“We will move Wales forward” – Drakeford’s manifesto launch speech

Below is the full text of the speech delivered by Welsh Labour leader Mark Drakeford as the party launched its manifesto for the 2021 Senedd election.

I am so pleased to launch Welsh Labour’s manifesto for the Senedd elections. Dwi’n mor falch i fod yma i lansio maniffesto Llafur Cymru am etholiad y Senedd. In particular I want to thank Coleg Cambria and its principal Sue Price for hosting us in this truly magnificent new business school. This is a genuinely stunning new campus and only made possible by the Welsh Labour government’s 21st century schools and college building programme. This building and the investment that made it possible are a vivid illustration of the commitment we have made to supporting young people and future generations here in Wales. It is investment that simply wouldn’t have happened without a Welsh Labour government.

And in many ways that’s exactly why we’ve come here to Northop to launch today’s manifesto. Because this election is a choice. Dewis yw’r etholiad hon. A choice to go on investing in our young people with a Labour Government – as you’ve seen today – or to take a very different path. Today we launch a manifesto that sets out Welsh Labour’s plan to go on investing in the future. A plan to help us not only recover from coronavirus, but to do something far more – to build the Wales of tomorrow. A plan to build a greener, stronger and fairer Wales – the Wales we want to hand on to future generations. A manifesto to move Wales forward. Maniffesto i symud Cymru ymlaen trwy bleidleisio dros Lafur Cymru. And a manifesto that can and will only be realised if you vote Welsh Labour on 6th May.

The manifesto we launch today is a document rooted in trust and infused with ambition. Trust because of the way we have worked together to keep Wales safe in the face of the global pandemic. These last 12 months have been a time of immense sorrow for so many. Lives have been lost and harm has been caused to so many livelihoods. But it has also been a time of immense strength and bravery. Together, we have faced our difficulties head on. We have taken the tough decisions. We have worked together as communities – staying at home, protecting our NHS and saving lives.

Today, we are seeing the benefits of that sacrifice across Wales as cases fall and the pressure on our NHS recedes. And our amazing vaccination programme goes every day from strength to strength. And this week, another first – as we become the first part of the UK to use the new Moderna vaccine. This is a remarkable story. A story of Wales-wide organisation and local commitment by hundreds of NHS staff, volunteers and military personnel. As the election approaches, I’m asking for your help, to allow us to finish that job – I gwblhau’r Gwaith pwysig ‘na.

Coronavirus is not over. The sober warning from the experts is that unless we continue to act carefully, there is a very real risk we will see a further wave of infections. The Welsh Labour government will go on using every ounce of experience, understanding and commitment to keep you and your families safe in the weeks and months that lie ahead. And we will go on doing that until this pandemic is firmly behind us. But that can only happen with a vote for Labour, in every part of Wales, on 6th May.

And a vote for Welsh Labour is a vote for ambition too – am uchelgais hefyd. Ambition to move Wales forward and put us firmly on the road to recovery. A future that is fairer, stronger and greener. Dyfodol swy’n techach, gryfach, a wyrddach. A Wales grounded in our values of cooperation not competition, taking care of one another, not divided against each other. A Wales in which no one is left behind and no-one held back. The manifesto we launch today is ambitious, radical and credible. Credible because of our record in government. Every promise we make in this election has been tested and costed. If we say we will do something, we know we have the powers to make it happen. If we say we will invest more funding, we have identified a credible way of doing it.

Our pledges for 2021 focus on the key challenges which face us here in Wales: support for our NHS and schools to recover from Coronavirus with the biggest ever catch up programme; paying the real living wage to our amazing social care staff; guaranteeing the pandemic will not create a lost generation of young people here in Wales; and playing our full part in that other great crisis of our time – the climate emergency – by preventing more plastic pollution and creating a new national forest. And we will do so much more. And this manifesto sets out how.

As we rebuild our health service we will do so from the values which are so important to us here in Wales. No tax on illness here in Wales; no extortionate car parking charges every time you need to see someone in hospital. In Wales Labour will make sure the NHS gets the investment it needs, in the new buildings, in the new treatments and in the workforce we need, today and for the future. We will build a new generation of 21st century surgeries, bringing together health and social care teams in the communities they serve. Making sure the pandemic doesn’t leave a legacy of mental ill health in its wake. And we will extend specialist support into schools; invest in easy-to-access support and we will combat stigma in the workplace.

As we rebuild our economy we will provide a young person’s guarantee of an offer of work, education or training for everyone under 25 as we create 125,000 new apprenticeships. We will pass a Social Partnership Act and put fair work at the heart of everything we do. We will step in where high street banks have abandoned our towns and villages with a new Community Bank – on high streets across Wales. We will re-regulate the buses so they are run for people not profit as we invest record amounts in our trains and in active travel. We have ambitious plans to protect thousands more homes from flooding; to expand renewable energy generation; and to make Wales a new global centre for wave technologies. We will prevent the pollution of our rivers. We will uphold the ban on fox hunting. And we will go on reducing TB in cattle without the need for a badger cull.

Labour is the only party for all of Wales and everyone, everywhere in Wales. That’s why today I’m so proud to say, as we’re standing in the shadow of the magnificent Clwydian Range and Dee Valley – this will become the site of the first new national park in Wales for 65 years. Our third medical school will be based here in North Wales and we will complete the refurbishment of Theatr Clwyd – that iconic arts building here in the north of Wales.

We have so much to be proud of in Wales. Mae ‘na gymaint i fod yn falch amdano yn Gymru. Our landscape is among the best in the world – just need to step outside and take a look. Our community spirit is unmatched – we’ve seen it time and time again over the last year. We are a strong and passionate country. I’ve been out on the campaign trail and I know people are immensely grateful that they live in Wales. Grateful of the way in which devolution has allowed us to keep Wales safe. But I will say to you what I say to them. If you value it – you’ve got to vote for it. Os ydych chi eisiau Llywodraeth Llafur Cymru – mae rhaid i chi pleidleisio Llafur Cymru. We can – and should – look to the future with optimism and with hope. With Welsh Labour we can and we will move Wales forward into that better future. Diolch o galon i chi gyd.