03/29/2024

Wales News Online

Local & National News for Wales

Mark Drakeford unveils new pledges to move Wales forward

MARK Drakeford has today, Thursday (Mar 18) unveiled Welsh Labour’s election pledges for May’s Senedd campaign.

The flagship promises focus on creating more jobs, supporting young people, additional PCSOs onto our streets, delivering the Real Living Wage for all care workers and building a Greener Wales.

If re-elected in May, the next Welsh Labour Government will deliver:

Recovery after Covid: The biggest catch-up programme in our NHS and schools, and a new medical school in North Wales.

A Young Persons’ Guarantee: Work, education or training offer for all under-25s.

A Fair Deal for Care: The Real Living Wage for care workers.

A Greener Country: Abolish more single-use plastics and create a National Forest for Wales.

Safer Communities: More PCSOs on our streets.

New Jobs for Wales: Create thousands of jobs in a low-carbon house building revolution.

At the launch, Mark Drakeford, Welsh Labour Leader and First Minister of Wales and said:

“Our first pledge will be to lead our recovery with the most comprehensive programme of catch up support ever seen for our public services.

“We’ll support our children and our young people with a major schools catch up plan, employing over 1800 additional tutoring staff so that none of them are left behind.

“We’ll launch an NHS Recovery Plan on day one and begin work delivering a new medical school in North Wales.

“For young people a pledge to stand with them as they face the worst economic crisis we’ve ever seen.

“We’ll deliver a new Young Persons Guarantee of a place in work, education, training or self-employment for everyone in Wales under the age of 25, including creating 125,000 new apprenticeships.

“For our brave care workers that have helped us through this last year, a pledge for a fair deal at work.

“We’ll guarantee the Real Living Wage for all our social care staff and we’ll continue to cap non-residential care fees and maintain the £50,000 capital limit, helping people hold onto more of their savings before paying for care.

“For future generations and for our planet, a pledge to create a Greener country.

“We’ll abolish the use of the most littered single use plastics, protecting our seas and our countryside and we’ll extend our new National Forest for Wales.

“For our communities a pledge to help keep people and our communities safe.

“Where the Tories want to cut all 500 of the vital Police and Community Support Officers that the Welsh Labour Government funds, we will not only protect them – we’ll fund 100 more.

“More help on the street in every part of Wales.

“And for our economy – a pledge to create thousands of new jobs in a low carbon house building revolution.

“The next Welsh Labour Government will match urgent job creation with combating climate change and build 20,000 new low carbon social homes for rent to support people, jobs and the planet.

“These are the pledges we will take to the country in the coming weeks.”

On his commitment to these pledges, he said:

“Welsh Labour will be the only party that can and will deliver all of its promises.

“Our manifesto promises won’t depend on doing a backroom deal with another party. They aren’t conditional on an unreliable and unrealisable pledge to find a new Westminster money tree.

“Every one of our pledges and every single promise in our manifesto will be delivered with a Labour government. No ifs, no buts.”

The pledges show Welsh Labour’s positive and ambitious plan to keep moving Wales forward, ahead of the full manifesto in April.

 

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