areas. Plaid has always been opposed to Post Office closures, and we have supported the strengthening of the Post Office network with a People's Bank. We believe that these community hubs have massive potential as information and advice centres.

Thank You - A message from our new leader Leanne Wood

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Hit the streets; Let’s win for Wales

Party election boss rallies local Plaid champions ahead of elections

Plaid Cymru is ready to go the extra mile and win for Wales - this will be the message from Alun Ffred Jones AM in his keynote speech at the party’s Spring Conference in Ffos Las, Carmarthenshire.

Addressing delegates at the conference, he will highlight Plaid Cymru’s glowing legacy in local government which gives the party a solid foundation on which they can fight the next election.

As the local elections approach, Mr Jones will remind delegates that Plaid Cymru councillors have worked tirelessly in wards across Wales, delivering local services, protecting and creating jobs and
investing in the community and will call on activists to go the extra mile in the weeks ahead to deliver even more for our communities and nation.

Plaid Cymru’s Alun Ffred Jones AM will say:

“Plaid Cymru has proven that we can govern effectively at a local level.

“All across Wales we have councillors going the extra mile and delivering in Plaid Cymru’s name. We have governed effectively in Gwynedd and Caerphilly, and are in strong coalition partnerships in Cardiff and Conwy.

“We have protected and created jobs in these difficult times.

“We  have protected and improved local services.

“We have individual councillors who champion their local areas, such as Fiona Cross in Torfaen who has won a UK-wide award for her good work.

“We will leave this conference later today with a renewed sense of what we can achieve for our nation.

“Now is the time to spread the word of how Plaid will always go the extra mile for our communities.

“Now is the time to hit the streets and win for Wales.” 

Appetite Grows for Devolution

The Welsh public have demonstrated a thirst for greater powers for Wales and Plaid must lead the way. That was the message from  Plaid Cymru’s Ieuan Wyn Jones during a panel discussion at the Plaid Cymru spring conference at Ffos Las, Trimsaran on the Future of the United Kingdom.

During the discussion, Mr Jones pointed out that recent polls show that the majority of people in Wales believe that the Welsh Government should have tax-raising powers. He said that the wheels had been set in motion on this with the Silk Commission’s inquiry
into the devolution of fiscal powers, and that Plaid Cymru is in a position to lead the debate on this.

Plaid Cymru’s Ieuan Wyn Jones AM said:

“We are currently in an interesting situation, where post-referendum on law making powers, the Welsh people have clearly indicated an appetite for more powers. They want Wales to have more responsibility and more accountability.

“Plaid Cymru now have an opportunity to move this debate forwards. We have submitted a detailed and thoughtful contribution to the Silk Commission which sets out which powers we think should be devolved to Wales, and we will continue to make the case for this. When Plaid Cymru is strong we can make our voices heard.

“At present, the electorate are ahead of the institutions on this matter, and we need to continue to push the agenda forwards.” 

WELSH HEALTH SERVICE

THE FACTS ABOUT 

WELSH HEALTH 

SERVICE

The health services we depend on in our local hospitals are under threat. Labour is in government in Wales – and it is Labour that controls the Welsh health service.

Despite promising just before last May’s Assembly elections hospitals or centralise core health services, Labour is now doing just that.

The Labour Health Minister has asked local health boards to make plans which will lead to downgrading hospitals and centralising core services.

This may all sound familiar to you. That’s because Labour attempted to do exactly the same thing in 2007.

Back then, as a condition of our coalition deal, Plaid Cymru stopped those plans. Together, we safeguarded the future of our local hospitals and invested in them. Now we need to do the same again

                                                                                                          

FACT CHECK

Fact:   Labour is in Government in Wales

It is Labour that controls the Welsh health service, not the UK Government.

Fact:   Labour denied they would downgrade hospitals or centralise health services just before the 2011 election

Now in government Labour is drawing up plans in all areas of Wales that will lead to the downgrading of hospitals and the centralisation of core services.

Fact:   The Conservatives’ NHS reforms are for the English NHS , Labour in Wales is also trying to dismantle local health services.

What’s the alternative?

Fact:    Plaid Cymru is committed to our District General Hospitals and the essential services they provide

Downgrading hospitals and centralising core services causes increased risk for patients and can lead to increased costs too

New Plaid Cymru Leader Unveils Economic Commission

“Welsh economy must harness our strengths as an industrious nation, rich in natural resources.”

Plaid Cymru Leader Leanne Wood AM has announced the formation of an Economic Commission which will develop the party’s vision for the Welsh Economy over the coming decades.

The Commission will be headed by former Plaid Cymru MP Adam Price and will focus on developing targeted sectors in the Welsh economy that have potential to create significant employment opportunities in the future.

The Commission will be tasked with reporting back to the party regularly over the coming years in order to secure a package of economic measures that will be fit for delivery following the next Welsh General Election in 2016.

Plaid Cymru Leader Leanne Wood AM said:

“Plaid Cymru has shown that as a party we can deliver on our vision.  We have demonstrated the importance of creating the right circumstances to allow business to grow and provide jobs.

“I said I would lead the official proposition as Plaid Cymru leader, and this is the first step in preparing those plans. This Commission will play a key part in building an alternative vision and responding to the biggest question which faces most people in Wales: their and their families’ own economic security.

“Plaid Cymru is the only party focussed on bringing together tailor-made policies in order to transform our economy – creating more jobs and prosperity for the people of our nation.”

Adam Price said:

“The Plaid Cymru Economic Commission will provide an exciting opportunity for us all to take a fresh look at the vast array of possibilities that lay ahead.  My focus will be laying the groundwork for the creation of landmark policies which will enable us as a nation to grow.”

It’s time to stop believing that poverty is inevitable

Plaid Leader’s pledge to push hope in inaugural speech

Leanne Wood will use her inaugural speech as Plaid Cymru Leader to urge the people of Wales to build a nation that offers hope, not despair to its people.

At her party’s Spring Conference in Llanelli, Leanne will emphasise Plaid’s message that poverty and hardship do not have to be inevitable. She will say:

“For real progress we need to learn to hope. To dream big dreams. Let’s decide today, from now on, to do politics differently. Let’s decide to do our politics positively. Let’s talk about ideas. Not personalities. Let’s talk about our vision of what Wales can be.

“Let’s push hope not fear. And optimism, not despair.

“If we can do that, not only will we see a better politics, but we will also see a better Wales.”

“Plaid Cymru must become the party of hope. In our day-to-day
practical work, we will fight to protect jobs, we will defend those things that are important to people.

“We will fight to protect pay and to protect our local public services. We are the party which has respect and which shows common decency towards pensioners, young people and people without work.”

Ms Wood will outline her determination to focus on Wales’ economy in order to bring about a better future. She will say that sustainable
development, and renewable technologies in particular, offer the opportunity for a second industrial revolution in Wales.

“I think there are three giant goals we need to set ourselves in the coming decade. We must build the green economy, invest in
our knowledge base and create the infrastructure for success in the 21st century.”

“Let’s get the tax powers that can power our economy, so we can reward those Welsh companies that invest in the sectors of the future.
And let’s make sure the best of our companies invest in our most
precious workforce: our people.”

Leanne will also use her speech at Ffos Las in Carmarthenshire to outline the crucial role local authorities can play in changing Wales’ economic prospects. She will also talk about what motivates her
as Plaid Cymru Leader.

“We will not accept that our poverty is inevitable. We will not accept what our opposition says: that this nation cannot be successful. We will believe in the ability of our businesses to thrive and in our families to prosper.

“In fact we are finished with putting up with things as they are because that’s how it has always been. We are done with simply
surviving and with just muddling through. We want our people to soar.” 

PLAID ATTACK POLARISING UNION

30 YEARS OF TORY-LABOUR GOVERNMENT MAKES RICH RICHER AND WALES POORER

Plaid Cymru Treasury spokesperson Jonathan Edwards MP has used his Spring Conference speech to criticise ‘the polarising union’, attacking three decades of economic policies from British Conservative and Labour governments.

He also responded to Wednesday’s Budget speech by UK Chancellor, George Osborne, in which he cut tax for mega earners while announcing proposals for regional pay, a further £10bn of welfare cuts and the so-called ‘grannytax’ where pensioners tax-free
allowances have been frozen.

Mr Edwards said:

“The British state is a polarising union, not a redistributive union.

“After three decades of increasing inequality we saw a Budget on Wednesday in which the richest in the British state were given a tax break worth thousands of pounds each. 

“At the same time, the Tories announced real terms pay cuts for public sector workers, a further £10bn of cuts to the needy and vulnerable on welfare and a tax grab from pensioners.

“These last three decades have shown that the alternative to the austerity cuts won’t come by changing the colour of the government in London.   

“The Labour-Tory tag team at Westminster has polarised wealth at an unimaginable scale, sucking up to the City and feeding the financial sector at the expense of the working people of Wales. 

“Last week’s highly disappointing GVA figures for Wales – again bottom of the British state - made the challenge for us clear.

“We cannot rely on Westminster and London politicians to do what is right. 

“If we are to break this economic cycle then we must take responsibility for our future – to develop our economy, invest where we think is right and fight for a better Wales.

“Only Plaid Cymru have this positive agenda for a fairer society.”