National A s s e m bly of Wales Elections May 5, 2011 WELSH COMMUNIST PARTY Y BLAID GOMIWNYDDOL GYMREIG Etholiadau i'r Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Mai 5, 2011
VOTE COMMUNIST FOR PUBLIC SERVICES, JOBS AND A PEOPLE'S WALES PLEIDLEISIWCH I'R COMIWNYDDION AM WASANAETHAU CYHOEDDUS, SWYDDI A CHYMRU I'R BOBL Why Wales must oppose the cuts The people of Wales will be hit with a triple whammy by the ConDem cuts. But not because the Welsh economy is a 'basket case', supposedly 'over-dependent' on public sector employment. True, Wales has a bigger public services sector, employing 33 per cent of the country's workforce compared with 27 per cent in Britain. This is where we will be hit by the first whammy. But the Welsh economy also has a higher proportion of workers engaged in the production and construction industries (19 per cent compared with 16 per cent in Britain as a whole). The legacy left by heavy industry in terms of ill-health has hit the people of Wales particularly hard, requiring higher levels of welfare spending. So the second whammy is the ConDem attack on unemployment and incapacityrelated benefits, which will cost the people of Wales about £1 billion a year. The Welsh economy has a much smaller private services sector (46 per cent compared with 56 per cent), notably in financial and property services. This is the sector bailed out
with £1,350 billion in public financial support, while New Labour and Tory cuts will devastate public services and the welfare state to save £203 billion. Here is the third whammy: the central government's annual block grant to the National Assembly of Wales is being slashed by more than 11 per cent in real terms over the next four years—a bigger reduction than in Scotland or Northern Ireland. A pre-election pledge by David Cameron to review the Barnett formula by which the block grant is calculated— based on population and geography but not on social need—remains unredeemed. The Welsh Assembly
government's revenue spending is set to fall by 7.5 per cent and its capital programme by a whopping 41 per cent. The latter comes on top of the cancellation of major central government capital projects in Wales. The £14 billion Severn Barrage scheme has been dropped for reasons of cost, although its real flaws relate to questions of political jurisdiction and the environment. But massive investment in underwater turbines and tidal lagoons could avoid such problems—and would be less costly and dangerous than six new nuclear power stations. Dumping the £14 billion plan for a privatised military training
academy at St. Athan is no loss. The bill—to be met by taxpayers—was escalating by the month. More serious is the refusal to electrify the south WalesLondon railway line west of Cardiff. Upgrading would cut journey times substantially, but Wales lags behind to the detriment of jobs and investment prospects. Finally, the Welsh-language S4C television channel will lose 24 per cent of its budget in real terms over the next four years. Yet the growth of Welshmedium education, which is driving up both the number and proportion of Welsh speakers, underlines the need for a wellfunded Welsh Broadcasting Authority to provide a full home-made service in both main languages. The Wales TUC and its affiliated unions are pledged to coordinate a broad-based campaign against the cuts. The potential support for such a campaign was shown on March 5, when thousands of people marched through Cardiff in support of public services, jobs and local communities. The trade unions, the Labour Party, Plaid Cymru and others also need to commit themselves to winning financial powers for the National Assembly. The people of Wales urgently need a Welsh Parliament with legislative and financial powers, which could become a rallying point in the struggle for a civilised society against the power of big business.