In his regular blog for Caerphilly Observer South Wales East AM Lindsay Whittle gives his take on recent news.
Election
It’s less than four months before people across Wales go to the polls in elections to the National Assembly.
I will be officially launching my campaign for Caerphilly on Monday, January 25, at Llanbradach Community Centre.
Steffan Lewis, Plaid Cymru’s lead candidate for the South Wales East region in the Assembly elections and Darren Jones, who is contesting the Gwent Police and Crime Commissioner post the party, are the guest speakers.
Unquestionably, the key issue of the election will be the future of our beloved NHS, where the service to the public continues to lag behind both Scotland and England on issues like the long waiting times many people face for treatment. That is totally unacceptable.
Plaid Cymru has some exciting policies on the NHS to put before the public. Last week I helped launch Plaid Cymru’s Cancer Contract at the magnificent Tenovus shop in Caerphilly. They have a great team of dedicated team volunteers.
The three key elements to the contract under a Plaid Cymru government would be to bring down waiting times with a diagnosis or the all clear within 28 days. A new treatments fund would be established to allow access to new medicines based on what the doctor prescribes, not your postcode. And there would also be one to one support for each patient before, during and after treatment.
As part of our commitment to the NHS we’d ensure greater access to GPs through our plan to train and recruit a thousand extra doctors and Plaid Cymru would also abolish social care charges for the elderly and those with dementia.
I hear people still criticise the Assembly as an institution but it shouldn’t be blamed for the failings of the Labour government over the past 17 years in the same way that you can’t blame Parliament as a body for what the Conservative Government in Westminster does.
I hope the election will engage particularly the disillusioned who think it is pointless voting and haven’t done so for many years. Nothing will ever change if people just sit on their hands and do nothing.
“people still criticise the Assembly as an institution but it
shouldn’t be blamed for the failings of the Labour government over the
past 17 years.”
This seems self evident but readers should remember that Plaid Cymru formed a coalition with Labour in 2007.
If memory serves me I recall that in 1999 Labour was also in coalition with the Liberal Democrats.
So if people want change they need to look at parties other than Labour or Plaid Cymru. Otherwise it’s going to be same again for the next few years.
It is time people gave the Conservatives, or UKIP a chance. How many times do Labour need to fail before people realise a vote for Labour is a vote for poverty, a second-rate Wales, and falling behind in international league tables. I suppose the Welsh government has already forgotten about the disastrous PISA report which put Wales below the international average – the only UK country below it.
Going on previous reults locally the Conservatives have no chance at all of even coming close to beating Labour. In the Parliamentary elections last year UKIP came second. Nationally UKIP won the European election of 2014. The conclusion is indisputable; if you want change vote UKIP, if you are content with the way things are in Wales vote Labour. Plaid (4th place last time out) are irrelevant and stand as much chance of taking the Caerffili seat as I have of winning the lottery.
Too many people in the valleys can still remember how 1980s Tory policy decimated industry in our communities, and put nothing else in terms of jobs in its place. They have been in power nearly 8 years now and many of their policies seem to attack the poorer people. Hence they are unlikely to get elected here as they have made the valleys a safe seat for Labour/Plaid Cymru.
Wales has been betrayed by 16 years of maladministration by a Labour government firmly stuck in the 1970’s. They have failed the people of Wales and have turned the country into the poor relation of UK and the basket case of Europe. Wales has the highest proportion of low income households in Britain and the highest level of child poverty, something that Welsh Labour should be ashamed of, but they wear it as a badge of honor and use it as a political weapon to continually blame their social, educational and economic failings on the Tories in Westminster. Why have the scars of the pit closures ( which were inevitable ) not healed 30 years on, where are the results to show for millions of pounds of European funded regeneration. Welsh Labour are anti-business, they have created a benefits dependency culture that now can not be reversed, Wales is dying a slow painful death at the hands of Labour, but still they will be voted in, more crippling council tax rises, more job losses, a failing NHS, a crumbling education system, more cuts to public services, when will the people of Wales wake up and vote for change rather than more of the same.
I concure with all of your comment, except, you spoil it by being incorrect and disingenuous, saying, that the pit closure were inevitable
Surely they were, with tighter EU regulations and more need for renewable energy the demand for coal has fallen dramatically, coupled with miners holding the country to ransom for higher wages and the availability of cheap imported coal this spelt the end of coal mining in Wales and the UK, just like most things the UK was once good at it can now be produced and brought much more cheaply from somewhere else. Now it seems all the UK is good at is giving handouts to the feckless and lazy.
So, I conclude from your comment, in your opinion, this Country is a dead duck?, that being the case, perhaps we need the EU more than ever then for these generous hand outs every one talks about?.?
Yep, if Labour again get voted in, which is a forgone conclusion, Wales will continue to go backwards and our taxes under a Labour Welsh Assembly will only increase, as for the EU I have no idea if we’re better off in or out.
It is far from a `forgone conclusion` the labour party will win the majority of seats in this years Assembly Elections.
Labour WILL LOSE seats, UKIP will win seats, and take seats from the regional lists, The Conservatives `could` win seats, Lib Dems, and, Plaid in particular, WILL lose seats.
So how can you say Labour will WIN Again?. Opposition Party Coalitions, Rainbow Coalitions with or without inviting labour to be part of them, are all possible, in fact, all options are open. In the Election Campaign Labour have to answer for its arrogant disengagement with the Welsh Electorate, its appalling Heath Service Records, its evenworse Education record, it`s national record breaking failure on poverty and particularly child poverty, it`s abject failure to influence the UK
government and the EU Commission on protecting the
Welsh Steel industry jobs, and lets not go into the fact that the Welsh Assembly will soon be raising Taxes to spend even more money on higher Assembly Members saleries, expenses, perks and discounts, and Gold Plated Pension pot contributions ALL from the public purse.
So, forgone conclusion? I think not..
I hope you are right, the problem is that you are a sensible rational thinker who can fully understand exactly what Labour have done to Wales and come polling day you will make your decision based upon that, whereas the majority will disengage their brain and vote Labour because they have always voted Labour and always will vote Labour.
What Valley Seats are `safe seats` for Plaid Cymru?, none so far as I know. You give them credit they do not have, at all.