Wales can no longer afford to bear the brunt of Labour and Tory Economic and Fiscal Recklessness was the message from Plaid Cymru at the start of their conference in Cardiff today
Plaid Cymru has today warned that Wales will see massive cuts in public spending as a result of Labour’s mismanagement of the financial crisis and that neither Labour nor the Tories can be allowed to wreak havoc on the Welsh economy and undermine our welfare state. The party declared that it is now time to ensure that Wales has a stronger voice in Westminster with more Plaid MPs – to protect jobs and public services in Wales.
Plaid’s leader Ieuan Wyn Jones said that neither Labour nor the Conservatives could be trusted to put the needs of Welsh communities before the City of London. In a document released today, Plaid sets out the background to the current financial crisis and its likely impact on public spending, and how it intends to pay for its policy on providing help for pensioners. The party has today announced a series of tax and redistribution measures that should be introduced immediately, over and above those proposed by Labour in the 2009 Budget.
Mr Jones said “Labour’s financial mismanagement has led to a public sector deficit which is forcasted to stand at £178b this year. The crisis in the banking sector was a worldwide phenomenon, but exacerbated in Britain because of Labour’s over reliance on the financial sector in the city of London at the expense of other parts of the economy including manufacturing.
“Plaid’s public spending priorities in this election will be to protect frontline services in health, education and training, help for our pensioners and families facing poverty. We accept however that as a result of Labour’s mismanagement of the economy, the public sector will need to make significant savings between now and 2014, and we deal with this in our paper. Where we have spending plans, and the only significant ones are in relation to pensioners and raising personal allowances for the low paid, we set out how this can be paid for.”
The party is also calling for the creation of an UK wide Partnership Council for Fiscal Recovery, based on the social partnership model used by the Welsh Assembly Government for its successful Economic Summits. The Council would bring the UK government and devolved administrations together and representatives of local government, business, the trade unions and third sector. The Council would consider the pace and extent of plans to reduce the public sector deficit and its impact on the public and private sectors, although the devolved administrations would remain free to make their own spending decisions within their own budget allocations.
Plaid is also committed to pressing for the rules around tax avoidance to be tightened; for the cutting back of excessive waste and bureaucracy within Government and for Government to abandon wasteful projects such as Trident renewal and ID cards.
Plaid Cymru’s Parliamentary Leader Elfyn Llwyd MP said,
“We understand why people in Wales feel so angry and let down by the same old politics in Westminster, and the decades of economic and financial mismanagement by successive Conservative and Labour Governments. New Labour has slavishly followed Tory policies for 13 years – both parties have been complicit in this current economic and financial crisis. So, in this 2010 General Election who will make the biggest difference? Yet another Labour, Tory or Lib-Dem to toe the London party line or a Plaid Cymru MP whose only loyalty is to the people of Wales?”
Plaid’s Economic Adviser Dr Eurfyl ap Gwilym said,
“Labour seeks to lay the blame for the current state of the UK’s public finances on the international banking crisis. This is of course a contributory factor but their mismanagement of the economy over the last decade has exacerbated the problem. The UK is in a worse financial state that any of the other leading major western economies. Plaid Cymru is the only Welsh party to publish a plan for economic recovery.
“Plaid is also the only party that has taken Labour’s latest UK Budget figures for the UK to estimate their impact on Wales over the three years of the next Spending Review. I have estimated that the Wales Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) could suffer a cumulative reduction in spending (current and capital) in real terms of up to £2.8bn over this period. Public investment will be halved and yet we have already been informed by the Holtham Commission that we in Wales are underfunded by at least £300 million a year. The Labour and Tory parties in Wales have recognised that this can’t go on but their masters in London refuse to do anything about it. Wales needs fairer funding and a strong, independent voice in Westminster during these hard times. Only Plaid Cymru can provide that voice.”
