Welsh Liberal Democrat candidate for the Vale of Clwyd Mark Young said: “Feeding our children shouldn’t be about putting the easiest and quickest food on their plates, it should be a vital part of feeding their appetite for learning and feeding their ability to learn.

“That’s why we will introduce new nutritional standards for school meals, based on best practice and research, which would provide children with at least a third of their nutritional needs.

“We would re-direct funding from Labour’s free breakfast gimmick towards ensuring investment in delivering healthier and more nutritional school lunches. By making this a priority now we will help give our children the best start and the tools to live a healthy, productive and healthy life.

“Our aim is that much of this healthy food should be sourced and produced locally, giving children the chance to learn where their food comes from and how to get a healthy balance in their diets.

“We will ensure stricter controls on the marketing of food and drinks in schools to go alongside healthier meals. This will make a huge difference in tackling obesity and creating the best learning environment.”

 

                                    

 

Mel ab Owain

Arfon

Paul Brighton

Alyn and Deeside

Euron Hughes

Aberconwy

Bruce Roberts

Wrexham

Mark Young

Vale of Clwyd

 

 Assembly List Candidates

 

Eleanor Burnham	North Wales
Bobby Feeley	North Wales
Tudor Jones	North Wales

 

 

 

Labour’s failure to meet their target of getting all school buildings fit for purpose by 2010 will be a major obstacle to the improvement of academic standards, the Welsh Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson, Peter Black, has said.

Mr. Black was responding to comments in the annual report of Schools Inspectorate Agency, Estyn, that children’s education benefits from the modernisation of their school and that the advantages are even greater in areas with high levels of social and economic deprivation. New or refurbished buildings allow schools to offer a greater quality of teaching and a wider range of subjects says the Chief Inspector for Wales.

“Estyn is quite clear in their report that the dire state of many of our school buildings is a major obstacle to better educational attainment,” said Mr. Black. “The failure of the Labour Assembly Government to meet their own target of getting all schools fit for purpose by 2010 has added to that problem. Even they have now acknowledged that this will not be possible.”

“I am aware of many schools where the building has deteriorated so badly that teachers have to contend with water pouring into their classrooms, variable temperatures and pieces falling off walls and ceilings. Although they are doing an excellent job coping nobody could argue that these are ideal circumstances and Estyn confirm this.”

“Although the Assembly Government has put a lot of money into school buildings they have not invested enough to meet their own target. Nor did they even establish the scale of the problem before they made their promise to put things right. As a result they have been left with egg on their face, but it is teachers and pupils who are suffering.”

Answers to parliamentary questions tabled by Ceredigion’s Welsh Liberal Democrat MP Mark Williams have highlighted the dangers of an EU rule that could force farmers to use electronic identification (EID) on their sheep by January 2008.

Following an urgent meeting on sheep EID between the FUW and the Ceredigion MP, Mr Williams, who is also Secretary of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hill Farming, tabled five Parliamentary Questions on EU plans to force the UK to introduce EID for sheep in January next year.

The answers, provided by Environment Minister, Ben Bradshaw, highlight massive costs for the industry that are unsustainable.

Commenting Mark Williams said:

“I am amazed that the Government are standing by while farmers are due to be saddled with a whopping £1,000 price tag, in less than a year’s time. Labour have already cut upland farm payments by a third in 2007, with the possibility of further cuts in 2008.

“If farmers are forced to fork out for this new tagging system, the livelihood of thousands of hill farmers in Wales will be put at risk. I fear that these extra costs will be the final nail in the coffin for many sheep farmers in Wales.

“Welsh Liberal Democrats have consistently argued that cuts in the Tir Mynydd budget must be reversed and the level of funding restored to that set in 2005-2006.

“As the Secretary of Parliament’s All Party Hill Farming Group, I will be pressing DEFRA Ministers to negotiate an exemption, or change of position at EU level to protect Wales’ upland farmers. If the Government are determined to introduce tagging, they must come up with an assistance package to meet these extra costs, or else farmers across Wales will go out of business.” Derek Morgan, Chairman of the FUW Hill Farming Committee, said:

“Sheep EID would mean farms, markets, slaughterhouses, and others involved in the sheep industry paying exorbitant costs for systems that have been shown not to work”

Mr Morgan was one of the farmers from across the UK who participated in the scientific EID trials that revealed the problems with the technology. Those problems included high percentages of animals failing to retain ear tags, and technological failures thought to be caused in part by environmental factors.

“My experience, and that of others, clearly demonstrated that, while this technology has a great deal of potential, we are many years away from a system that would work sufficiently well on Welsh hill farms.”

In response to Mr Williams’ questions, Ben Bradshaw estimated that the costs for a Welsh hill farm could be between £1303 and £1909 per year.

“Over the last 12 months hill farm incomes have fallen by 25 to 40 per cent; this regulation would represent a further cut of around 10 per cent, which would exacerbates our already dire situation” said Mr Morgan.

Figures recently released by the Institute of Rural Sciences at Aberystwyth University showed upland livestock farm incomes had fallen 40 per cent, to £11,958, while cattle and sheep enterprises on hill farms saw incomes drop by more than a third, to £9,626. The survey also showed upland sheep farm incomes to have fallen 25 per cent, to £15,952.

The estimated costs of sheep EID for UK markets was in the range £0.51 - £1.22 million, while slaughterhouses could expect to pay around £0.6 million.

“These are costs that will inevitably be passed on to farmers – and all for a system that has been shown to have major problems.”

The European Commission is expected to publish a report on the implementation of the rule shortly.

“We hope that the EU will see sense over this regulation, but their track record over other issues, such as banning the burial of dead animals, does not fill us with confidence.”

Welsh Liberal Democrats have responded strongly to the Competition Commission’s initial report on the UK’s grocery industry, published this morning.

The commission has been examining the supply chain, planning and land banks of the four big UK supermarkets.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats, who made an official submission to the inquiry, are concerned that the Commission have not had much evidence from farmers. In real terms, farmers in Wales receive 20% less for milk than they did in 1988, and 1,000 dairy farmers in England and Wales have gone out of business in the last year alone. The price farmers receive for their milk can be as low as 16-17p per litre - over 4p less than it costs to produce - yet it is sold in supermarkets at around 55-57p a litre.

Roger Williams, Liberal Democrat spokesman on Rural Affairs and MP for Brecon and Radnorshire, said:

“This document fails to recognise the increase in production costs that farmers have faced in recent years. The economics are simple – if the price paid to farmers for milk is less than it costs to produce, then farmers are clearly not getting a fair deal.

“I am worried that without urgent input from Wales’ farmers, the Commission will leave it to consumers to recognise the threat to farmers and change their buying habits. But when the big four supermarkets already control over 75% of the market, and with the practice of land banking rife, consumers simply don’t have the choice.

“There is a culture of fear between farmers and those they have commercial relationships with – whether that be supermarkets or suppliers. Food production is being squeezed out of Britain and the Commission need to recognise the real food security problems that this poses. Very often, imports do not meet the strict animal welfare standards we adopt here.

“The commission does recognise that milk prices in supermarkets have risen, and that the extra money has been pocketed by supermarkets, rather than passed on to farmers. Now is the time for Wales’ farmers to write directly to the commission to set out the problems they face. This is a unique opportunity for farmers and farming unions to make a strong case for reform of the grocery market. If farmers write to the commission, comparing their production costs with the price they are paid for milk, this will send a very strong message that reform is essential.”

On Liberal Democrat proposals, Mark Williams, Welsh Lib Dem MP for Ceredigion said:

“In our submission to the inquiry, we proposed that the Supermarket Code of Conduct should be scrapped and replaced with a Food Trade Inspector within the Office of Fair Trading. He would be able to proactively investigate abuses of market power at every step of the supply chain and ensure a fair deal for farmers.

“A fair price kitemark should also be introduced, working on the same principle as fair trade, so that consumers know that the producer has received a fair price from the supermarket for their goods.”

Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly leader Mike German, AM for South Wales East said: “The Welsh Liberal Democrats are serious about making the green switch for Wales. We start that by saying no to new nuclear power in Wales.

“We must reject new nuclear power if we are serious about developing safe, clean and green energy. The risk of nuclear waste being dumped across Wales is a toxic treasure trove that Tony Blair seems determined to leave as a legacy for future generations. The Welsh Liberal Democrats will stand-up for the safety of our communities from nuclear waste.

“We would demand the powers to make planning decisions on large-scale energy developments, such as nuclear stations, to be devolved to Wales. By doing this we can reject nuclear power and the dangerous waste that it brings, and get on with the serious job of turning Wales into a green powerhouse.”

Sir Menzies will attack Labour for 'abysmal failure' on crime The Liberal Democrats have called for a more "honest approach" to crime, with life sentences "meaning life". Party leader Sir Menzies Campbell said Labour's record in office had been one of "abysmal failure" and that the approach has to be "smarter".   "Tough community work" would be used as an alternative to prison, he said, with  those sent to prison given "fixed length sentences" in open court. Prisoners would also be put to work, with some earnings going to victims. 'Fixed terms' The fixed term sentences would have minimum and maximum terms announced by a judge in open court. Offenders would be eligible for parole after the minimum term and granted release on the say-so of a parole board. Sir Menzies said: "Liberal Democrats believe that sentences should mean what they say. "Life will mean life: only those that judges believe should stay in prison forever will be given a life sentence. "And nobody will be released earlier than the minimum term that they are given." Lib Dem research suggests that less than one in 100 crimes are dealt with in court. Sir Menzies said: "That means you are twice as likely to buy a winning lottery ticket as you are to be convicted in court of a crime that you have committed." He added: "And Britain's prison population has topped 80,000 for the first time in our history." 'What works' The Conservatives offer "nothing but empty rhetoric", he said. Sir Menzies also said: "To fight crime effectively, we don't need to get tougher; we need to get smarter. "A liberal approach to crime is an honest approach to crime. It is based on what works rather than what sounds good. "It targets the offender rather than the innocent. And it has the courage to engage with the criminal and reform their behaviour." Sir Menzies promised to divert money earmarked by the government for identity cards into putting more police on the streets. The Lib Dems would allow people to "take back" town centres, he will say, adding: "It is unacceptable that members of the public fear crime on their streets. "It is not liberal to tolerate intimidation and disorder. So we will empower members of the public to tackle this problem for themselves." The Licensing Act would be amended to make it easier to close "problem" pubs and clubs. He added: "It is only fair that money raised by prisoners in employment should go towards compensating their victims. "Prisoners shouldn't sit in their cells for 23 hours a day. They ought to be engaged in work that is productive and useful. "By making prisoners do real work for a real wage, we can also instil a sense of responsibility, enhance their skills and ensure that victims are properly compensated. "Prisoners will literally pay for their crimes, whilst gaining the skills and experiences needed to dissuade them from further offences."

 

 Trust in Wales Ymddiried yng Nghymru

 

WELSH LIBERAL DEMOCRATS DEMOCRATIAID RHYDDFRYDOL CYMRU

 

 Moves to cap massive GP salary rises are due to bad government planning, according to Welsh Liberal Democrat Health spokesperson Jenny Randerson AM.

“GP salaries are just another example of Government incompetence in the NHS. Ministers claimed they couldn’t anticipate GPs would meet government incentives to this degree, which is bad planning.

“The Government mishandled changes to the Oxygen contract, leaving many people short of vital supplies. They mishandled Agenda for Change, the new NHS pay structure, and now they have mishandled the way investment is directed at GPs.

“Costly government planning mistakes mean that the first thing to suffer is patient care, where less money is being invested.

“Of course nobody denies that we should fully reward doctors and nurses for all their hard work, but I want to see the emphasis on investing in patient care, and better financial planning for the future of the NHS.”

Welsh Liberal Democrat enterprise spokesperson Kirsty Williams, AM for Brecon and Radnorshire, said: “Creating a culture of entrepreneurship is the key to the future success of our economy in Wales.

“Young people are fearless, they see the opportunities and back themselves to achieve. We will encourage stronger ties between businesses and schools and colleges to provide young people with positive and inspirational role models, by getting local entrepreneurs in to schools to get the next generation thinking about business from a younger age.

“We would also promote all-Wales competitions and buddy programmes run through colleges, schools and business forums which encourage and promote young business skills amongst young people.

“Through competitions in schools we can give young people the skills and the confidence to become the Terry Matthews, Anita Roddick or Richard Branson of the future.”

The Welsh Lib Dems are committed to extending and promoting the role of nurses and pharmacists in testing, screening and monitoring for a range of conditions. These include such conditions as high blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol testing.

“By developing this community-based approach we will increase illness prevention, aid public education and enable those suffering from chronic conditions to manage their illness more effectively. Our proposal for health-hubs means that in some cases pharmacists, nurses, physiotherapists and GPs will be based under the same roof, alongside advice services, ensuring the most convenient healthcare possible.

“In other areas, being able to go to the local community pharmacist for a regular blood check-up, and for the pharmacist to prescribe medication, reduces pressures on GP time and is a simple way to tackle chronic conditions.

“We will increase and promote the use of extended prescribing by developing existing limited projects, so that appropriately trained nurses and pharmacists are able to prescribe a wide range of drugs. This puts patients first by making the healthcare far more accessible and patient-focused.

“In line with this we are committed to developing innovative use of new-technology in the health service. This includes developing round-the-clock access to consultant advice through telemedicine and telemetry, building innovative e-capacity measures such as e-prescribing and e-notifications.”

Today, the Welsh Liberal Democrats called on the Government to recognise the huge contribution that Wales can make to the planned £1bn Energy Technology Institute. The Welsh Liberal Democrats will be inviting members of the DTI Board to come to the Centre for Alternative Technology in Montgomeryshire to see a showcase of the cutting edge work of Wales’ green industries, research bodies and organizations.

Commenting Lembit Öpik, Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats and MP for Montgomeryshire, said:

“The new Energy Technology Institute’s natural home is Wales. With cutting edge green industries, eco-technology development, environmental research and an abundance of renewable energy resources, Wales ticks all the boxes.

“Companies in Wales like Dulas, PV Systems and British Aerospace, and organizations like the Centre for Alternative Technology, are on the frontline in developing innovative new environmental technologies.

Mark Williams, Welsh Liberal Democrat MP for Ceredigion, added:

“Wales has a world class environmental research base to build on through the outstanding work being carried out at IGER, Bangor, Abersytwyth, Cardiff and Swansea Universities.

“With some of the finest sites in Europe, for tidal power, wave power, biomass and biofuels, Wales is the perfect laboratory for developing new technologies that will be essential in the very near future. The Severn Estuary alone could generate three times as much power from the tides as a nuclear power station.

“Wales in turn could benefit hugely from the £1bn of funding up for grabs which could generate a large number of high skilled green jobs and stimulate the green economy and manufacturing base in Wales.

Lembit concluded saying:

“We want the Department of Trade and Industry to come to Wales and find out exactly what Wales has to offer. I’m convinced they won’t be disappointed.

“Wales can be the environmental capital of the UK and at the forefront of the new industrial revolution, as it was at the last. I sincerely hope that the Government will share this vision we have for Wales.”

Welsh Liberal Democrat housing spokesperson and AM for Montgomeryshire Mick Bates said: “We want communities to have as much power as possible to ensure a sufficient supply of affordable housing in their area. As part of this approach we will give councils the opportunity to prevent the sales of properties as second

“By requiring buyers of second homes to apply for planning permission for change of use - where councils wish to use this power – we can help stop houses being priced out of the reach of local people and prevent the spread of unoccupied homes.

“We expect to see this power being used in places such as Ceredigion, where because of the large proportion of holiday homes in some communities, local services such as schools and shops have to close.

“It is envisaged that this policy would only apply in instances where a home is changing hands, not for current second homes or second home owners. This power would be completely at the discretion of councils, it would be up them to decide if they want to require a change of use application for a house intended to be bought as a second home.

“We will also give councils the power to suspend the Right-to-buy. To promote the supply of affordable rented housing, we would expect this to happen initially in areas where the affordable housing crisis is at its worst, and for a specified period of time. Where councils are reluctant to do this, we would encourage the withdrawal of discounts on the Right-to-buy to allow local authorities to impose local occupancy conditions on sales.”

Notes/Nodiadau:

Welsh Liberal Democrats are picking a different reason to vote for them at the Welsh General Election five times a week from Jan 1. The reasons are drawn from their emerging program for government.

The trend in recent elections have been for the traditional parties to spin their messages as three this, and five that. The Welsh Liberal Democrats have a full programme for government comprising over 100 ideas to make a healthier, wealthier and wiser Wales.

Printed, Published and Promoted by Stephen Smith on behalf of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, all at 102 Bute Street, Cardiff, CF10 5AD

Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Leader Mike German today launched the party’s pre-manifesto – containing more than 70 key policy ideas for the Welsh General Election in ten major areas.

The document, entitled “Trust in Wales”, details the main policies. A full manifesto will be published nearer that date for a Welsh Liberal Democrat Government over the next four years.

Mike German AM said: “The pre-manifesto focuses on making sure healthcare is available when it’s needed, on creating a better learning environment and making Wales greener. It’s the first draft of our programme for government.

“These are the Welsh Liberal Democrat priorities for Wales. Campaigning for these priorities we offer substance and experience of delivering in government, rather than soundbites and empty spin. We have a radical vision for Wales: to give power back to individuals over their daily lives.

“This is the first detailed document from any party which sets out serious proposals to make the Assembly’s new powers work for the people of Wales. We are committed to stretching those powers to the maximum, to make a difference to our country’s future.

“This Labour administration has run out of ideas, run out of steam and will soon run out of time. Plaid Cymru only offer uncosted gimmicks and pie in the sky budgeting. And the Conservatives have never spoken for the people of Wales, and they never will. Deep down they are the same old Tories who opposed devolution and real social justice. They have not changed.

Jenny Willott MP, who is chairing the party’s election campaign - and who won Cardiff Central at the last General Election with a swing of almost 9% against Labour – said: “Liberal Democrats believe that people should be trusted to make their own decisions about their lives and their communities.

“Today we are setting out the key policies on which we will be campaigning across Wales. In the health service we will ensure more healthcare is delivered in the community and make sure that GP services, A&E units and a modern ambulance service work together to put patients first.

“In schools, we will ensure smaller class sizes, better school buildings and strong anti-bullying measures, so our children have the best start in life.

“We will also make Wales greener, saying no to new nuclear power, supporting new environmentally friendly technology and making it easier for families and communities to go green.

She concluded: “The Welsh Liberal Democrats are a growing force in Welsh politics. Since 2004 we have been the second largest party in local government and at the General Election we doubled the number of our MPs to become the second largest party from Wales at Westminster. We have won seats from Labour and Plaid Cymru: we can win in all parts of Wales, against any party.”

The pre-manifesto will be discussed by party members at the annual Spring Conference to be held in Swansea on March 9-11. The final manifesto will emerge from the conference.