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Hello conference, Prynhawn Dda
We have had an incredible year in Wales. Our membership has gone up 10 fold since the last Assembly elections, we have nine new Local Parties, making a total of 14, and we gained six times more votes in the general election than last time.
We took part in the televised Welsh leader debates, had unprecedented coverage in the press and media, and gained new support from right across Wales.
Yes, we are feeling buoyant. And with the Welsh Assembly elections coming up on May 5th 2016, we have every reason to be so, because we are tipped to get as many as three Welsh Assembly seats.
Here’s why we need Greens elected to the Senedd:
New Scientist magazine reported in June that five metres of future sea level rise is already locked in, due to the steady collapse of the West Antarctic Ice-Sheet. The important, and frightening, phrase is ‘locked in’. Already 50 coastal communities in Wales will be abandoned to the rising sea. That will be 16 feet in most of our lifetimes.
Governments do not seem to understand the severity of the crisis. Everything is about jam today (though with another £50 million likely to be cut from our budget this autumn, we will be lucky to get a smear of marg). There is no wiggle room in Wales for spending. That’s why we need a transformative Green programme for people, for planet and for Wales.
Greens understand in our hearts the grief that our children and grandchildren will experience long after we’re gone, and we are ready for action.
Wales needs an urgent and rapid transition to 100% renewable energy by 2040. Greens will move Wales to the front of technological change – our universities are already there, but government isn’t interested. A modern green economy would generate many thousands of new jobs. The University of Massachusetts estimates that a green economy will create 300% more jobs than a fossil fuel-based economy.
We must leave most of the remaining coal, oil and gas in the ground. That’s what our communities want. That’s why Greens joined the United Valleys Action Group to stop opencast at Nant Llesg, which we did. Only Greens have the guts to transform the economy to a viable low carbon legacy for the next generation.
Carbon positive housebuilding is already possible. Most people think they have to stomach ever-increasing fuel bills in order to be comfortable and warm, but that is no longer the case. Zero fuel bills are possible, now.
Solcer House, near Bridgend points the way. Designed and built by the School of Architecture in Cardiff, Solcer House is a carbon positive building. This building proves that all new houses can be built from local materials, can be beautifully insulated little power plants, and be as affordable as social housing homes.
Importantly this methodology can also be used to great effect in renovations. Just imagine all the old stone valleys terraces retrofitted to be little power plants. We can take people out of fuel poverty. The choice to heat or eat will be a thing of the past.
Modern green housebuilding will make a big impact on reducing our C02 emissions, which in Wales are unbelievably going up. Household emissions have gone up almost 11%, and energy sector emissions have gone up 20%. It should be a crime, and we can’t blame it on Volkswagen software…
The Welsh government has the power to raise building standards in Wales, and I have asked the First Minister to urgently take on board carbon positive housebuilding and house renovation.
Voters in Wales will have a real choice next May. Our tiny Parliament has only 60 members, which effectively means there is a maximum of 30 members scrutinising every policy and every piece of legislation.
We will be asking the people of Wales, ‘Who do you want holding the Welsh government to account?’ A party of broken promises? A party of muddled values? A party which simply doesn’t care?
Only Greens have the consistency, the honesty, the will, and the time-honoured values of working for people, for planet and for Wales.
Greens would phase out all coal-fired power plants in Wales by 2020. That disgusting pile of pollution at Aberthaw would be the first to go, and they would be replaced by solar, wind, tidal, and hydro- powered energy sources in which we are rich. Wales can produce more than twice the renewable energy it can use.
We would launch a Wales-wide drive to increase the efficiency of electrical appliances and white goods. Energy-saving behavior will reduce bills. It’s a win-win.
We still make stuff in Wales, exporting almost £11billion worth of goods and materials, half of which are to Europe, and we need to start manufacturing for the future. Automotive parts, steel, and electronics all play their part, and Greens would work with industry to lower pollution and increase research and development in climate-protecting goods and services.
Every business employing more than 50 people, seeking a grant, loan or export assistance would submit a plan to reduce its carbon emissions by 5% a year.
There would be a new tax on pesticides and fertilizers, with 100% of the revenue being returned to farmers to support the transition to low carbon farming. We would take steps to strengthen our rural communities by supporting smaller family-run farms and local produce markets.
The language of Wales is embedded in its communities, and Greens would reinforce this unique culture through free Welsh lessons for newcomers, and enhanced cross-culture activities throughout the country. The Welsh language will thrive when more and more communities have the resources to embrace it.
The Wales Green Party supports a referendum on tax raising powers, and we would use those powers to reduce the threshold for paying the top rate of tax from £150k to £100k. This would enable every school, college and university in Wales to reduce tuition fees for Welsh students, and convert all educational buildings to 100% positive energy by 2025.
Welsh Labour is almost literally steamrolling through an M4 extension across the Gwent Levels – four sites of SSSI will be badly damaged, £1billion pounds will be spent - using all of our borrowing powers in one go. Greens in the Assembly would vote down this environmental and financial scandal, and put the money towards a SE Wales Light Rail Network, which would solve the problem at its root.
If we look at Welsh Labour’s lackadaisical attitude to carbon emissions, the delivery simply does not match the rhetoric. There is fine talk about energy efficiency and renewables, but if we look at the building of incinerators at the expense of recycling efforts, and the lamentable performance of Labour councils across Wales, the picture is terrible.
The Wales Green Party will challenge the Welsh government to be constructive on the key issues of Health, Education and Energy. We call on the Welsh government to put a halt to environmental abuse, to make energy-efficient housing a national infrastructure priority, to properly fund our neglected colleges and relieve pressure on the NHS in Wales.
Greens are the only progressive alternative. We challenge the Welsh government’s failure to meet climate change targets, and end the uncertainty facing communities being targeted for fracking and coal gasification. We challenge the Welsh government to stop the burden of fuel poverty in all new housing.
The choice people in Wales will face next May will be between Greens holding their government to account or a mish-mash of parties who are still working out what they believe in.
A Green team at the Senedd will hold the Welsh government to account for their lack of ambition on energy security, progressive economics and land management, and we will work tirelessly to reinvigorate the valleys economy, and strengthen the vital food chains in our rural communities.
Welsh Greens are on target to have three candidates elected to the Senedd next spring, and we will need help from all of you. So please come over, give us a hand,
For people, for planet, for Wales!