Today (Thursday), Welsh Labour launches its exciting manifesto for the Senedd elections. It will sets out a plan to help Wales recover from Covid and build the stronger, fairer Wales of tomorrow. It’s a real plan to move Wales forward.
At the heart of the manifesto lay six ambitious pledges:
– Recovery after Covid – Welsh Labour will put in place the biggest ever catch-up programme in our NHS and schools we’ve ever seen and build a new medical school for North Wales.
– A Young Persons Guarantee – Welsh Labour will give every young person under the age of 25 the guaranteed offer of a job or a place in education, training or help to start their own business.
– A Fair Deal for Care – Welsh Labour will give our amazing care staff who helped us through the pandemic a Fair Deal at work with the guarantee of the Real Living Wage.
– A Greener Country– Welsh Labour will take action for future generations and make Wales a greener country by abolishing more single use plastics and by creating a National Forest for Wales.
– Safer Communities – Welsh Labour will help keep our communities safe by putting 100 more Police Community Support Officers on our streets, funding 600 in total across Wales.
– New for Jobs for Wales – Welsh Labour will create thousands of new jobs in a low carbon house building revolution, including building 20,000 new low carbon social homes for rent.
And today’s manifesto sets out a host of other ambitious ideas to keep moving Wales forward.
Welsh Labour will invest in a new generation of Integrated Health and Social Care Centresacross the country – centres where people can access a range of seamless health and care support. We will invest in new 21st Century buildings and develop new facilities with the space to do more and bring services together.
We will prioritise investment in mental health services as part of our plan for long-term recovery from the pandemic. Research shows that mental health issues predominantly start when people are children or young people and Welsh Labour will roll out Child and Adolescent Mental Health ‘In-Reach’ services in Schools.
Our plans to establish a medical school in North Wales will help to recruit, train and keep health staff in Wales. We will train 12,000 doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and psychologists.Unlike the Tories in England, we will continue to fund the NHS Bursary to support all those training to be a nurse or allied health professional.
Welsh Labour’s manifesto commitments are affordable even as the UK Tories threaten a return to austerity. Our spending plans do not rely on any increase in devolved taxes – unlike the proposals of other parties – they do not depend on the whim of UK Tory Ministers. Our financial commitments are based on decisions that will be taken in Wales, for Wales.
There is so much to be optimistic about in Wales. Our landscape is world beating, our community spirit is unmatched and patriotism is outward looking. Today’s manifesto sets out the country we want to build for future generations.
Welsh Labour has been making the difficult decisions to make Wales a stronger, fairer nation for two decades. We’ve had the right plan to get us through the pandemic and now we’ve got the right plan to keep Moving Wales Forward.
Ahead of the launch, Welsh Labour Leader and First Minister Mark Drakeford will say:
“This election is a choice. It is about trust and ambition. A choice to go on investing in our young people with a Welsh Labour Government or to take a different path.
“Today we launch a manifesto that sets out Welsh Labour’s plan to go on investing in the future. A plan to help us not only recover from Covid, but to do something more – to build the Wales of tomorrow.
“A Manifesto to Move Wales Forward. A Manifesto that can and will only be realised if you vote Welsh Labour on 6th May.”