WALES’ First Minister revealed on Monday what the Labour Party will offer voters at the launch of their manifesto in Wrexham.
Mary Wimbury, the parliamentary candidate for Wrexham, introduced the speakers and welcomed the Welsh branch of the Labour party as it launched the party manifesto at Coleg Cambria in Wrexham on November 25.
She said: “It is fantastic to see so many faces here to help us launch the Welsh Labour manifesto and bring real change right across Wales. The choice in front of us is clear – the Tory Party has given up on working people, it has cut services and pushed people out into the cold. We need a Labour government in Wales and in Westminster to bring a greener, fairer and more prosperous country.”
First Minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford, spoke about the manifesto which builds on commitments to Wales made in the UK Labour manifesto launched last week. Labour’s plan for the country includes a £3.4bn increase to Wales’ annual budget, bringing an end to austerity.
Welsh Labour manifesto
He said that Welsh Labour will use the additional funding from the UK Treasury to extend free social care, scrapping tuition fees and boosting support available to small and medium sized businesses through the Development Bank of Wales.
The manifesto – Standing up for Wales – claims that this election is ‘the most important in living memory’ and outlines how Welsh Labour has been a source of inspiration for how a UK Labour government could operate, highlighting the introduction of free prescriptions, abolition of child burial fees and banning of fracking as key examples.
In his speech, Mark Drakeford set out his offer to counter the Welsh Conservative Party, which was launched today, November 25, in Bangor-on-Dee by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Mr Drakeford said: “It is for us, for the people of Wales, to decide what change will look like. Will it be a change brought about by a Labour government with urgent new investment in our public services, for real change to tackle the climate emergency with stronger rights for working people and working communities or will it be a grim reality of the Tories? A hard-line Brexit and a smaller economy a fire sale of our NHS auctioneered by Donald Trump and relentless, merciless, pitiless onward march of austerity set out in plain sight in the manifesto that the Tories published only yesterday.
“The destructive policies of a UK Conservative government have left our communities damaged, our economy one of the most unequal in Europe and the UK, ill prepared for the climate emergency which we face - not in future but we face here and now today. This election is the chance to put that right in clear and simple choice a choice between a Labour government for the many or a Tory government dedicated only to interests of the few.
“I am proud of how a Welsh Labour government has done over years to stand up for rights to protect working people and to protect our vital public services from the Tory onslaught at Westminster. A Welsh Labour party and Welsh Labour government that has kept our NHS where it belongs - in public hands – and created thousands of new quality jobs with high quality apprenticeships.”
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