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.”
