An alternative to the cuts agenda of the three main UK political parties will be discussed during a fringe meeting at the Plaid Cymru Spring conference tomorrow.
The Undeb Fringe event, In Place of Cuts, will feature contributions from Mark Serwotka, the General Secretary of the PCS union, and Jonathan Edwards, the Plaid Cymru candidate for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr.
The discussion, which will be chaired by South Wales Central AM Leanne Wood, will cover areas such as how the proposed cuts will impact on the poorest and most vulnerable, how the public sector will be affected and what can be done to defend Wales’ communities against such cuts.
Mr Serwotka said: “There is no need to make the unprecedented, swingeing or savage cuts that have been suggested by some political parties. As economists have pointed out, such cuts would actually undermine any economic recovery.
“The budget deficit could be addressed immediately by closing the tax gap of uncollected, avoided and evaded taxes and introducing a transaction tax – without making a single job cut or axing services.
“Instead though this Government is cutting the staff that collect taxes, which is entirely counterproductive and will result in more desperately needed revenues due to the Treasury being lost.”
Mr Edwards said: “The deficit and debt only becomes a problem if the ‘markets’ start kicking up a fuss. This is the case in Greece. Their deficit is very similar to the UK, although the public debt is 120% of GDP.
“Joseph Stiglitz, the economic super brain who has been advising the Greek Government, has stated that neither the deficit or the debt are the problem – it is the speculator and hedge fund managers who are betting billions on bankrupting the Greek economy. ”
He added: “We have a situation therefore that the very people who were bailed out as a result of their recklessness are now holding guns to the head of sovereign states. You couldn’t make it up.”
Leanne Wood AM, who chairs the cross-party PCS group in the Assembly, said: “It seems the three main UK parties are embroiled in a contest ahead of the General Election to see who can pledge to deliver the deepest and widest cuts in order to balance the books.
“I believe this policy is ill-conceived and will have wide-ranging repercussions for the UK economy if implemented. It will also ensure that the most needy in our society are made to pay for the mistakes of the banking sector.
“The left-wing think tank Compass has also warned that a butchering of our public services would not only prolong the recovery but induce a double-dip in our economy.
“Compass has calculated a means of protecting public sector jobs which involves raising taxes for those who can afford to pay more and scrapping socially useless projects such as Trident and the watered-down ID cards system.
“This viewpoint was recently given strengthened by the feted economist Joseph Stiglitz who declared that ‘fiscal fetishism’ at this crucial moment would only cause more economic pain.
“I am hoping that whichever party forms Government later this year will give credence to these views and protect our public services.”
