Philip Owen, the GWLAD Candidate for Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd Constituency emphasizes that there is no future for Wales without Prosperity being the priority. He said:
“Without prosperity Wales will be stagnant. Whether your concern is Care, Health, Environmental Protection only a strong economy will bring improvements. Five priorities mean no priorities, there can only be one priority. GWLAD has a clear priority; prosperity. Wales can be better.
Building Prosperity means creating modern infrastructure like roads, utilities, telecommunications and reviving ports to take on new routes. Soft systems like institutions matter too like the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society at Builth Wells, the Baglan Bay Energy Park or the Hitachi train testing site at Onllwyn. Potential sources of start up businesses such as Swansea University Science Site and the Trinity Saint David campus at SA1 need to be encouraged to learn better practice in generating start ups. Other Welsh Universities have shown the way.
Building Prosperity means creating flexible skills in the workplace. The future is unpredictable. Ten years ago it was common to sneer at Media Studies Graduates and computer gamers. Now social media influencers are leading entrepreneurs and gamers have the skills needed for front line combat. Schools need to turn out confident self motivated pupils who can adapt to changing opportunities in trades and professions learnt at college and university.
Building Prosperity means matching private investors with opportunities in Wales. That means reaching outside Wales. Half the people who identify as Welsh in the UK live in South East England. The Welsh diaspora extends to North America and beyond to the Pacific. GWLAD has a tax policy to bring the successful back to Wales. They won’t bring just money but also skills.
Building Prosperity needs startup funding. GWLAD will incentivize the 24,000 rich second homeowners to switch their tax registration to Wales by a 5% reduction in the Additional Rate of Tax from 45% to 40%. This could add £2-3 Bn extra revenue to the Welsh Government budget of £27Bn. It also focuses them on opportunities in Wales. Until Wales is on track for growth any promise to spend more on Care or Health or Environment is simply reshuffling the budget. A gain for the Care budget becomes a loss for another service to the public. Lower Additional Rate Tax will also make it easier to attract and retain senior professionals such as dentists, GPs and software engineers.
The Welsh Government should not be a graveyard for planning applications. 7 years for a chicken shed is too long. We have opportunities to build nuclear power stations of very small size that can be made and exported from Wales. The planning process should enable major opportunities, not block them.
GWLAD opposes all intermittent energy but not on planning grounds. Wind is not Zero Carbon. It needs a lot of back up. The wind turbines being built in Wales will keep Pembroke Power Station in business for 25 years. Wind turbines fail on their own terms. They extend the use of fossil fuels. In the constituency, there is the better option of a 320 MW tidal lagoon off shore at SA1 in Swansea and there is the option of nuclear power at many scales. Both tidal and nuclear are clean Zero Carbon sources of electrical power.
GWLAD will strip back the Public Appointments, ISIs, Qangos and selected Charities that shield ministers from scrutiny. The outrage of Senedd and County Council controlled money being directed by politicians into private business with no capital or no market prospects must stop. £4.25m for the Green Man Festival site, £10.8m towards the Skyline project on Kilvey Hill in St Thomas, £68m of local government pension money handed to Windward Energy. They compete with already operating private sector businesses. These examples are just those in Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd. Across Wales, the full tale is yet to be told.
GWLAD will review the hospital sector too. Each board has independent directors supposedly representing the public interest yet there are service failures everywhere. Powys has issues with cross border treatment that are not being addressed. There are process failures too. Swansea University Health Board amongst others has trained local nurses then told them that they have no jobs while 456 nurses from abroad have been recruited in the same period. GWLAD will change the incentives for NHS Wales HR managers.
If you want progress towards prosperity, rational energy policy and an end to patronage throughout the Welsh public sector, send a signal that you want change that benefits rather than eliminates Wales.
Vote GWLAD on 7 May.
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