AMELIA Womack, Deputy Leader of the England and Wales Green Party and lead list candidate for South Wales Central, hit out at cuts to education, healthcare and other public services at this morning’s launch of the Wales Green Party’s 2016 Welsh Assembly campaign.
Delivering a speech at the launch in Cardiff, Womack said:
“This May, voters in Wales can make history. This Assembly election is a chance for people in Wales to use their votes to ensure that the first Greens are elected into the Senedd.
We’ve already seen what a difference Greens can make - whether that’s in Scotland, Westminster, or in councils across the UK. We have seen Greens inspire, we’ve seen them speak truth to power, and we've seen them push for social and environmental justice in institutions where those were dirty words.
Every other elected body has Greens representing them; the Scottish Parliament, the Northern Ireland Assembly, the London Assembly, the House of Commons, and with nearly 200 councillors, in city halls all over. And now Wales has a chance to turn our huge membership and support in to Green seats.
We can win seats in this Welsh Assembly election, and with our gains here in South Wales Central, and in Mid and West, Wales has the opportunity to experience the difference even a handful of Greens make.
Because there’s one thing almost everyone can agree on: our Assembly desperately needs shaking up. We’ve seen the same party in power in Wales since the late 90s, and in that time our NHS has crumbled, education standards are falling and one in three children in our nation are in poverty. Welsh voters have a chance in May to answer the crucial question that faces us: Is this the kind of Wales we want? Labour are quick to blame their failures on the Conservatives, and claim any successes for themselves. We say this: no more excuses.
Coming from outside the Cardiff Bay bubble, Greens aren’t afraid to say what we think. We will be a radical voice within the Assembly, unafraid to challenge what’s wrong and pioneer what’s right. We’ll be holding whoever is in power to account, ensuring we can build a Wales that has people, the environment and our common futures at the heart of it. And we will ensure that words are turned into actions.
And Wales is changing. We have and are getting some of the devolved powers we need to reshape our education system, our infrastructure, and the way we support small business. We should go all out to become an incubator for innovation and learning. It’s time to become a leader on these issues again. No more excuses.
We can become a leader on green energy, too. To build a sustainable Wales, investment into renewable energy is going to be fundamental. Wales once helped power the world, and now it can do that again. Our energy industry shouldn't be run for the benefit of foreign multinationals and pension funds. Instead, community-owned energy - generating clean, safe power locally, can mean profits are reinvested to build stronger communities and create the skilled jobs we need.
Labour pay lip service to these and many other issues Wales’ faces - but they have a messy record on delivery. The statements simply don't match the substance. The next Assembly needs new ideas and new voices. Green AM's will not allow the next Welsh Government to make the same tired excuses. We can have a greener and more progressive Wales.
Let’s start by investing in community energy projects, helping us away from the ever increasing prices of the big 6 energy companies and taking people out of fuel poverty. We need more than advice schemes and warm words.
Wales has seen the impact of the cuts being pumped out of Westminster. Austerity has hit the most vulnerable and the cuts are tearing away at the very fabric of our communities. Take the bedroom tax - Wales has power to end it. Instead of evicting tenants that can’t pay it, let’s scrap this unfair tax on the poorest. Labour said stopping it is ‘impossible’. It’s simply not true. So no more excuses: the Greens will push for this unjustifiable policy to end.
And we can. The Welsh Green Party has gone from strength to strength - Membership has tripled over the past year. Our vote has soared in recent elections, support is strong and growing in South Wales Central, and we have the best chance ever of securing that crucial Assembly seat that could make all the difference if no party wins a majority - something which is a real prospect.
We are on the cusp of a breakthrough for the Green Party, and with the surge in Green support we have seen in the last year, I feel certain that Wales can make history by electing their first Green representative here in South Wales. Let’s shake up our politics for the better. For people, for planet, for Wales.