BREATHE NEW LIFE INTO WALES

Plaid Cymru unveil plan to “breathe new life” into the Welsh economy

Making Wales Work: Plaid Cymru’s New Economic Plan is “economic ambition, antidote to Labour stagnation” – Luke Fletcher

Plaid Cymru’s new economic plan will “breathe new life” into the Welsh economy after decades of Labour stagnation, the party’s economy spokesperson Luke Fletcher has said.

 

Plaid Cymru will publish Making Wales Work: Plaid Cymru’s New Economic Plan on Monday 28 April 2025 at Coaltown Coffee in Ammanford.

 

The plan underpins the party’s vision for “building a stronger, fairer economy” for Wales if they are elected to government at the Senedd election next year.

 

Plaid Cymru’s economy spokesperson Luke Fletcher said the plan would see “wealth built, retained and recycled in our communities instead of it leaking, and in some cases flooding, out of Wales”.

 

Mr Fletcher added that the plan would “grow and sustain Welsh owned businesses”, deliver “good jobs”, revive town centres and boost living standards.

 

The plan, published in full on Monday, includes pledges to ensure:

 

1. Better support for Welsh businesses, helping them to grow, and keeping successful companies here in Wales.
2. Energy independence – control over our natural resources so that our communities really benefit from renewables.
3. A skills strategy fit for the future, so that everyone has the skills they need to get ahead.
4. A new, strategic approach to innovation backed up by a new deal for our universities.
5. Wealth in and for our communities, by supporting community-owned businesses, social enterprises and co-operatives.

 

Plaid Cymru’s economy spokesperson Luke Fletcher said,

 

“After 26 years of Labour in power, wages are too low, bills are too high, and too many decent businesses are closing their doors. Labour has no clear plan or vision to make Wales thrive.

 

“Making Wales Work: Plaid Cymru’s New Economic Plan will breathe new life into the Welsh economy, turning around decades of Labour stagnation.

 

“Our plan will see wealth built, retained and recycled in our communities instead of it leaking, and in some cases flooding, out of Wales. It will grow and sustain Welsh owned businesses, delivering good jobs, reviving our own centres and boosting living standards.

 

“Our vision is of a Wales in which no child grows up poor, where every young person has access to fulfilling work, education or training, and where the economy works for our people and our communities, not the other way around.

 

Mr Fletcher added,

 

“With a Plaid Cymru government, small and medium-sized Welsh businesses will finally have a government on their side. We’ll create a new Welsh Development Agency to make Wales a great place to start and grow a business.

 

“We’ll fight for control over our own resources, like the Crown Estate, invest in skills, and use every power we have - and push for more - to build a thriving economy that works for all of Wales.

 

“We know that this is not as good as it gets for Wales. Making Wales Work provides a blueprint for a fairer, more ambitious approach on the Welsh economy. 

 

“Labour has let Wales down, and other parties have no answers. Plaid Cymru has the energy, ambition, and ideas to deliver the fresh start Wales needs - and we are ready to begin the work of delivering it now. 

 

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SUPPORTING OUR SMALL BUSINESSES

A Plaid Cymru government would cut taxes for small, independent Welsh businesses.

Plaid Cymru’s economy spokesperson Luke Fletcher is expected to outline his party’s plans during his Spring Conference speech.

In his speech, Mr Fletcher is expected to highlight the struggles that independent businesses face in Wales, saying that there are “countless examples the length and breadth of Wales where the full potential of our domestic businesses is going unfulfilled”, with “too many independent shops, pubs, cafés and restaurants having to close” which has led to the decline of town centres.

The Plaid Cymru Economy spokesperson will say that Wales needs to change how it taxes our town centre businesses to realise the potential of town centres and independent businesses.

He will outline Plaid Cymru’s plans to use the business rate multiplier to “reduce rates for independent businesses in retail or hospitality”.

According to Mr Fletcher, the policy would be cost-neutral, as a Plaid Cymru-led Government in 2026 would “look at how we charge rates so that those who can afford to pay more, contribute more”.

In his speech to the Plaid Cymru Spring Conference, Plaid Cymru Economy Spokesperson, Luke Fletcher MS will say,

“Our high streets provide a lens on the challenges facing Welsh businesses – challenges that Labour in Wales has failed to address or made actively worse over a quarter of a century in power.

“It’s a story we’re all too familiar with, isn’t it? On high streets across Wales there are empty buildings and shuttered shop fronts where thriving local businesses should be. Pubs, cafés and restaurants, all struggling with a cost-of-doing business crisis – a crisis made worse by sky-high taxes on businesses and Labour’s scrapping of business rates relief.

“An independent store owner on the high street in Aberystwyth pays nearly ten times more than a major chain on the town’s outskirts, and significantly more than would an equivalent business in England. In Bridgend, a locally owned and managed coffee shop and bakery pays the same level of non-domestic rates as its multinational competitors. Instead of being able to grow and develop as a business, investing locally in the supply chain, training and jobs, it is a business simply looking to survive.

“There are countless examples the length and breadth of Wales of businesses’ full potential going unfulfilled – too many of what should be successful businesses going to the wall. And the result? Town centres in decline, instead of on the up.

“I am proud that more and more businesses are looking to Plaid Cymru for the solution. And I am even more proud that we are able to offer one.

“If we want our town centres to thrive, then we need to change how we tax the businesses on our high streets, to better support the kinds of successful Welsh-owned shops, cafés, bars and restaurants we all go to our town centres for.

“There’s a solution that is well within our grasp.

“Through varying the multiplier, we have the power to reduce rates for independent businesses in retail, leisure and hospitality. It really is that simple. And by looking at how we charge rates so that those who can afford to pay contribute more, it would also be cost-neutral.

Mr Fletcher will also say,

“In the coming weeks, I will formally be launching ‘Making Wales Work: Plaid Cymru’s new economic plan’. I am proud of the amount of hard work that has gone into this plan, and the new and ambitious vision for the Welsh economy that it represents.

“That vision and that ambition extends from our seabed to our high streets, and covers everywhere in between.

“Our plan will see capital built, retained and recycling in our communities, instead of it leaking – and in some cases flooding – out of Wales. It will grow and sustain Welsh-owned businesses, delivering good jobs, reviving our town centres, and boosting living standards.

“I am clearer now than ever that Wales needs a Government with real vision and with fire in its belly.

“Wales needs a Plaid Cymru Government – and next year we will have an historic opportunity to deliver one.“

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LABOUR AND TORY TO BLAME

Port Talbot closure: Tories and Labour share blame for lack of industrial strategy – Plaid Cymru

‘We must plan for the revival of our steel industry’, says Luke Fletcher MS ahead of second blast furnace shutdown

 Ahead of the shutdown of the second blast furnace at Port Talbot steelworks today (Monday 30 September), Plaid Cymru economy spokesperson, Luke Fletcher MS, has blamed successive governments in Westminster and Cardiff Bay for “failing to develop an industrial strategy”.

2,500 jobs will go at the steelworks despite a £500m taxpayer-backed deal at the Port Talbot plant. Many more jobs in the supply chain will be lost. 

During the General Election, Labour said it was “working on a better deal” for the plant, but approved the Conservative-negotiated plan for an electric arc furnace after coming into office in Westminster.  

Mr Fletcher said that steelmaking was crucial for a Welsh industrial strategy, and warned that the “tragedy” of the closure of the blast furnaces must not “define the future of our economy”. He stressed that following the closure, "we must now plan for the revival of our steel industry”. 

Plaid Cymru Economy spokesperson and South Wales West Member of the Senedd, Luke Fletcher said:

"During the General Election, Labour promised a better deal for the Port Talbot steelworks. Today, the second of its two blast furnaces shuts down. This is more than just a factory closing – it’s the end of Welsh steelmaking and the livelihoods of countless workers and families.

"The decline of our steel industry is a direct consequence of successive governments failing to develop an industrial strategy. They neglected to acknowledge that without a strong steel sector, the car industry, shipbuilding, and heavy manufacturing are all doomed to fail. While other nations recognised the vital importance of domestic steel production and actively subsidised it, the UK chose to privatise and sell our steel assets to foreign entities, making us reliant on imports.

“Plaid Cymru has long argued for the strategic importance of steelmaking to Wales’ economic interests, national security, and the pathway to net zero. It is deeply disappointing that both Westminster parties allowed this to happen. We cannot let this tragedy define the future of our economy; we must now plan for the revival of our steel industry and high skilled jobs it provides.”

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EDITOR’S NOTES:

Labour working on better Tata steel deal, says MP - BBC (6 July) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c7257g40ze0o

 

Ministers set to agree £500m Tata Steel subsidy – BBC (9 September) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0jp0v77231o

 

It’s clear now that Labour has no plan for Welsh Steel - Plaid Cymru (10 July) https://www.partyof.wales/labour_has_no_plan_for_welsh_steel

FIGHTING LABOUR’S AUSTERITY 2.0

Following Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s warning of a ‘painful’ budget coming this October, Plaid Cymru’s Luke Fletcher will in stark contrast offer a message of hope at the SNP’s 90^th Annual Conference in Edinburgh today (Sunday 1 September 2024).

 

Mr Fletcher will say that Labour’s austerity 2.0 and the threat of the far-right must be stopped by taking “a radical vision for real, ambitious and deliverable change” over the next 18 months ahead of the devolved parliament elections in 2026.

 

Addressing delegates at the SNP Conference, Plaid Cymru spokesperson for economy, Luke Fletcher MS will say:

“Labour have chosen – and it is a choice – to stick with Osbornomics – to double down on a failed economic model which has slashed investment and hollowed out our communities. Austerity 2.0: bought, signed, sealed and delivered by and for the vested interests that are very happy with and profit from the status quo.

“And let’s be in no doubt – there are those who will look to exploit – who are already exploiting – the further hardship and suffering that Labour’s austerity will cause in our communities. The snake-oil salesmen of the far-right are looking to sow and deepen division.

“Conference – we cannot and we will not let them. We will beat them by offering hope – a radical vision for real, ambitious and deliverable change.

“Over the next 18 months, and building on our successes at this year’s Westminster election, we will be taking that vision to every doorstep in Wales.

“A Plaid Cymru Welsh Government will overturn 25 years of economic stagnation under Labour – delivering economic renewal through setting measurable and ambitious targets for an economy that prioritises decent work, sustainability, and economic well-being.

“A new development agency for Wales will prioritise growing and supporting Welsh-owned businesses, underpinned by a new deal for small businesses on rates.

“A new funding settlement for our universities will help to drive innovation.

“A skills audit and new supports for vocational training will see our young people equipped with the skills they need to secure high-paying, high-skilled jobs in the green economy.    

“And above all, new supports for social enterprises, community-led ventures and co-operative businesses will build, retain and recycle wealth in our communities.”

 

Mr Fletcher continues concludes by reaffirming Plaid Cymru’s “productive working relationship” with the SNP;

“Friends, in delivering all this and more, we will be following an example you have set. SNP Scottish Governments have led the way in showing that there is a different, more progressive path to follow. From the Scottish Child Payment to the community right to buy, the baby box to free personal and nursing care: we have and will continue to learn from our sister party.

“We were proud to renew our productive working relationship following this year’s General Election, and as we look to Scottish Parliament and Senedd elections in 2026, we do so facing joint challenges and opportunities.

“We will continue to work together – in Westminster and beyond – to secure the fairer funding that Wales and Scotland are owed, and our shared right to determine our own constitutional destinies. We will continue to build our shared vision of Wales and Scotland as progressive, independent nations, claiming their place in the European and global family of nations.”

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LABOUR HAS NO PLAN FOR WELSH STEEL

Plaid Cymru: It’s clear now that Labour has no plan for Welsh Steel

 

Plaid Cymru has responded to comments made by the new business secretary Jonathan Reynolds MP regarding talks with TATA Steel in order to save jobs and steel making capabilities in Port Talbot.

 

The new Labour secretary told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast that TATA had been ‘unmovable’ on the decision to delay the closure of a second blast furnace at Port Talbot, due to close in September.

 

Plaid Cymru responded saying that it was clear that Labour’s pre-election promises of a plan to save jobs and to keep the steelworks going in Port Talbot were false. An emergency question was tabled by the party in the Senedd, seeking clarification from the Labour Welsh Government.

 

Plaid’s Economy and Energy spokesperson, Luke Fletcher MS, said:

 

“Before the election, Labour were telling TATA to wait until a new Labour government was elected in Westminster. Now this has happened, there seems little change except the colour of the ties. We’re still none the wiser about what the plan is.

 

“The new Business secretary says that TATA are being ‘unmovable’ on holding back the closure of another blast furnace to ensure a just transition. We need to know what Labour are offering that the Tories couldn’t. We know that they have said that there is more money on the table, but we know that this is not enough.

 

“TATA have been signalling for months that they were unwilling to renegotiate – we seen that in their interviews, we seen that in their evidence to the Economy committee here so what have Labour been doing to prepare this situation?

 

“Now if both Labour Governments are committed to keeping the blast furnace open and if TATA is unmovable on this there is only one option. They must consider nationalisation of the steel works.”

 

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EDITOR’S NOTES / NODIADAU I’R GOLYGYDD

Find a link to Luke Fletcher’s emergency question to the Senedd here: https://record.assembly.wales/TopicalQuestion/1142, it will be answered by the Welsh Government on 10/07/2024.

WE NEED REAL ECONOMIC CHANGE

More Plaid Cymru MPs means more voices fighting for “real economic change” for Wales

“While Labour can preach ‘change’ as much as they like – we know that austerity is here to stay under Starmer” says Plaid Cymru

 

More Plaid Cymru MPs will ensure “real economic change” for Wales, Plaid Cymru has said. 

Plaid Cymru spokesperson for the economy Luke Fletcher MS said Plaid Cymru’s three pledges for the economy would ensure economic fairness for Wales and hold Labour to account on behalf of the people of Wales.

The party’s main economic pledges include:

1) A fair funding system for Wales according to need

2) Rejoin the single market and the customs union 

3) Give Wales the £4 billion it is owed from HS2 

 

Since 2010, Wales has seen £3 billion worth of cuts due to decisions made in Westminster.

 

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) on Monday (24 June 2024) called out the main two Westminster parties for their released their “conspiracy of silence” over the economy.

 

The £18 billion spending gap in the Labour manifesto will result in almost a billion pounds less for Wales – the equivalent of ten years’ worth of funding for Universal Free Primary School Meals.

 

Plaid Cymru spokesperson for the economy Luke Fletcher MS said:

“Plaid Cymru is the only party offering real economic change for Wales in this election.

“The Tories have crashed the economy and Labour have signed up to at least £18 billion worth of cuts – which means a billion pounds less for the Welsh budget. While Labour can preach ‘change’ as much as they like – we know that austerity is here to stay under Starmer.

“Plaid Cymru’s pledges would mean fairness for Wales – both economically and socially. They include a fairer funding model based on Wales’ needs so we can invest in our schools, the NHS, and in our communities.

“We’re the only party honest about the impact of Brexit on the Welsh economy and calling to rejoin the Single Market and Customs union to end the red tape on our businesses and ports.

“And we’re the only party demanding the return of Wales’ missing billions from England’s HS2 project to invest in our transport infrastructure and local economies.

“While the Tories and Labour alike are happy to see public services decimated and household budgets squeezed even further, Plaid Cymru is fighting for economic fairness in this election as the only party that doesn’t take Welsh votes for granted.

“Westminster won’t care about Wales unless there are MPs standing up for Wales’ best interests at every opportunity – not singing to the same hymn sheet as Starmer. This is what a vote for Plaid Cymru on 4 July offers.”

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