Plaid Cymru to deliver anti-war message
Plaid Cymru leader Elfyn Llwyd today will deliver an unflinching anti-war and socialist message at the party’s spring conference in Caernarfon.
Faced with the upcoming general election, expected in May, the task ahead Mr Llwyd will say is to remind people in Wales of New Labour’s “lies, spin and deceit”.
“We will not waiver in fighting for the truth. New Labour has spread fear, war and death to the world. Wales will not forget their treachery. Our message is this: Blair lied, Vote Plaid,” he will say at the Galeri enterprise centre.
“We will shout it from every corner of every street. We will shout in every cwm and every county. And we will shout with conviction and candour. We will not apologise for our message.”
On Plaid Cymru’s socialist vision, Mr Llwyd will say his party intends to make the rich pay more to help the poor.
“We are socialists and proud of it, he will say.
“We can build a better Wales by tackling inequalities. But New Labour has ditched social justice in favour of the wealthy.
“We want to introduce a 50 per cent rate of tax for those earning above £50,000. We want to introduce a fairer system of council taxation, scrapping the property based system to one based on income and ability to pay.”
The Meirionnydd Nant Conwy MP said his party would sign a “people’s contract” of realistically achievable pledges and stick to it.
“We will not vote for variable tuition fees; we will campaign for measures for affordable homes in our communities; we will fight to scrap the iniquitous council tax; and we will continue to campaign for the establishment of a proper Welsh parliament,” he will say.
Dafydd Iwan, president of the party, said the pledges delineated principles the party would be held accountable for.
“New Labour has shifted so far to the right of the political spectrum many traditional Labour voters in Wales have been left feeling completely disillusioned with their party,” he said.
“The principles and commitments outlined in Plaid’s people’s contract are an antidote to New Labour’s lurch to the right and will show the people of Wales that Plaid Cymru is now the socialist party in Wales.”
Plaid Cymru came third at the last general election in Wales, behind Labour and the Conservatives, with 195,000 votes, or 14.3 per cent of the total.
