Welsh Labour outlines key pledges ahead of election

LABOUR has launched its general election campaign in Wales at a 45-minute rally during which Jeremy Corbyn’s name was not mentioned once.

It also unveiled a series of pledges which are the responsibility of the Welsh Government, not Westminster.

First Minister Carwyn Jones later defended the decision not to refer to the would-be Prime Minister – and to concentrate on devolved issues.

The five key pledges for Wales unveiled at the Swalec Stadium in Cardiff are:

Protect living standards and create better jobs closer to home. Introduce a real Living Wage of £10 per hour and invest in infrastructure, skills and new technology.

Defend our NHS and protect social care. Continue to give the NHS and social care services the money they need and carry on work to join up services from hospital to home, using record levels of investment from the Welsh Labour Government.

Give all children a chance to achieve. Protect free school breakfasts and invest an additional £100m to further improve school standards in Wales over this Assembly term.

More bobbies on the beat to make our neighbourhoods safer. 853 new police officers in our communities and stronger rights for victims.

Provide more affordable homes to rent and buy. Deliver 20,000 more affordable homes.

Asked by the Echo why Mr Corbyn’s name had not featured in the launch at all, Mr Jones said: “It’s the Welsh Labour launch with Welsh Labour pledges – all five of them. There will also be a GB launch, and that’s the one Jeremy will front.”

When it was put to him that it was a bit odd not to have any mention of the man who would be prime minister if Labour won the election, Mr Jones said: “Not at all. We know the person who is our candidate to be Prime Minister, but today is a Welsh Labour launch building on last week’s local elections and on the results of the Assembly election last year.”

Asked if Mr Corbyn would be an asset for Labour at the General Election, the First Minister said: “Yes he will. He needs to ensure, of course, that he convinces more and more people that he would be a good prime minister, and that is something I know he is working hard to do.”

Asked if he thought Mr Corbyn would be a good prime minister, Mr Jones said: “Yes I do. Certainly better than Theresa May – someone who talks about strong and stable leadership.

“All I see with the Tories is a complete lack of planning for Brexit – they’ve absolutely no idea.

“Now they’re in panic, which we saw last Thursday when she started saying a bad Brexit is bad for working people.

“Well, well – we knew this. It’s her responsibility to get that right. But I just don’t think they have a plan.

“My worry is that they’ll try and run this election on Brexit, not their record – and I understand that because their record is so bad.

“But at the end of the day I’ve seen nothing at all about a plan for Britain.”

The launch came as a new opinion poll showed Labour is fighting back in Wales – but it suggests the Conservatives are still on course for an historic triumph at the general election.

Two weeks ago a Welsh Political Barometer poll from YouGov created shockwaves across Britain by suggesting that the Conservatives were 10 percentage points ahead of Labour in Wales – a result that on a uniform swing would see the Tories winning 10 seats from their Labour rivals.

Now the Conservative lead has been clipped back to six percentage points – with them up from 40% to 41%, Labour up from 30% to 35%, but with the smaller parties squeezed.

Plaid Cymru are down from 13% to 11%, the Liberal Democrats down from 8% to 7%, Ukip down from 6% to 4% and Others down from 3% to 2%.

On the basis of a uniform swing, the new poll would see Labour losing nine Welsh seats to the Conservatives, including Bridgend, Cardiff West, Newport East and Newport West, but the Labour Party would retain the battleground seat of Cardiff South and Penarth.