PLAID CYMRU have announced plans that they believe could create up to 50,000 jobs in Wales. Plaid Cymru’s Westminster election candidates have hit Caernarfon’s high street to take the party’s plans to support business directly to those Small Medium sized Enterprises (SME) affected.
The party’s MP for Arfon, Hywel Williams, said that Plaid Cymru’s economic plans would support Wales’ SMEs, that could create up to 50,000 jobs in Wales. Williams said that Plaid Cymru would, ‘raise the number of Welsh public sector contracts awarded to Welsh businesses that could create up to 50,000 jobs in Wales, as well as lower business rates for SMEs to help all businesses with a rateable value of £15,000 where 83,000 businesses in Wales will benefit and 70,000 taken out of business rates altogether’. He went on to say Plaid would also help businesses access finance by establishing a Bank of Wales.
Speaking with The Herald, Hywel Williams said: “Up to 99% of Welsh businesses are SMEs and they are the backbone of our economy. That’s why supporting businesses is a top priority for Plaid Cymru. Plaid Cymru wants to tackle business rates in order to ease the pressure on businesses. By implementing our business rate relief scheme we can help 83,000 small businesses with their rates and lift 70,000 out of rates altogether. We also want to help small businesses get access to contracts. Through increasing the number of public sector contracts awarded to local companies we could support 50,000 jobs right across Wales. These are the kind of practical policies that will help businesses, create jobs and give town centres such as Caernarfon a much-needed economic boost.”
However, Wales Green Party leader, Pippa Bartoletti said: “Creating 50,000 jobs is easier said than done. What Wales really needs is a way out of perennial poverty in a changing world. We need to remove the stigma of means testing, the unfairness of the benefits system, and the slavery of workfare. We need to open the doors to opportunity and give people viable life choices.
“Greens would invest heavily in the renewables sector, bringing homegrown jobs in industries you can build a life on, industries that businesses will be proud to invest in, industries which will be here to stay. We have to think for tomorrow, not yesterday. Small businesses are the backbone of the future we wish to see, and Greens would prioritise them over large multinational corporations in every way.”
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