Labour leadership race — By Daran Hill on October 28, 2009 11:31 am
ANOTHER day, another “It’s time to get real” policy statement from Carwyn Jones. Today’s it’s a broad ranging one covering natural assets and detailing policies including rural affairs, heritage, sport and language. From Conwy Castle he unveiled a string of pledges:
Maintain commitment to GM-free status and continue support for the development of organic farming;
Continue schemes for farm diversification and ensuring that quality Welsh food products receive full marketing support abroad;
Spread co-operative best practice in rural communities and incentives for farmers and others to move into activity-based tourism;
Work with local authorities to open up more land for allotments;
Respond to the need to promote local food sourcing through the procurement system and seek to open up local school and hospital meals to more Welsh products and support the Slow Food and Transition Towns movements;
Maintain backing for the Fair Trade movement and the Wales for Africa programme;
Take every opportunity under new legislation, to conserve our marine environment for future generations;
Continue to invest in the widest range of arts and sporting facilities;
Champion the production of original digital content by and for the people of Wales on online, alongside support for community radio and television initiatives, and protect the plurality of the most diverse range of Welsh programming on ITV, including news and current affairs;
Build on the now universal reach of credit unions, working alongside institutions like the Post Office and housing associations who wish to provide proper financial services for their tenants;
Support the economic development of Welsh Language communities through our regeneration budgets;
Encourage people in Welsh-speaking communities to see their Welsh language skills as a skill for employment, building on the language brokers already being employed to work with people in the community; and
Encourage a wider day to day use of Welsh in our communities and more support for those who wish to learn the language.
In his manifesto, Huw Lewis argues that “Embracing the co-operative spirit to provide localised solutions, Welsh Labour can ensure everyone in rural Wales has access both to sustainable amenities and affordable housing – across Wales it should be possible for young people to live in the community in which they grew up.” He specifically pledges to:
Work to identify and combat social exclusion and isolation in our rural communities, by providing access to decent public transport through bus franchising, supporting the post office network so that they can offer tailored financial services to local people and businesses and supporting the pubs, clubs and village halls that provide the hub of cultural life in rural communities;
Invest in networks that will protect the long term future of rural towns and villages, increase broadband access but also the infrastructure to allow small businesses and social enterprise to thrive;
Recognise the intrinsic value contained within the natural magnificence of our countryside, extending areas of outstanding natural beauty, sites of special scientific interest and our national parks;
Establish a special commission to look at new ways of measuring rural poverty, allowing us to better identify problems and develop solutions;
Help boost the economic prospects of rural Wales by prioritising the wealth-generating potential of our landscape and seascape and encouraging high quality niche-market agricultural production;
Increase the amount of support available to Welsh agri co-operatives, thereby giving farmers more bargaining power and allowing them to work together to deliver environmental improvements to the countryside;
Protect the plurality of local and regional news as essential public services to our communities by encouraging new local outlets – ‘Flintshire TV‘, ‘Channel Carmarthen’ or ‘Newport News‘, for example;
Establish a ‘University of the Outdoors’ acting as a hub for education, research and innovation as well as world-class centre of outdoor learning;
Encourage the growth of local and national eisteddfodau and increase participation in cultural events; and
Look to establish a ‘Museum of People’s History’ that tells the story of the working people of Wales.
Huw Lewis will also this afternoon make sport the theme of the day for his campaign when he will attend the launch of the new WRU centre of excellence at Vale Resort Golf & Country Club, Hensol, to emphasise his campaign promises on sport in Wales. He will join First Minister Rhodri Morgan, WRU Chief Executive Roger Lewis, Wales Sports Council Chairman Phil Carling, Wales National Coach Warren Gatland and Welsh squad members to see the centre opened. He will say: “Our sporting culture is the jewel in the Welsh crown and we must act as the careful guardians of it – ensuring all communities have equal access to this treasure trove. We must use our sporting heritage, and our sporting future, as a tool of community regeneration and economic development in addition to promoting good health and civic pride.”
Huw Lewis is the first of the leadership candidates to make detailed policy pledges on sport. He will restate his manifesto commitment to sport in Wales, promising that an Assembly Government under his leadership would:
Develop the innovative model of co-operative ownership for local sports clubs so local communities can have a greater say over the running of their local team.
Raise standards in physical education and school sport by improving coaching in schools, encouraging levels of physical activity and establishing compacts with local professional sports teams.
On these sorts of issues, Edwina Hart has less to say than on other policy matters. Her manifesto does, however, deal in some detail with the Welsh language and makes the following pledge: “Welsh medium education to be genuinely available to all who want it and Welsh medium schools to be genuinely open to all who wish to attend. I worry that some schools do not properly reflect the communities in which they are located. Why do some Welsh medium schools in the centres of our biggest cities – Newport, Cardiff and Swansea – have so few black faces in their classrooms?”
Tags: Carwyn Jones, Edwina Hart, Huw Lewis, Labour leadership race
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