Leaders bid for votes in keyWelsh battleground
THERESA May and Carwyn Jones will go into battle today for the loyalty of the nation’s voters as each party launches its Welsh manifesto. The parties are in a fierce contest for a string of north Wales seats, with Labour also battling to stop Plaid taking hold of Anglesey. Welsh Labour leader Mr Jones will underscore Labour’s commitment to a new nuclear power station on the island when he launches the manifesto in the key marginal seat of Delyn.
Mrs May will use her campaign stop in Wales to claim Labour has taken the nation for granted and claim there is an “acute” sense of disenchantment.
The Conservative leader will seek to put the focus on Brexit. She will say that the electorate’s narrow vote to leave the EU was a rejection of the “hysterical warnings of Labour, Plaid Cymru and Liberal Democrat politicians”.
Mr Jones will stress Labour’s commitment to giving the Assembly responsibility for policing and restate his party’s backing for key projects including rail electrification and the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon.
LABOUR has put support for a new nuclear power station in Wales at the heart of its election bid.
The party will launch its Welsh manifesto today with a commitment to support the planned Wyfla Newydd station on Anglesey as well as a host of major infrastructure projects.
Welsh Labour leader and First Minister Carwyn Jones said the people of Wales needed Labour in power in both Cardiff and Westminster.
The manifesto will be unveiled in Delyn and follows speculation that Labour could lose all five of its north Wales seats.
However, Labour activists will be heartened that UK polls suggest the Conservatives’ lead is narrowing.
First Minister Carwyn Jones will use the manifesto launch to stress support for projects including:
the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon and other proposed lagoons;
rail electrification and Metro transport projects; Wyfla Newydd; and a new Development Bank of Wales.
Labour accuses Plaid of being “silent” on the nuclear station planned for Anglesey.
Former Plaid Deputy First Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones insists he has a track record of supporting the project.
He said: “I have supported Wylfa Newydd and done so consistently. I have also worked closely with Hitachi, Horizon, their supply chain, their preferred training provider, Bangor University and Coleg Llandrillo-Menai to ensure that local people are trained to take up job opportunities when the plant is operational.
“I am also anxious to ensure that there is a long term legacy from Wylfa Newydd and the other energy projects proposed for the island. These are really exciting opportunities. I will work to establish a Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Energy which will make Anglesey the place to be for developing new technologies. “These plans are currently being worked on.”
Speaking at the Welsh Labour manifesto launch, First Minister Mr Jones will also turn his guns on the Conservatives.
He will say: “Our manifesto is an ambitious, comprehensive plan of what Welsh Labour can do, together, working in the Assembly and Westminster.
“The Tories have done nothing to advance Welsh infrastructure in the last seven years – and they’ll do nothing for the next five if given the chance.
“A strong team of Welsh Labour MPs, working with us in the Assembly, have already done so much to put these issues high up the agenda in Wales.
“But, we need two Labour governments working together to make our economy work for everyone, not just a few at the top.”
Mr Jones will pledge that under Labour funds that would have come to Wales from the EU would still reach Wales.
He will say: “That money will be spent in Wales, and on Welsh priorities, and not stashed away in Whitehall as the Tories now threaten... After years of Tory cuts, an estimated £1.5bn extra will come to Wales every year through UK Labour spending plans, and on the election of a Labour Government in Westminster we are committed to an immediate comprehensive Spending Review in Wales.
“We will allocate any new resources to our priority areas: job creation, the NHS and education.”
These are the north Wales seats Labour is fighting to hold:
Alyn and Deeside (3,343 majority over the Conservatives);
Anglesey (229 majority over Plaid Cymru);
Clwyd South (2,402 majority over Conservatives);
Delyn (2,930 majority over Conservatives);
Wrexham (1,831 over Conservatives).
Mr Jones will say: “People are right to say that north Wales is a battleground in this election. Just as it was in the Assembly elections a year ago.
“Remember when the Tories said they would make a clean sweep? Taking people for granted is in their DNA it seems. They said they had won Wrexham, Delyn, the Vale of Clwyd…
“A done deal they said. Well, the people of North Wales showed them there was no done deal, no being taken for granted – no Tory walkover and that’s what this economy needs again...
“Only Welsh Labour MPs will fly the flag for the north.”
In the foreword to the manifesto, together with Shadow Welsh Secretary Christina Rees, he states: “Working together we will abolish the Severn Bridge tolls, giving business and commuters the support they’re asking for.
“Working together, we’ll stop the prevarication over the Swansea Tidal Lagoon, and rail electrification in North Wales – we’ll get on and make these things happen. And, working together, we’ll devolve policing to Wales – making our neighbourhoods safer after years of Tory cuts and neglect.”