NO FRIENDS OF WALES

It has long been recognised that the Labour Party much like the Conservative Party are “no friends of Wales”. Recently highlighting the party’s voting record in Westminster, Plaid Cymru’s incumbent in Carmarthen East & Dinefwr, Jonathan Edwards, accused the Labour Party of “double dealing” with politicians willing to deceive voters in order to win their votes.

The Labour Party of turning a blind eye to its record in the Welsh Government – voting against scrapping zero hour contracts, charging students £9,000 a year for their education and failing to keep public services in the public’s hands.

Voting for the Labour Party would be voting by tombola, says Mr Edwards, who says Labour MPs spend more time attacking their own leader than they do standing up to Theresa May.

• The Labour Party says it is opposed to the spending cuts imposed by the Tories in Westminster but they voted with the Tories to implement £30 billion of spending cuts, focussed mainly on welfare benefits;

• The Labour Party manifesto includes a commitment to scrap zero hour contracts but they opposed Plaid Cymru’s efforts to scrap compulsory zero hour contracts in Wales on seven separate occasions;

• The Labour Party voted to double the income of the royal family despite austerity measures for the rest of the country;

• The Labour Party voted with the Tories to reduce tax credit payments for the lowest paid workers;

• The Labour Party manifesto includes a commitment to devolve policing to Wales, but their MPs have repeatedly opposed Plaid Cymru efforts to do so;

• The Labour Party voted with the Tories to cut benefits for disabled people and those with long-term illnesses;

• The Labour Party didn’t show up to vote to ensure the Prime Minister had to take into account the objectives of Wales when conducting negotiations with the EU;

• The Labour Party voted against requiring future trade deals to have the approval of each of the four countries in the UK and instead voted for London to dictate terms;

Jonathan Edwards said:

“Every election the Labour Party says the same thing – that they are the party that can stop the Tories and that they will stand up for Wales but it is deeds not words that matter. Voting Labour doesn't stop the Tories - it gives us the status quo.

“Actions speak louder than words and the Labour Party's record speaks for itself. 

"Labour is no friend of Wales’. When they do bother to turn up to vote, more often than not they vote against Wales’ interests, not with them.

“In Scotland they are working alongside the Tories in councils and are working together to win Westminster seats between them. Jeremy Corbyn himself has consistently voted against devolution – keeping Welsh natural resources in the hands of Westminster politicians; keeping Wales as dependent as possible on Westminster. It was a Labour Shadow Secretary of State for Wales that ensured the cross-party consensus on strengthening Welsh democracy was torpedoed through the so-called St David’s Day Process.

“Whether Jeremy Corbyn likes it or not, his MPs vote with the Tories when it comes to helping the poorest. Labour voted for the £30 billion package of spending cuts that was primarily focussed on capping welfare payments to those who need it. They voted to reduce tax credit payments for the lowest paid despite supporting a vote to double the income of the royal family.

“Their manifesto says they want free tuition fees but they could do this today in Wales where they govern. Instead, Welsh students are charged £9,000 a year to go to university, thanks to Labour. They say they want to scrap zero hour contracts but they have had seven separate opportunities to do so in Wales and on each occasion, they either abstained or voted against Plaid Cymru.

“Their manifesto says they are in favour of devolving policing but they have consistently opposed this when it has come to voting on it. In fact the incumbent Labour candidate in the Rhondda said this week that he opposes it, despite it being in his manifesto.

“Putting a cross next to Labour in this election would be voting by tombola. Will you get a Corbynista, a Blairite or a Brownite? The only thing that’s certain with the Labour Party is that they will always have to answer to their head office in London, and never to the people who elect them.

“Even if Jeremy Corbyn were to be Prime Minister, the only way to force him to take notice of Wales - to remember that we exist and to deliver on crucial projects that have been ignored by successive Tory and Labour governments, is to make sure there’s a strong, loud and united block of Plaid Cymru MPs in the House of Commons, standing up for Wales at all times.

“Scotland has its block in Westminster. Wales needs its own Welsh block.

“The only way to ensure our railways are electrified, that the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon is delivered and that a road network fit for the 21^st century is built across Wales is to vote for Plaid Cymru, the party of Wales.”  

Labour's voting record can be found at the following links:

http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2015-01-13&number=129

http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2015-10-29&number=102

http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2016-06-08&number=15

http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2017-02-06&number=139

http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2016-06-13&number=18

http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2016-07-11&number=41

http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2016-07-05&number=34

http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2011-06-21&number=300

http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2012-01-31&number=445

http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2014-05-06&number=263

http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2014-06-24&number=20​

CALL FOR INDEPENDENT AUDIT OF SECURITY

Plaid Cymru says Wales has potential to become cyber security centre of excellence, and has called for an independent audit of Welsh security resilience in the wake of a string of cyber security attacks on the public sector and the terrorist attack in Manchester last week.

The party’s candidate in Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, Jonathan Edwards, says that the decade of cut-backs on public spending has left our public sector at risk of cyber-attacks and that our security services’ ability to prevent terrorist atrocities like the Manchester attack should be independently audited, rather than investigated internally.

The NHS in England was crippled by a global cyber-attack last month in which hackers demanded a ransom after infiltrating the health service’s antiquated computer service. The NHS in Wales was not affected but in an earlier incident in March, thousands of Welsh NHS staff’s details were stolen in a hack on a private contractor.

Plaid Cymru warned in 2015 that almost 20,000 NHS computers in Wales were at risk of being hacked as Microsoft ended support for the operating system ‘Windows XP’ being used by the NHS.

It is suggested by terrorism experts that there are 500 potential terrorist plots against the UK thought to be current at any one time with 3000 people under investigation by the security services. There are a further 20,000 people identified as having sympathies with so-called Islamic State. Full surveillance on one person requires 24 officers in two 12 hour shifts. If all 3000 people under investigation were subject to full surveillance it would require 72,000 officers which is an impossible task. An independent audit would look at what resources would be needed in order to keep Wales safe.

Wales has expertise in cyber-security and is home to a National Cyber Security Academy in south east Wales. Mr Edwards believes Wales should build on its expertise and ensure Wales becomes a centre of excellence for cyber-security, not only strengthening our defences but also creating high-value, well-paid jobs.

Jonathan Edwards said:

“Keeping Wales safe and secure must be our top priority as politicians and making sure our country is adequately resourced to be able to resist the modern-day threats we now face is crucial.

“Plaid Cymru warned two years ago that our public sector is at risk of cyber-attacks and although the Welsh NHS evaded the crosshairs of those who attacked the English Health Service this time, there is no doubt that our NHS and other public organisations must reinforce their defences.  

“How we ensure our country and its people are safe is a matter of constant evolution and modernisation. The threats we face today are of a different nature to the threats we faced three years ago, let alone a decade ago. There are clear questions to be asked about how well-equipped our security services are in dealing with the threat of terrorism and I question whether the best way to answer those questions is for the security services to investigate themselves. We must carry out an independent audit of how well-equipped, well-prepared and how resilient our country is.  

“Experts suggest that the number of people across the British State who are under investigation at any one time is around 3000 and on top of that there are some 20,000 people who sympathise with organisations such as so-called Islamic State. To keep just one person under full surveillance requires 24 officers in two 12-hour shifts. It is clearly not feasible to expect that every potential person of interest to be under surveillance.

“The Tories are also intent on scaling back our police forces at a time when they should be being bolstered. If the Tories have their way after this election, the Welsh police forces will be £32 million a year worse off. We have to defend our police forces from this cut and the best way to do that is to devolve the police forces to Wales which would not only protect them from the Tory cut but also automatically lead to a £25 million boost to their finances every year. A difference of £57 million a year.

“We must also audit our public sector’s resilience to cyber-attacks. We are lucky to have the skills in Wales already through the National Cyber Security Academy and we should build on that. We could make Wales a cluster of expertise in digital security – not only bolstering our defences against cyber-attacks but also creating high-value, well-paid jobs in Wales. The Cyber Security Summit should be being held in Wales where the expertise is, not in London. The London parties will never think to make use of Wales’ expertise – they will always just focus on London and the south east of England. That’s why we need Plaid Cymru in Westminster, standing up for Wales and making sure Whitehall remembers that it is there to serve four countries, not just one. 

“What we cannot do is carry on as we are – hoping that we’ll cope when we are attacked again. An independent audit is a necessary step in determining what measures need to be put in place to keep Wales safe and secure.”