‘NastyTory party is back,’ says Carwyn as he launches manifesto
CARWYN Jones attacked both the Conservatives and Plaid Cymru as he launched Welsh Labour’s election manifesto yesterday.
Aware that all five Labour MPs in north Wales could potentially lose their seats, the First Minister argued that a Labour UK government would work in partnership with his administration “to make our economy work for everyone, not just a few at the top”.
Speaking at Coleg Cambria, Flintshire, he stressed how important it was to protect the funding that would have come to Wales from the EU. The Conservatives have proposed that the UK Government, rather than devolved administrations, should have control of regional aid policy post-Brexit.
Mr Jones said: “That money will be spent in Wales, and on Welsh priorities, and not stashed away in Whitehall as the Tories now threaten. We will fulfil the promises that the Tories and Ukip have said they will break, because we believe in fairness and delivering on what the people have a right to expect.”
Contrasting Labour’s spending plans with “years of Tory cuts”, he said: “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.”
Expanding his attack on spending cuts, Mr Jones said: “Remember that each cut made to the Welsh Labour budget made our work more difficult. It denied our classrooms investment – cut the numbers of doctors and nurses we could employ. Closed much-loved libraries and leisure centres in local communities.
“And for what? Have they balanced the books? No, they have not. Debt has doubled under the Tories.
“They’ve doubled debt, and slashed public services. Added insult to injury.”
Mr Jones said the poverty of the Tories’ vision was apparent from what they were planning for public services in England: “Proudly they trumpet policies like new grammar schools which promote selection.
“They’ve given up on the idea of good public services for everyone – a great education for all would be off the table in Tory England. Even Cameron’s government didn’t go that far. They are going to focus on the interests of the few, not the many.”
Further mocking the Conservatives, Mr Jones said: “I’m not sure what the official title of [the Tory manifesto] was, but it should probably be CruelIntentions.
“The nasty party is back, and how: a dementia tax, an end to the triple lock, and yet another social care con trick. Their manifesto says one thing to older people in this country: the Tories are taking you for granted.
“They think you’re in the bag. They’ve moved on. They think this is over. How does that make you feel?
“And what did they have to say to Wales in their manifesto? Barely a mention, except for a series of thinly veiled threats about withdrawing funding and decision making from our communities.”
Mr Jones said the Welsh Government had the opposite approach: “From education to skills to the economy, we’re building a future – a decent home, a good job and a great school – for everyone. A fair deal for all. Fairness is at the heart of our approach.”
Setting out how Labour would “get our economy growing again”, he said that would happen “through serious infrastructure investment in Wales, through our new approach to developing skills and supporting businesses to grow”.
Mr Jones said the new approach wouldn’t simply be about more work – it would also be about better work. Welsh Labour wanted to work through a genuine social partnership with public services employers, business and trade unions to tackle the “sense of insecurity that exists in too many households in Wales”.
The First Minister said: “We will establish a fair work commission, building on what we’ve already achieved through the Workforce Partnership Council.
“We’ll repeal the UK Trade Union Act for devolved public services, end the practice of blacklisting, enforce ethical procurement practices in supply chains and end the use of exploitative zero hour contracts.”
Turning his attention to Plaid Cymru, he said: “We need to remind people in every constituency, that really it is only a vote for Welsh Labour than can make that difference. A vote for Plaid in this election is a vote that helps the Conservatives build a bigger majority. It is that simple.
“But, more than that, it is time to remind voters that time and time again Plaid do not make the choices that Wales needs. Voting with the Tories and Ukip to deny the NHS more money. Voting with the Tories and Ukip to try and form an unholy alliance in the Welsh Government. What job, I wonder, would Neil Hamilton have been given in that administration?”
Mr Jones was referring to two votes at the Senedd – one in which Plaid voted against the Assembly’s Supplementary Budget in March because it said spending wasn’t spread widely enough around Wales and another at the beginning of the term when Ukip backed Plaid leader Leanne Wood in the election of a First Minister.
But Plaid Cymru’s Jonathan Edwards, who is seeking re-election as MP for Carmarthen East & Dinefwr, retaliated, saying: “Labour’s latest manifesto is a tale of apologetic hypocrisy. It is a collection of policies that they have refused to implement themselves as the governing party in Wales, even when handed the opportunity by the opposition parties.
“They promise to scrap zero hour contracts, despite failing to support efforts to do so on seven separate occasions in the National Assembly. They claim to support devolving policing but voted against it in the Wales Bill.
“They say they want to re-nationalise Royal Mail but did nothing to stop the Tory privatisation in the first place.
“Their promise to nationalise the railway is despite opposing Plaid Cymru efforts to do so year upon year; and while their British manifesto says they want to scrap tuition fees in England, the Welsh manifesto fails to make the same commitment.
“This is a matter of sincerity and honesty and the Labour Party is failing on both counts. The reality is, there is no such thing as ‘Welsh Labour’ and this hypocritical nonsense will be forgotten once the election is over. Every single Labour MP will follow the same orders from their leader, Jeremy Corbyn, and this manifesto will be destined for the dustbin.
“Plaid Cymru has one leader and one manifesto. We are the only party that answers only to the people of Wales and votes in the Welsh national interest at all times.”