05/03/2016 Plaid Cymru Conference

Two months to the day before the Assembly election and the battle

between the parties is hotting up. Welcome to Conference 2016.

Good afternoon. Welcome to the fourth of our spring party political

conference programmes. Today it's the turn of Plaid Cymru who are

gathering in a seat they really want to take back from Labour, which is

lp. You too can join in the debate. -- which is Llanelli. No conference

programme will be complete without Vaughan Roderick. The outcome of the

election in May is uncertain for all parties. More so would you say for

Plaid Cymru than any of the others? I think it's an election that we are

entering with a huge number of variables. We have the European

referendum. The rise of Ukip. The possible demise of the Liberal

Democrats as an Assembly force. The problem for Plaid Cymru is this,

they don't have a long shopping list of constituencies seats they can

hope to pick up or might be able to pick up as the Conservatives have.

So they're very much dependent on the roulette wheel of the list.

Sometimes that can work in your favour, sometimes against. We know a

lot of seats in that regional section get decided by very small

margins. Plaid Cymru could be facing up to quite a grim election or quite

a good election. What there suspect any sign of at the moment is a

breakthrough election which is what they really want. It's the first

election for Leanne Wood as leader of party going into a Welsh general

election. Is there particular pressure on her to perform this

time? I think so. I think partly because the Assembly has now moved

from a four-year term to a five-year term. I think it's going to become

the norm for opposition party leaders to only be given one crack

at an Assembly election. If they don't do well, I don't see the

parties hanging around. I don't expect, unless this is successful,

to see either Leanne Wood or RT Davies leading their parties in

about a year or 18 months from now. Yes, it's crucial for her. She

wasn't a well-known figure before she became leader. She had all this

attention in last year's general election. If she can't translate

that into concrete electoral success, questions are certain to be

asked. Vaughan, thank you very much for now. Plenty more from Vaughan

during the afternoon. Keeping her ear to the ground for us at the

conference in Llanelli is our reporter Bethan Lewis. Good

afternoon. Good afternoon.

afternoon. after Leanne Wood's speech yesterday

that after Leanne Wood's speech yesterday

in a five-year opportunity to renew our democracy, to reappraise our

priorities as a nation and elect a new Government. To give a new

mandate for that Government to confront the challenges that we all

face. Too often in politics people are told there is no alternative.

Plaid Cymru will show that there is an alternative, that there is

nothing inevitable about the outcome of this election. Continued

stagnation deepening inequality is not bound to continue. We can chart

a different course and it's time to believe that that is possible.

APPLAUSE Yes, it's good to be back in this

fantastic part of our country. I want to take this opportunity to pay

tribute to the achievements that have been made in a short space of

time by Plaid Cymru led Carmarthenshire Council.

APPLAUSE Plaid Cymru took control of that

council under difficult circumstances last May and they're

in the process of turning the council around, despite those

difficulties. Council leader has recently announced that almost 3,000

staff on the lowest pay grade are to get a 6. 4% pay increase as the

council moves towards paying a living wage.

APPLAUSE Proposed cuts to respite care for

disabled children and young people have been rejected and a rural

enterprise fund will help people set up new businesses and will also help

existing firms create new jobs. Economic growth will be promoted by

a number of capital investments, extra ?2. 4 million in road repairs,

a new leisure centre for Llanelli and more investment in flood

defences. Labour said it couldn't be done. But within months of them

being removed from office, Plaid Cymru is getting on and doing it.

APPLAUSE The party of Wales rejects the

mantra that there is no alternative, here in Carmarthenshire and

everywhere else. We have shown what that alternative looks like and now

we are going to demonstrate that to the entire nation. And what a team

of candidates we have here in Carmarthenshire at these elections.

The multi-talented former MP Adam Price.

The erudite and determined Simon Thomas. The hard-working and

compassionate Helen Mary Jones here in Llanelli.

And with police commissioner candidates Dafydd Llanelli they are

a formidable team with a fantastic wealth of experience and expertise

between them. All will bring so much, not just to Plaid Cymru's

team, but to Welsh politics as a whole. Now everyone knows there's

much more to politics than just policy. Politics is about people

too. I have such a talented team of people who all bring different

expertise and skills to the table, who together have got what it takes

to turn this country around. But before we look to the future, I

would like to take this opportunity to thank some of those who have

worked hard over many years for devolution, often unseen and behind

the scenes, who will be retiring from the Assembly at this election.

Carmarthenshire's very own Rhodri Glyn Thomas.

APPLAUSE Alongside Alun Fred Jones and

Jocelyn Davies. APPLAUSE

All three have served their communities with distinction and all

three also served their country as Ministers. Wales is a better country

today for their endeavours. On behalf of all of us, I want to say a

big thank you for your dedication, for your service to Plaid Cymru, and

to Wales. APPLAUSE

And for the future, we have an excellent team of strong candidates

to follow in your footsteps who are ready to lead for Wales, who are

ready to tackle the problems that are facing all of us. So what are

those problems? In this nation the birthplace of the National Health

Service, it is a scandal that there are fewer doctors per head than

almost any other country in Europe. The average wait for a hip operation

is now 197 days. We have some GP practices turning all but emergency

cases away, people lying on the floors of A departments waiting

for hours to be seen. The conditions that our hard-working frontline NHS

staff have to endure because so many of their colleagues have quit in

despair is shocking. And we want to put that right. This is what Labour

celebrates as the halfway point of their decade of delivery. In this

nation one of the pioneers of mass education, one in four of the

poorest children leave primary school unable to read well. Funding

for part-time further education courses under the current Labour

Government have been slashed by 50% and there are 90,000 fewer adults in

part-time learning than there were ten years ago. We have fewer

engineers per head than any other nation in the UK. The people who

make things. Too many of our schools are in a state of disrepair. This

nation, the leading light of the last industrial revolution, now lags

behind in terms of wages, business start-ups. In fact, by almost every

measure our economic performance is either stagnant or in decline. Our

steel industry is in a critical state. Yet our current Labour

Government cannot be bothered to give it life support. 65,000 young

people are out of work and jobs in manufacturing sector have been

slashed by 21%. That's 40,000 jobs lost in Wales since 2001. Labour's

decade of delivery has been more like decades of decay. But it

doesn't have to be like this. People have a choice. Will they give Labour

another five years to finish Wales off? Or will people vote to replace

them with a team of people who believe in our country, who want to

rebuild it and strengthen it? A team who believes in and wants to support

our health workers, our teachers, our business leaders, our

communities. Will they give the party of Wales the mandate that we

need to lead this nation? If Labour are allowed another five years and

if the current pattern continues, then by the end of this decade, two

decades of Labour rule, I would ask you to consider what the state of

our public services and our economy will be. If people in Wales keep

doing what they've always done with their ballot papers, then Labour

will keep on doing what they've always done to our NHS, to our

schools, and to our industries. I have heard already that what we seek

to achieve at this election and beyond cannot be done. Throughout

the course of our history, indeed all history, those who seek

fundamental change have had their detractors. Some cannot and some do

not want to believe that a successful Wales is possible. But I

know and I think most of you out there know too that this is not as

good as it gets for Wales. APPLAUSE

So many of you understand that our people have been taken for granted

for far too long, that you might have given a lifetime of loyalty to

one party, but you are now asking what you are getting back in return?

I would call on all of those people who are feeling this way to get

behind Plaid Cymru this time. APPLAUSE We know that Wales has got

what it takes. We believe in our ability to solve our problems for

ourselves. Why not get behind a team of people who refuses to accept that

we have problems here that cannot be fixed? The party of Wales knows that

another Wales is possible and today we can see the glimmers of those

possibilities. Did you know that world leading generalet yiss at

Swansea University are bind nearing efforts to eradicate the zika virus?

Did you know that scientists in Cardiff are playing a crucial role

in physics in discovering the biggest discovery in physics in over

a century? The long-awaited gravity waves breakthrough. Did you know

that this country's creative industries sector is worth ?1

billion a year to our economy and employers nearly 30,000 people? And

that Wales has a world leading manufacturing sector in automotives

and aerospace? We have unrifled potential in green energy and let's

not forget our amazing athletes. Our rugby players, cyclists, swimmers,

gymnasts, and, of course, our national football team who will take

their place among Europe's finest this summer.

Wales is not a country on its knees, it is a nation held back by an

underperforming government. APPLAUSE

I would ask people in this forthcoming election not just to

judge Labour's domestic record. Consider how we can make our

feelings known to the Tories in Westminster. We should be angry at

our government's impotence to stand up for the interest of our people

against the damaging policies foisted upon us by the Tory

government in Westminster. APPLAUSE

Just compare the situation in Wales to that of Scotland. The Scottish

Government has managed secure a financial deal that protects people

in that country. The Welsh government could not even secure for

Wales devolution settlement that would give us parity with London,

let alone parity with other devolved nations. The Northern Ireland

executive has secured devolution of corporation tax and hundreds of

millions of pounds in extra funding. Where is the fight from our

government? The Labour Welsh government has not won a single

extra penny for Wales or a single significant additional economic

lever. In fact, they have spent their time accusing Plaid Cymru of

demanding too much funding for Wales. Other governments stand up

for their people. Other governments win concessions for their countries.

Our government has surrendered. While Scotland, Northern Ireland,

London and even Manchester are to be in control of policing, for example,

where is the determination to get hold of policing powers from our

government? The first Minister cannot even win backing on the

simple matters. He has failed to win around his own colleagues in London

to pressurise the UK government into postponing the EU referendum. If he

cannot persuade his own colleagues in London, then how on earth is he

going to persuade conservatives? -- the Conservatives?

APPLAUSE Through their insistence on holding the EU referendum in June,

the UK Government is denying the rights to all devolved nations to a

full and uninhibited national election campaign. There is no doubt

in my mind that it is in our country's short, medium and

long-term interest to remain a part of the European Union. Yes, we want

a full voice. Yes, there are aspects of that union we would want to put

right, and yes, the Democratic structures can be improved. But

without a doubt the EU is an organisation that has located the

longest unbroken period of peace on this continent in history.

APPLAUSE It is through cooperation between the countries of Europe that

all are best placed to overcome the major issues that do not stop at

national borders. Rights, climate change, conflict resolution, terror,

trade, migration. None of these issues will go away by dulling out

of the EU. They are challenges that can be best confronted together as

Europeans rather than in conflict or in composition is individual

nations. Plaid Cymru once the EU to work better for its citizens, but

the EU as a model of international cooperation serves Wales far better

than the UK model of a centralised multinational superstate. I say to

people in Wales, given the overlap between the assembly campaign and

the EU referendum campaign, and the risk that the debate we need to have

will get drowned out here in Wales, separate the two campaigns. In May,

vote for the future of our NHS. In May, both for Wales. In June, think

about Europe. It suits the Tories and Labour to both present made's

election is and Labour to both present made's

But the greatest danger they pose, without doubt, is to our national

health service. Wales cannot afford for the Welsh NHS to have its

strings pulled by Jeremy Hunt in Whitehall by a Tory Welsh Health

Minister. APPLAUSE The long-term implications

of that spell disaster. Now, I don't want to see junior doctors treated

as badly here as they were in England. We cannot afford to allow

the Tories to privatise the Welsh NHS through the back door as they

are doing in England. There have been billions pounds worth of

private NHS contracts awarded in England since just 2013, and

billions more are expected in the coming months. It would be near

impossible to reverse the privatisation of the Welsh NHS and

that is why we can never allow that to be a Tory Welsh Health Minister.

APPLAUSE When it comes to the Welsh NHS, let

people be in no doubt. Why Labour -- while Labour run it down, the Tories

want to sell it off. Plaid Cymru has a vision and programme to create a

Wales that is wealthier and well-educated. Our team has the

education to make it happen. We have a deliverable programme of ideas

that will build our country the institutions and infrastructure that

well functioning economies must have. My team has gone out to so

many communities and we have listened to what people have to say.

We have listened to their concerns, and we have sought to find

solutions. Our programme is designed to tackle what people tell us are

the main problems. The state of the economy, our living environment or

the public services on which we all depend. Plaid Cymru's solutions will

enable us to leverage our small country's advantage. It is a package

which together as a whole take advantage of our size, big enough to

tackle beyond the local but small enough to be manageable. Plaid

Cymru's policies are laid out in three ambitions with three steps

within each of those ambitions. Our first royalty is the nation's help.

-- priority. Our ambition is to see a Wales that is well with a free

universal health service that is run for people and not for profit, kept

in public hands for the public good. While many of you have told us about

your positive experiences of their health service, and you have

particularly praised the NHS staff, many NHS workers have told us how

they are overworked and how so many of their colleagues are leaving the

service altogether. We cannot carry on like this. You told us about

other problems with the health service. If you are suspected of

having cancer, you should not have to wait so long. Plaid Cymru's

Cancer contract will prevent cancer, support those with a diagnosis, end

the postcode lottery for new drugs and treatment, and we will cut

waiting times so no one has to wait longer than 28 days for a diagnosis

for the all clear. APPLAUSE Three new cancer diagnostic

centres will be dealt to deliver on this pledge and one of those will be

built in the north. You told us that you are waiting too long for an

appointment with a GP, queueing for hours at A, or waiting on a long

list for an operation because of staff shortages. It is not just

frustrating but in some cases can be painful. I have dealt with a

harrowing case this week, for examples. An Army veteran with

post-traumatic stress disorder and took his own life while waiting to

be seen by mental health professionals. We have heeded the

warnings made by those on the front line. Plaid Cymru will invest in the

health workforce and we will bring down waiting times by training and

recruiting an extra thousand doctors and 5000 nurses. And you have told

us that it is not fair that older people who need care or those who

develop dementia have to pay for their care. So Plaid Cymru will end

the artificial divide between health and social care and we will provide

free care for older people, starting by abolishing charges for care and

people with dementia within the next five years.

APPLAUSE And we will pay for these commitments by ring fencing the

Welsh health budget, prioritising health, and we will make sure that

the promised new money that comes to Wales for health will be spent in

its entirety on health and social care. The three point hands for a

well Wales is designed to end the situation where avoidable death

rates are about 50% higher in Wales than in neighbouring countries. --

plan. My grandmother never tired of telling me stories as a child about

how hard life was or how generation growing up during the 1930s. She was

sent off to London to work in service at the age of just 14, so

that money could be sent back home. That generation enjoyed great

hardships and they made big sacrifices. In return, they were

promised that they would be cared for from the cradle to the grave. As

well as honouring that promise to them in hell, a Plaid Cymru

government would also ensure that today's generation of children are

given the best start in life. A Plaid Cymru government will not let

our young people down. Our three steps forward for education will

make sure all of our young people are catered for, from the cradle

through to the career. Every parent without exception will say that they

want the best start for their child, and the hope from every generation

is that the next one is better than the last. Plaid Cymru will introduce

a national cradle to career education system within which our

young people will thrive. You told us that you know of many parents who

want to work but are struggling to make ends meet because of the high

costs of child care. We will invest in early years education, beginning

the process of creating a national childcare service, delivering free

full-time places for all three-year-olds by the end of the

next assembly. We will reward the highest skills

teachers and teaching assistants with a pay rise. You told us that

you want to see our young people have the very best opportunities to

thrive and work here in Wales to boost our economy. So we will fund

our universities properly and will encourage graduates to come back

home and contribute to our economic renewal by writing off up to ?18,000

of their student debts. And to complete this circle, Plaid Cymru

will guarantee a job or a training place for all under-25s and to

fulfil that we will create 50,000 new apprenticeship places. Wales'

success politically, socially and in terms of improving our public

services, hinges on turning around our economic fortunes. Plaid Cymru's

ambition is to create a wealthier Wales, and this means closing the

gap between this country and our neighbours. Among my first acts as

First Minister in May will be to initiate talks with the UK

Government to address the chronic and deep-rooted divide in economic

prosperity between Wales and the rest of the UK. However, the full

achievement of parity will require further economic powers. We will

therefore initiate emergency talks with the UK Government to address

the chronic and deep-rooted divide in economic prosperity between Wales

and the rest of the UK. We will seek agreement on the establishment of an

independent commission on economic equalisation to make sure that Wales

has the powers and the resources that we need to close that

prosperity gap within a generation. Our long-term plan will consist of

three dimensions. Raising skill levels, an active industrial

strategy and a comprehensive plan for infrastructure investment. The

party of Wales is determined to get this country back on its feet. You

told us that you wanted to see transport links improved. So we will

undertake the biggest investment in transport, green energy and digital

infrastructure through the establishment of a new national

infrastructure commission. You told us that not enough is being done to

tell the world about some of our great products and the fantastic

features that we have as a business destination and that so much more

could be done to promote our reputation as an exporting nation.

So we are going to establish a WDA which will find new opportunities

for Welsh exports and promote Welsh businesses and Wales as a business

destination. And you told us that you are fed up with people here

having lower wages and lower prosperity than people elsewhere in

the UK. That is why we will boost the income of small firms by cutting

business rates and we will make sure that when public contracts are

awarded, more of that work is given to firms that are in Wales in order

to lock that Welsh pound much more into our communities. Plaid Cymru's

economic principles are based on decentralism and equality.

Opportunities for well paid work must be available across the nation,

not just concentrated in one corner. We all know that trickle down

doesn't work. No one believes that money spent in one area will provide

benefits to people somewhere else. Sustainable economic development

would not result in the entire borrowing capacity of a Government

spent in one small corner of Wales as is being proposed with the new M4

by the current Government. Plaid Cymru wants to ensure that all parts

of Wales see investment in their communities. So our package of

measures, focussing on building a well Wales, a well educated Wales

and a wealthier Wales, will improve the day-to-day lives of our citizens

and allow our country and everyone in it to realise their full

potential. APPLAUSE

Conference, it's been 480 years since the first act of union. 480

years on, and it's no longer legal constraints that hold our nation

back. Wales is held back today by the two establishment parties who

both have an interest in maintaining the status quo. I have said many

times that there is nothing inevitable about this country and I

sincerely believe that to be true. As one eminent economist once said,

in Wales, one thing is certain, her poverty stems from conviction, not

from fact. It's political, not economic in origin. It's a poverty

of structure, in the midst of plentiful resources. Friends, we

have just 62 days to undo nearly 500 years of false conviction. 62 days

to liberate each other from a mindset that says our country's fate

is sealed. 62 days to secure five years of a Plaid Cymru Government

that will deliver the change Wales needs.

APPLAUSE That was Leanne Wood yesterday with

an impassioned plea to Labour supporters to turn their attentions

to Plaid. Vaughan, I suppose the problem for Plaid in that respect is

that apart from Llanelli there are few constituencies, if any, where

Plaid are going head-to-head with Labour? Well, that's right. The

other main target is Conservative-held. They're not

ruling out some head-to-head Labour battles. Leanne Wood is standing in

Rhondda, for instance. Caerphilly might be competitive. They're even

talking about Cardiff West. There aren't that many seats, constituency

seats that are going to switch from Labour to Plaid, which leaves Plaid

very dependent on the roulette of the regionalries -- of the

regionalries lists. -- regional lists. This is a very unpredictable

election. It could go either way. Some of the opposition parties are

saying this is a rather sort of two-faced attack by Plaid, bearing

in mind that in the past they have struck deals with Labour in the

Assembly, that they're natural ally, if you like, are the Labour Party.

Well, the Conservatives are saying that. They would say that, wouldn't

they? Because Labour throughout the life of the Assembly has chosen to

do deals, occasionally coalitions, either with the Liberal Democrats or

with Plaid Cymru. Labour has deliberately kept the Conservatives

at arm's length, that suited the Conservatives, as well. So, you

can't be surprised at that attack coming from the Conservatives. What

is true, though, is that we could be heading towards an Assembly where we

have two centre-left parties and two centre-right parties, rather than

three centre-left parties and one centre-right party. That will change

the dynamic of the Assembly because you will have two parties, Labour

and Plaid, competing on the left. Two parties, Ukip and the

Conservatives, competing on the right. Often there is an old line in

politics, you know, your opponents are on the other side of the

chamber, your enemies are behind you. In a sense, parties which have

similar political outlooks very often have far stronger feelings

similar political outlooks very time. Because in 2007 the reason it

took so long was you had two possible First Ministers, Rhodri

Morgan and Win Jones. I don't think the maths will put us there this

time given Leanne Wood has ruled out a deal with the Conservatives.

Vaughan, thank you very much. Plaid's MEP also addressed the

conference, not surprisingly, the main theme of Jill Evans' speech was

Wales relationship with Europe. Wales' natural home is in Europe.

The European Union has promoted our interests and shared our values. I

want to see this relationship develop further and flourish. The EU

has been an amazing achievement. It's not without its problems, of

course, very serious problems. But I firmly believe that we have a better

chance of solving those problems together than apart. Because leaving

the EU won't take the problems away. Wales benefits from EU membership,

economically, socially and culturally. Through the EU we have

laws on equality, on the environment, on workers and

consumers' rights, on farming and food quality and we have taken

action to tackle climate change and much, much more than that. We have

been able to control the chemicals in our environment and clean up our

rivers. No one likes rules and regulations, but they do protect us.

It's often the UK or the Welsh Government that's responsible for

the overburdening, the gold-plating as it's called, the added

regulations, not the EU. But the EU is blamed. Well, let's show who is

responsible. It's about time the meetings of Government leaders in

Brussels were opened up so we can see who votes which way. There's too

much secrecy. We want an open and an honest Europe.

APPLAUSE But look at the big picture. The EU

has done more for Wales than the UK would have done on its own. But our

work doesn't stop with the referendum. By no means. We want a

stronger voice for Wales and we will continue to work for that with an

ambitious and an active Welsh Government we can have a much

greater role. We could make changes now in Wales and I am not talking

about European treaty changes, but changes in the way the UK works, the

UK structures, that would give Wales more influence on EU policies. To do

that, we need a Plaid Cymru Welsh Government. We can't lose the voice

we have in Europe. We have made a mark and we can contribute a lot

more to building a fairer and a better society but we can't do that

if we have no voice and no influence.

APPLAUSE Change is happening. Change of a

different kind. Change of a positive kind. There's a progressive movement

across the European Union and Plaid Cymru is part of that. The European

free alliance that we belong to has been working since the 1980s for a

different kind of Europe, a Europe that truly recognises the value of

diversity, that doesn't give powers just to the member states, but

recognises the real diversionity and democracy across Europe, recognises

that bringing Europe to the peoples means political equality for all

nations and historic regions, all our languages and our cultures. We

have a lot to change about the EU which can only be done from within.

There's no point in us shouting from the sidelines. We have to be there

as a nation, standing alongside our partners, working for democracy,

working for Wales. Europe is constantly changing and

evolving. We can help change it, it is not static. The EU needs to be

more accountable and accessible. Prioritise people and not profits.

The European Parliament is as much a Parliament for Wales as it is for

any other nation. We must regain European democracy for the people of

Wales and all the people of Europe. We see Wales's future firmly as in

Europe. In a practical way, Europe has given us the freedom to travel,

to live, to study and work in other countries, and the same freedom for

people from other countries to contribute to our society and

economy in Wales. That was Jill Evans on the merits of continuing

membership of the EU. We go to the conference where I am joined live by

the former Plaid Cymru MP in Caernarvon East. Good afternoon, Mr

Price. Good afternoon. You predicted Labour would lose the election in

May, does that mean lose the moral authority to govern, lose seats or

be relegated as the largest party in the assembly? I would say that they

have already lost the moral authority based on their record of

failure. We have very serious problems in the Welsh economy and

Welsh society and Welsh public services. It makes me increasingly

angry to see what is happening to my country, so I think they have lost

their moral mandate already, but I think that is slowly coming across

to the people I speak to on the doorstep in Carmarthenshire and

Wales. Former Labour voters whose loyalty over generations has really

been rewarded with this terrible lack of complacency. If you or I or

any member of Plaid Cymru or a citizen of Wales were First

Minister, we would have that sense of ambition, that sense of taking

the initiative and trying to make our country a better place, and we

don't see that from the Labour Party or the Welsh Labour government at

the moment, unfortunately. The party has run out of steam, run out of

ideas, and I think the people of Wales are realising that. Would you

stop at anything to try and throw them out of office? You have

instigated talks with the Lib Dems recently and the Green Party which

came to nothing. Would you for example talk to other parties like

the Conservatives if you had a sufficient number of seats to govern

alone? I have been very consistent about this over the years. I will

work with regressive is, I am a pluralist by my very nature. I don't

think anybody has a monopoly on the truth. A part of this problem with

this single party statement mentality is the idea that one party

can rule or should rule and produce the changes we need. I have always

said I want to work with others. Unfortunately, that will not be

possible. One of the parties did not want to work with us for the benefit

of Wales, so Plaid Cymru will have to do it on its own as a party, but

we can't do it on its own. In this sense, we need the people of Wales

and supporters. We can be a vehicle for change and I sincerely believe

the people of Wales wants to see this. The people of Wales have two

vote for the National party, the party of Wales, and see the fresh

new ideas that we saw lots of Ming in Scotland as a result of the first

nonlabour government there. -- blossoming. I believe people are

yearning from it but they have two vote for it in 61 days' time. Has

there been something wrong with the Plaid Cymru offer over the years?

You had a good election in 1999 but you have made no breakthrough since

then. You haven't, for example, when seat in the Welsh valleys which you

one in 99, what has gone wrong since the high ground of then? Well, I

think there have been peaks and troughs in support for the party

over the years, and in Carmarthenshire where we won our

first Parliamentary seat 50 years ago... You know, it is impossible --

it is possible to inspire people to believe there is an alternative. In

Wales, we have had 100 years of single party rule effectively. You

can break through that. It is a matter of political self-confidence.

The people of Wales, in so many ways and so many areas of our lives, we

are brought up to believe there is no other way and what we see around

us is as it will always be. We have to breakthrough that lack of self

belief. We did in 1999 and within or partially in 2007 where we managed

to win back Llanelli. I believe we will do it in nine days' time. The

water is warm, the people are receptive, and the people are also

willing the party on in Wales, they want us to believe that they can

believe. We want to work together here, we have to create a national

self-confidence to say, it does not have to be this way, we can have a

different government and the different Wales. You say there was

another way, and the academic Laura McAllister says the other way is

just more of the same and your offer is very similar, too similar, to the

Labour of. I challenge that. Which is the party with the most radical

policy on higher education? It is this party. No party has come up

with this idea of actually creating an incentive so that instead of

losing our talent as we currently are as a nation, a greater brain

drain than any other country in Europe, we have a brain gain so we

can invest that talent and is built into the Welsh economy. -- talent

and skill. A few weeks ago, the Labour Party were saying it will

never work, we do not have the money for it. We have gone from having a

policy not ambitious enough to a policy that is too ambitious. There

is no party in this election presenting such a complete and

comprehensive package of transformation for the economy, some

I totally challenge that and when you see the manifest though, hiding

away between canvassing and working together, crowd sourcing using the

incredible ideas and expertise that we have in Wales to produce the most

exciting programme of government that any party has ever produced...

On this specifics, on health for example, you are talking about a

costly reintegration, at a time when money is tight and when people will

be concentrating on waiting lists, wondering when they will have their

hip replacements. How will that help people in Wales who are currently

waiting longer than they should on waiting lists? It is the most

radical reform of the NHS that we have had in over 50 years. We are

going back to the original founding principles of the NHS, which is that

it should be free at the point of need. Not just in the health service

but in terms of social care because as we age as a day, the difference

between health and care is vanishing. There is a continuum

between health and care and part of the problem with the waiting times

crisis, which is an epidemic, you know, huge proportions in West Wales

and across Wales, part of the problem is that we have two systems

that are insufficiently connected and we are bringing them together.

You can't have a system in social care which involves charging

otherwise you will have delayed transfers of care. Over 450 people

are in beds in hospitals in Wales that do not need to be there,

preventing people that need to be there from having the care they

deserve. Yes, that is ambitious, we have done our homework and it is

costed, but that is the vision we expect from a party that will take

our country forward. We're not seeing it from anyone else. Free

elections since Leanne Wood was elected leader, you have not made

ground in some of those elections and you have lost ground in some of

them, will she have to step up to the mark this time and if not we'll

fingers point in her direction? Is the party of Wales, the election

that really matter as, the referendum on the fate of our

country, that is the Welsh election, and all our efforts and energies,

our creativity and initiative has been focused on this election in six

to one days. Which is why she has to do well? That will make the

difference and so we have been focused on that. Which is why she

has to do well? I will make a prediction or you, OK? There would

be a huge shock in nine weeks' time, a political earthquake. Our friends

in the media will have missed it in the run-up, but if you go out there

and do what I am doing, getting out of the studio in Cardiff, and

actually go and speak to people on the doorstep and see the appetite

for change, Wales is going to have a different government with new ideas

in nine weeks' time. There will be a political earthquake that will

change the tectonic plates of Westminster politics more

importantly than that, it will change the lives of the people of

Wales for the better. The result of that earthquake, where will it leave

Plaid Cymru in terms of assembly seats? I think we will have a Plaid

Cymru government. The SNP, a few months before the election in 2007,

were 14 points behind, no one was predicting what would happen in

2007. The same thing will happen here in Wales. We are going to have

a political revolution made by the people of Wales, and for the first

time in 20 years, a government that is led by a party that does not take

its orders from headquarters in any other city because it is made up of

the people of Wales, it is about Wales, it will give us the vision

and the future that our country is crying out for.

and the future that our country is joining us from Llanelli. Plaid

Cymru wants to take back Llanelli from Labour. Labour took a seat in

Cardiff Bay from them five years ago. The candidate is Mary Jones and

this is her message to the conference.

SPEAKS WELSH. I was so proud to support so many community campaigns.

SPEAKS WELSH. I was so proud to field of

which is all very well and may be, as a resident said to

which is all very well and may be, doorstep, better than nothing. Well,

I can tell you that if I am elected in May, I won't be settling for

services for our community that are better than nothing.

APPLAUSE The whole health service is

struggling. ,324 operations frp cancelled in our hospital alone in

the last two-and-a-half years -- 6,324. 6,324 patients left in pain

due to lack of staff, lack of equipment, lack of beds. And staff

are at the end of their tethers. You may see them smiling in photo

opportunities with the Labour health Minister, but when I meet them on

the doorstep and the supermarket, it's a different story. Overwork,

stress and anger about not being able to care for their patients in

the way they've been trained to. Experienced, caring professionals,

seriously considering quitting the profession altogether. Labour is

letting our health service down, staff and patients. Staff are doing

their best but they need support. Plaid has practical costed policies

that would bring 150 extra healthcare professionals to the

Llanelli area, break down the barriers between health and care and

free staff from pointless bureaucracy. We can only Plaid can

deliver the change our health service needs.

APPLAUSE Our economy in Llanelli undoubtedly

took a battering in the 80s but we have fought back. When the economy

crashed in 2008 I worked hard to ensure that Llanelli firms would

benefit from the proact and react schemes that Plaid brought in under

the One Wales Government. Investing for the future, and helping

companies keep staff on and retrain them, instead of having to let them

go. I was so pleased to visit a couple of weeks ago one of the

companies supported at that time. Supported by a committed workforce

and an innovative management, Government support at the right

time, there are now twice as many people working there in a

manufacturing plant as there were in 2008. And during that time business

rates were cut for some of our small businesses to help them through

tough times. But now our economy is stuck. The value of exports from

Wales has fallen by ?2. 6 billion in the last two years. There are great

companies that are bucking that trend but it's not good enough.

Where is our Labour Government been in all that time? Plaid in

Government will set up a new Welsh Development Agency to drive Welsh

sales abroad. We will establish a new national commission on

infrastructure, railways, roads, broadband, and that will ensure that

companies all over Wales can compete fairly. And we will take thousands

of small businesses out of business rates altogether, which, with the

major investment that Plaid councils are already delivering, will make a

huge difference, for example, to traders in our market in Llanelli.

Conference, back in our history Llanelli was a great generator of

wealth. Our people gave their strength, their health, and often

our beautiful natural environment, mostly to fill the pockets of

others. Now is the time to harness all that energy, all that creativity

that is in our communities to create wealth that can transform the future

for us all. It is possible. It is necessary. And the time to elect a

Government to make it happen is now, a Plaid Cymru Government.

APPLAUSE And, of course, I hope to be there

to ensure once again that Llanelli gets its fair share. I hope to be

part of that team that will be delivering the change our economy

needs. This part of Wales has a track record of making history, of

believing in a future for Wales. Perhaps it's going a bit far back to

refer to the Welsh men and women who opened the gates of the Castle,

might be stretching it a bit in for certain in 1966, 50 years ago,

Carmarthenshire elected Plaid Cymru's first MP, sending shockwaves

through the British establishment as the voice of Wales was raised once

again. And for certain, it was the votes of the people of

Carmarthenshire that delivered the yes vote in the 1997 referendum that

gave us our first democratic forum for Wales, for all its faults, our

own, our own Assembly. This year, we have the opportunity to make history

again. I am asking the people of Llanelli to give me the opportunity

once again to serve our communities, to help harness all the energy and

commitment that is in those communities, to build the future

that we all deserve but more. I am asking the people of Llanelli and

the people of Wales to take a bold step and elect a Government that

believes in Wales. A Government that is ambitious for Wales, a Government

that has a vision of our future as a nation and then practical plans to

deliver that vision. Wales first, Plaid Cymru Government. Friends, for

far too long we have lived under governments that have held us back

and kept us down. Tacitally accepting that poverty in Wales is

somehow inevitable and accepting that it's OK to provide us with

public services that are better than nothing. Enough is enough. No more.

We need to wake up on May 6th to a new Government, a Government that

can deliver the change that Wales needs and I believe with all my

heart that if we all do all that we can in the next 62 days, we will

wake up on May 6th with our leader, my friend, Leanne Wood, as our First

Minister. It really is the time for the change Wales needs.

APPLAUSE That was Helen Mary Jones, bidding

to return to the Assembly as the member for Llanelli. Vaughan, I am

sure most people would agree that as marginals go this is one of the

interesting ones with neutral observers saying that you have two

very strong candidates here in Helen Mary Jones and the Labour candidate

Lee Walters. Yes, it's a seat that's been back and forward. It's always

close. Helen mayor jib Jones has a few things going for her -- Mary

Jones. One of those, there was not a spoiler candidate, but a candidate

for People's Choice at the last election. Took about 3,000 votes and

most think a lot of those votes came from Helen Mary Jones. What we don't

know is the impact Ukip will have in Llanelli. If you look at the general

election, Labour had a very good result in the general election in

Llanelli. Plaid had put up a strong candidate, a strong campaign and

Labour actually pulled ahead quite substantially, ahead of Plaid in the

general election. So, it's all to play for in that seat. Both parties

know it. Labour do have a slight disadvantage, though, this time in

that in the past they've been able to pour workers into Llanelli. They

lost Gower, one of the adjoining constituencies to the Conservatives

in the general election. So, they will be playing defensive across a

wider range of seats in this Assembly election, than they have in

the past. Vaughan, thank you very much. Let's cross over back to

Llanelli. Bethan is joined by some guests.

Thanks. Yes, I am joined by two people who will be battling for

votes in other parts of Wales. Stefan Lewis standing in the

south-east. We heard you have a message that can appeal beyond the

heartlands. Why has Plaid struggled over the past few years to appeal

beyond those heartland areas in a way it did in 1999? There is a need

now for us to create a new excitement around a Welsh election

and as we look at this National Assembly election the message is

very clear from us that it doesn't have to be a false choice between

the Labour Party or the Conservatives, that we are an

alternative here in Wales for the too tired establishment parties and

I think a message in terms of the future of the NHS is crucial, as

well. Now we have in Wales a track record from both Labour in Wales and

the NHS and the Tories in England on the NHS and on the doorstep the

health service is the number one issue and I think the more people

consider options in this election, Plaid Cymru will become the obvious

one. You mentioned creating this excitement. And a new vision. How do

you go about it in practice creating excitement and a buzz around the

party that doesn't exist at the moment? I disagree, I think the

plays is buzzing. It's all the party faithful here. I was with a young -

I was a young teenager in 1999. I remember the victory. The context

and the political circumstances at the time that create the sense of

excitement and if we look now at the state of politics in Europe and the

UK there is this yearning now for change. People are looking for

something different from what's gone before and after 17 years of a tired

Labour Government they've had their chance now in Cardiff Bay and people

are open to hearing our case for why we should be leading the next Welsh

Government. Leanne Wood was supposed to be a leader who could appeal

beyond the traditional areas. How does she go down in areas like

yours? She's very popular in our area. We had a launch recently and

she was very well perceived, this year on this and a different kind of

politician, I think, offering something different and a new

opportunity for Wales. Plaid Cymru could lead and have a better NHS I

think and Leanne's main message is that we offer something different.

You don't have to choose between bad or worse, between Labour and the

Tories. We have a strong team and a strong programme for a better Wales.

You say Leanne Wood is popular, but why hasn't that paid dividends so

far electorally for the party? There are challenges. There are other

parties possibly Ukip getting attention with the European Union.

But I think especially amongst young people I see that Leanne is the

politician that they see they are attracted to mostly. You mentioned

Ukip. Particularly in the south-east maybe and the north-east, as well,

Ukip are perceived as a particular challenge maybe, maybe more than

Plaid stshgs a problem for that you Ukip may be seen as that alternative

party, rather than Plaid Cymru? No, actually I am very much looking

forward to them parachuting failed Conservative noose Wales for our

national elections and I am very much looking forward to seeing them

go back over the bridge on May 6th. We are up for this fight. This is a

party fighting fit. We have an exciting programme of Government. We

have the personnel, we have the energy to lead this country. It's a

party whose time has come and I am very much looked forward to us

leading the next Government of our country. In the Vale of Clyd Ukip

may be a challenge there, as well. How do you go about combatting that

message? Well, this election is about our health service, our

education, creating jobs, I don't think Ukip offer any policies on

those, it's all about a single issue and I think it's important to remind

people what they're voting on on May 5th and we offer many good policies.

Different enough though, because you are talking about health, education

and the economy. Same things everyone else is talking about.

That's what's important to people. That's what we hear on the

doorsteps. Are they the sort of policies that capture the public's

imagination? Obviously on health we know that it's a radical idea to

bring down the boundary between health and social care. But it's

something that engages people. It is actually. Conversations I have had

on door-steps, they see the intense in integrating the health and social

care and our policy on free care for the elderly, that policy on child

care for under three-year-olds, I think those policies people are

engaged with and it's those #308s -- it's those policies people want to

see. Thank you for joining us. I will let you go back to the hall.

You are speaking shortly. Back to you.

Thank you. It's not just May's Assembly election on the agenda this

year. Europe is also part of the discussion. Earlier this morning

Plaid's leader in Westminster spoke to the conference outlining the

party's reasons for wanting to stay in the EU.

We in Wales have a different agenda and different priorities. The

Assembly elections and our future governments are the most obvious

examples. So that we could have a full debate

on the benefits to Wales of EU membership. And set an agenda for

reform from within. For it to be clear, our support for staying in is

very strong. But it is conditional. We want change. We want reform. Just

one example of our misgivings will suffice this morning. The European

Union and the Cameron and Merkel looks set to sign a deal. It may

bring further remorsal privatisation of our public services. We reject

that deal entirely. APPLAUSE

We said to the Prime Minister we need a full debate, we need time.

Was David Cameron listening? Was Labour listening for that matter?

What did Labour in Wales say? What did Labour in London reply? Carwyn

Jones said, leave us decent space, boys, leave a decent space. Labour

in London said, June 23 looks just fine to us, a mere six weeks after

our general election, June 23 looks fine to us. Labour in Wales now say

they haven't changed their view. But the referendum will still be on June

23. That's the way that Wales Labour First Minister carries.

The polls now show it is tight. I press people for an answer and it is

about 50-50. Our friends and neighbours, family members, many are

uncertain, and no surprise there. For years, for decades, self-serving

politicians have played up the European bogeyman, aided and egged

on by self-serving press barons. From straight bananas to businesses

in red type, it is always the Europeans that are at fault.

in red type, it is always the is never stated. All the way from

investing in the fundamentals which support and enable business and

commerce, from building roads, rail, housing, from superfast broadband,

towards everything else for that matter, Westminster's unspoken

policy affects two regions of the UK, London and the South East. When

British Telecom came to see me to talk about the benefits of superfast

raw bands and all the money they were going to spend on it, I asked

them, so, are you going to start with the places that don't have much

in the way broadband -- broadband. Places of resilience and energy but

disempowered and held back. In the Rhondda, here in clinically. --

Llanelli. You're not starting in the City of London, I said. You know the

answer, of course, I don't have to tell you. Another example. When we

had the news about the electrification of the South Wales

mainline, and by the way, is still don't have a single inch of

electrified rail in south Wales, but when this news came out, back then,

I asked, well, which end you going to start? Where are you starting it?

Surely Llanelli? Somewhere around Reading, towards Central London.

There is an understated policy which hampers Wales and holds us back and

gives us a bad deal. If we pull out of the EU and the regional policy

and the regional funding, if they are brought back from Brussels, if

they are repatriated, then those powers and that money must not stop

in London, they must be passed directly to the people of Wales.

That is ?4 billion up to 2020 for a start. If you add in match funding

that is. If you add in match funding. If anyone thinks that that

would be easy, that it would happen automatically, that we would ditch

those pesky Europeans, we would lose convergence funding for West Wales

and the valleys, but find Westminster with a smile coming up

with the dosh. Anyone who thinks that, just you remember the struggle

we had in getting the London government to provide match funding.

We remember what happened. That investment, small comparatively,

that investment which would throw in the extra EU billions, we had to

force Westminster to cough up. Also making the claim that Wales and the

UK should stay part of the EU. I am pleased to say we join the Plaid

Cymru leader Leanne Wood joins me from the conference in clinically.

Good afternoon. Good afternoon. -- Llanelli. Adam Price, a candidate,

predicted a political earthquake in May. If there is only a little

tremor, does that mean your days are numbered? You know very well that my

political project is a long-term one. I was elected as leader of

Plaid Cymru almost four years ago and my project is to build a nation.

Elections are important stepping stones on the way to achieving that

project, but it is a long-term project and I intend to see it

through. You have been highly critical of the Labour governments,

especially in your speech yesterday. It sounds like a very different

Leanne Wood to the one that took over Plaid Cymru backing 2012, when

you said, and I quote, that you would be prepared to work with a

party who put forward progressive policies, ditch tribalism, and you

would work with Labour under those circumstances. What has changed

since then? I have been a politician who has always been prepared to work

with others on the progressive left to try and achieve change, and I am

always welcome to doing that. What we have in the government here in

Wales is that they are the establishment and they have been

running our public services pretty badly. They have not achieved any

significant progress in terms of economic development and so I would

argue that Labour in Wales are not a progressive option at all. I am

still open and willing to work with people who want to work up this

country but I believe we have reached the point where we had 17

years of a Labour government and if we are to progress as a nation, we

have to have a period of time where Labour are no longer running the

government and that is why I put together a fantastic team of

candidates, and excellent programme, which you will see when the

manifesto is published, and we are going all out to provide people in

Wales with an option of an alternative government, and it is a

matter for them as to whether they want to take that option and that is

a democracy. This is a phoney war, isn't it? You have struck deals with

Labour in this current government. We have. That is because we had a

minority Labour government who have had to work with other parties in

order to get legislation. It is not happen for you? It is not always

been asked but we have sought to maximise the opportunities that have

been presented to us to try and make sure we get our priorities into

implementation, and given the system we are in, what else are we to do?

Let's look at some of the policy is your party are putting forward for

the May election. You want to recruit an extra 1000 workers in the

NHS which will cost up to ?100 million. You want to get rid of care

costs as well with a total rail of over ?200 million. What will be cut,

-- Bill. There are a number of programmes within the existing

government policy which I am not -- which are not providing the outcomes

we would like to see so we will look at all of those, and what we have

said about education is that education policy is a route out of

policy effectively said are a number of initiatives existing within

government and we want to refocus some of that work to making sure we

get better outcomes in education because at the end of the day, the

best route out of poverty is through education, gaining better skills,

being able to get better jobs and money. You also want to undertake a

very costly reorganisation where the NHS and social care would merge. Any

but a big on how that would cost, where the money would come from, and

is that the right thing to do bearing in mind the financial

climate that you are working in at the moment? Well, you have made an

assumption that that the reorganisation being proposed is

very costly and I would reject that. I would say that the reorganisation

would eventually save money but we have a situation in health and

social care, the two organisations are separate, people are not working

together and that causes problems in the system. The system is not fit

for purpose and so we want to reform. You stand as a candidate in

the valleys in the election but Plaid Cymru since 1999 has failed to

win a constituent seat, so what has gone wrong in trying to break

through to the Labour heartlands? Let's wait and see what happens in

May before we draw any conclusions on that front. Plaid Cymru, until

quite recently, held control of a council in Caerphilly, so it is not

quite true to say that we have had a long time with representation only

in certain places. We are speaking to people in all communities

throughout Wales. The electoral system of the assembly means we have

to win votes in every single unity, so we're not prioritising one part

of Wales over another part. I have been very clear about my project to

try and unite Wales, and make sure we go together as one Wales. Our

candidates and activist will be working all over the country and I

hope that in may we will be rewarded with good results. Some of your

closest confidence are happy to talk to other parties. Any party that

meant Plaid Cymru are in government. Would you be happy to talking to the

Conservatives on any level? I talk to the Conservatives on a regular

basis. We have just recently gone through the Saint Davids Day process

whereby the draft Wales Bill, OK, it was disappointing, but we work and

cooperate with parties all the time. What I have said is that a coalition

with the Conservatives is something that we would not do, and that is

because I do logically, they are so far away from us, and given that

they are the government in Westminster, holding back evolution

and threatening to reverse devolution, and also handing out

these horrendous cuts which are having an impact on so many families

and communities, I cannot see how we can put a programme of government

together with the Conservative Party. All other options are on the

table, and I look forward to the results in May. It is the people in

the election who will decide the result. For Plaid Cymru to form the

next Welsh government, albeit a minority government it would mean

you would have to double the number of assembly members you have. It is

a big leap of faith to believe you can go from your current numbers to

somewhere around 20, bearing in mind that this is not an opinion poll

saying this, this is the electoral track record of Plaid Cymru, you

haven't broken through all come very close to breaking through in the

Labour heartland. We have not had the election campaign yet, we have

61 days to change the course and direction of Welsh politics. I think

it can be done and it is down to us to get out there and speak to as

many people as possible to ensure that as many people as possible know

what the policies are and understand that we have got solutions for the

problems that we face. We are in a democracy, and it is just not right

that that result is seen as inevitable. Nothing is inevitable.

Let's give the people a chance to vote.

The conference also heard from Plaid's spokesman on the economy. He

told delegates in his words that Wales needed a break from Labour and

Labour needed a break from Government too. Here is more of what

he had to say. Plaid Cymru's response to the recent steel crisis

has, I think, been a very good example of our proactivity as a

party and our determination to seek solutions to some of the deep

problems facing our country before they reach a point of no return.

Whilst the Labour First Minister stood up in the chamber after the

devastating Tata announcement in January and said he hadn't realised

the extent of the steel industry's troubles, remarkably, a week earlier

we had called on Welsh Government to consider co-investing with Tata as a

means to help it through this time of crisis. I said that I didn't

think Welsh Government could continue to be passive observers to

the situation, as the situation with Welsh steel continued to

deteriorate. We called for the establishment of a taskforce to

immediately examine all options for protecting the steel industry in

Wales. A week later, the economy Minister did establish a taskforce

after and in response to the Tata announcement. Now I am not really

interested in playing a game of told you so. We all have to be united

now. All parties in fighting for the future of the steel industry in

Wales. But across the board, in health, in education, we are warning

about what's happening in Wales. The people of Wales know what's

happening in Wales. We put forward our ideas, our solutions, not

perfect, perhaps. But well thought out costed ideas, measured but

innovative, ambitious, but achievable. Yet the Labour

Government refuses to acknowledge the scale of the challenges we face

and refuses to take the actions needed to face up to those

challenges. That cannot continue. It's time for change. The election

in May is the time to begin that change and Plaid Cymru is the change

Wales needs. APPLAUSE

Now why are we all here? Why have we decided to seek a brighter future

for our nation through Plaid Cymru? The party of Wales. On a personal

level, it was, I suppose, through growing ever so slightly frustrated

at merely observing that I decided to seek the opportunity to actually

take some action myself and Plaid Cymru I knew was the only party that

shared my ambition for Wales, an ambition married with a belief in

our potential as a nation and our capacity working with other nations,

of course, across Britain and the European Union to steer our own

course as a country, as a people. I am driven by knowing that all of you

here today and many thousands around our nation share that ambition and

are willing to put in the time, the effort and the hard work to realise

that ambition. I haven't yet been bitten by a dog on the campaign

trail, maybe I am still the new boy. There's time. I do know plenty of

people who have been, though. It's a hazard of the trade, I suppose.

There are ways around it. I am also learning that there are wise heads

out there who have learned how to post that leaflet through the

letterbox with any breed of dog you care to mention sitting on the door

mat at the other side and still come away with fingers in tact. But

between now and May 5th we have got to be at more front doors than ever,

posting more leaflets than ever, and, crucially, having more

conversations than ever. Because our programme for Government, our three

ambitions, our nine steps forward in health, in education, and on the

economy, are steps that everyone in Wales can sign up to. For

long-standing Plaid Cymru supporters their an affirmation of why we are

here. Ideas that can help build our nation and rebuild those services

that are so important and so dear to the people of Wales. To those who

haven't before voted Plaid Cymru, there is an appetite. It's palpable

to bring 17 years of Welsh Government led by Labour to an end.

Wales needs a break. A long break. Labour needs a break. Many Labour

supporters have stuck with them through thick and thin but

supporters have stuck with them excitement about our plan for a new

national infrastructure commission to invest in the building blocks of

the economy in all parts of Wales, transport and digital links, modern

green infrastructure for a modern, green Wales. The largest investment

in infrastructure since the advent of devolution.

APPLAUSE These plans are bold. These plans

are responsible. Frankly, we have no choice but to take these steps if we

are to end years of Labour economic stagnation. So now is the time to

decide, for the employee, business owner and entrepreneur alike,

looking for a new era of economic confidence, Plaid Cymru is the

change Wales needs. For the teacher looking for respect from Government,

for the nurse and doctor and patient looking for support from Government,

Plaid Cymru is the change Wales needs. For the family of dementia

sufferers looking for a helping hand, for the young adult looking

for opportunities, for the young family looking for a brighter future

for their children. For a new Wales, with a new Government, a new kind of

Government, and leadership that Wales is crying out for. Plaid Cymru

is the future, the hope, the change Wales needs.

APPLAUSE Rhun Ap Iorwerth on plans to boost

the economy. Final thoughts of Bethan and her guests now in the

conference milling area. Thanks. I am joined now by two more

people who have been working hard and I am sure will be working harder

over the next few weeks trying to get elected in the Assembly

elections. You are trying to hold on to ash van

for Plaid Cymru and Neil, standing in Cardiff West. Two very different

constituencies. What's the message that you find

works in the heartland area? The message that we are using on the

doorstep is quite similar I am sure to what you are using in Cardiff, we

are emphasising the need for the NHS to be properly developed now and

looked after and actually we don't have to go out with that message,

that's what people are telling us. Once we explain there is an election

and what the matters being discussed are, they say health, yes, we have

to do something about what's happening there. So, I think the

message is the same. What about Cardiff West There is huge concern

about the NHS, the ambulance service. Cases of ambulances not

turning up and dire circumstances. In our constituency they know,

people know if they vote Plaid Cymru they can vote to sack the health

Minister and that's one of our campaigns. So the NHS obviously is a

big issue and all the polls suggest that's the most important issue for

people in this election. What is it about Plaid Cymru's message that is

going to engage people? We offer solutions. We want 1,000 extra

doctors, extra nurses, the cancer pledge is key. Most families,

unfortunately, are touched by cancer. You should have a diagnosis

or clear within 28 days, that's key. Those pledges are going down very

well. More than anything else, I am sure it's the same up your way, we

offer solutions across the board. We have a very tired, complacent Labour

Government who expect to be re-elected. This time it's not going

to happen. You have been saying that for a while now. People have still

backed Labour in Wales. Why are they sticking with Labour? Why haven't

they engaged with the vision you have been putting forward this

weekend? That's about to change. That is about to change. I think we

have to respect the fact that people have been traditionally Labour

voters in many areas but we have seen it in Arfon. Decades ago it was

a Labour safe area. But people have now trusted completely in Plaid

Cymru. We have to respect that it does take a little bit of get

sometimes to actually change - a little bit of guts. We are asking

people now is to have that oomph and the guts to actually just change

where they put their cross on the ballot paper. We haven't heard so

much really over the last few weeks from Plaid and certainly the last

couple of days, haven't heard so much about the constitution. Why

aren't you talking about the constitution? Because the

constitution isn't relevant to what the Assembly is about really. In

this time-scale it's health, education, what we can do on the

jobs front, infrastructure, transport. Those are the things that

people are worried about. They're not really worried about the powers.

The constitution and the long-term aim of independence is something

that is different about Plaid Cymru. If you just talk about health and

education and the economy and obviously those are things that are

really important to people, do you lose that USP? No, we are finding

that everyday issues are really important to people because they

really affect lives. What we are doing, we are offering solutions. We

are saying is a child born in Wales today will have less spent on his

education than a child in England, will have to wait longer for medical

care and will learn less when they enter the workplace. It doesn't have

to be that way. We are saying is we have a programme for Government and

come with us. Come with us. My constituency is changing massively.

We doubled our vote last year. We are going out on the estates, we are

seeing the former bread baskets of Labour votes collapsing and coming

across. That's borne out with the ballot box, as well, we are in

second place. We are unique. We have three ambitions, we have the plans

to go with those ambitions around health, education and the economy.

But we are the only party thinking about Wales. The others are all part

of British, London-based parties. We are unique. We want to deliver for

our country. Briefly, do you realistically think you will be

leading, that Leanne Wood and Plaid Cymru will be leading the next

Government in Wales? I do. Anything is possible. Over the next

eight-and-a-half weeks, and if enough people vote Plaid Cymru we

will be leading the Government. Cardiff West, I am confident that I

can be the AM on May 6th. It's up to the people. We need to get out there

and knock on doors and be visible and that's what we are doing. In

Cardiff West, you don't see Labour politicians on the streets. Only at

election time. We are there all the time. Thank you. We will see you in

60 something days. Back to you. Time for more one c from the

conference stage and it's from the Plaid AM Simon Thomas, his party's

spokesman on education. Much of his speech was on that theme.

Five years of holding the government of account and exposing the Labour

leadership in Wales. The arrogance of a party asking for a chance of a

decade of delivery after 15 years of failure. When we could, we delivered

on promises, such as gaining an extra ?40 million for

apprenticeships. Some of you know that I am a great fan of

apprenticeships, and in the Shadow Cabinet of Plaid Cymru, we have

served apprentices, ready to govern for our nation. It is time to say,

you are fired, to Labour's First Minister, and you are hired to

Leanne Wood and Plaid Cymru. APPLAUSE. And if we are hired, what

a difference we could make. There is no single proven effective

anti-poverty measure than education. A whole generation of our children

has been educated under Labour education ministers in a system

described by one of the ministers himself is mediocre. The prospects

of my young people have been dashed. There is no socialism in abandoning

young people to the fate that hit their grandparents or parents. A

system which believes its accountability lies with the

government and not with the pupils and wider school community is a

system which paralyse its its professions in a straitjacket of

accounting for everything and taking responsibility for nothing. A system

where the smartphone being played with at the back classroom by a

pupil is smarter than the people itself and has let down that pupil.

There are of course outstanding exceptions to this rule and many

examples of leadership and good teaching in Wales, but they are not

widely shared and not a consistent feature of this system and that is a

direct quote from the schools inspectorate. Plaid Cymru will

create a world-class professional educational workforce, from

classroom assistants to teachers, lecturers and shooters. A profession

that sets its own standards for training, access to the profession

and for ongoing continuous professional development. Empowering

teachers and workers to set professional standards and deliver

them so that people to whom we entrust our children's education are

the best train, at the highest standards and police their own

profession to weed out any poor teaching. In return, as the

education minister of Plaid Cymru, I will introduce a teacher's premium

as an incentive to maintain standards and training in Wales.

Plaid Cymru is serious about driving up standards and we want to work

with teachers to deliver that. It is a declaration of respect in our

teachers. Rewarding their expertise while letting them get on with the

job of giving children the best quality education. I want to see all

of our pupils remain in educational training of some kind or another

until 18 at least, and for those that pursue apprenticeships or

undergraduate degrees, I want them to get the support in the Welsh

universities. This is why Plaid Cymru will commit to an extra 50,000

apprenticeships over the next assembly, bringing the total in

Wales to around 100,000. Let's be honest. Some of this cannot happen

until we deal with a large educational elephant in the room.

The current tuition fee subsidy is no longer sustainable for students.

It means over and ?92 million a year being paid to universities in Wales

and not a penny being reinvested back in Welsh institutions in Wales.

It is way beyond forecast costs. In response of the Labour Party has

been to maintain this fictional totem of equity by raiding the

educational budget is two years in a row and by pinching this year ?40

million from the budget of the higher educational Council. We

fought that cut and although it has been partly reversed this year, the

money to do so it has come from reverse reserves. The only solution

is a radical reform of higher educational funding. In its place,

or we want to introduce a Wales learning bond. In effect, this will

pay for tuition fees wherever Welsh student studies, alone towards their

future. If however the students lives and works in Wales, within

five years of graduation, then we will write off their bonds at ?6,000

per annum. In this way, we make a signal investment in young people as

they make their mark in our economy and society. A golden hello to the

working world in Wales. APPLAUSE We also release ?100

million currently going to English universities to reinvest directly in

our universities to support part-time learners, high cost

subjects such as medicine and research which powers our economy.

As well as making good on some of the cuts in the further education

sector introduced two years running by the Labour Party. I believe that

education is the single biggest change we can make in Wales. From

investment in early years through to students, Plaid Cymru government

will not let our young people down. To achieve that we need 60 hard for

campaigns, 60 by-elections in effect across Wales. It has been a

privilege to be a member of the Plaid Cymru assembly. Truly a

boyhood dream come true is yes, I am that sad! To be in a Welsh

Parliament speaking for our nation. It is a particular privilege to

stand before you as the candidate for Carmarthen West and South

Pembrokeshire. To stand in part of the seats, 50 years after the

ground-breaking by-election victory gives me a sense of pride. Working

with a great team to make sure our message gets to the doorstep and

that we take that seat from the Tories. We can do it and it will

make us proud to seem Lou Carmarthen turned green again. -- to see blue.

I want to thank my team of activists and volunteers and I want to invite

you to join them in wee conquering Carmarthen for Plaid Cymru. Imagine

the headlines in May when we turned the whole of Carmarthenshire back to

Plaid Cymru. That includes clinically and Carmarthen West and

South amateur. It can be done but only with dedication and commitment.

-- Llanelli. We have strong local campaigns on restoring local

services, hospitals and access to GPs. Long-term health plan to

recruit and train 1000 and five thousand nurses is for the

well-being of the nation. I have been successful in getting the Welsh

government to take seriously the need to abolish the tolls on the

bridge and I am delighted our manifesto has set out how Plaid

Cymru will do that. I have been working with Ceredigion in order to

reopen the railway there, the need for investment in infrastructure in

West Wales is underlined by my two-hour journey to Plaid Cymru this

morning. -- Llanelli. The poorest wards have been abandoned by the

Labour Party. A cut in business rates, better town centre management

is necessary. That is something Plaid Cymru will deliver. All these

policies will on the terrific start rate by Carmarthenshire County

Council is in kicking the stale counsellors out and bringing in a

fresh new council based on investment and leadership.

APPLAUSE In 2005 as a member of the West must Parliament I had the

enormous privilege of visiting the funeral in Aberystwyth. As he had

borne many of us running politicians into life in the first place. I

would like to finish in his words. Many people thought that the sun in

Wales had set for ever but I do not think so now. Looking round the

country in which I live, I can see something different. It looks more

like the rise of a new dawn. Westwood, look. The land is right.

From now until May, with Westwood, look. The land is right.

on the doorstep they can deal with the main criticism they will face

which is that this is the last thing in the world that an already under

pressure NHS needs to deal with. They feel they can take the moral

high ground on this and say that in 17 years of devolution, they have

been talking about it but we are the only ones brave enough to achieve

it. A relationship question about the political earthquake and this

comes into the trash filled elements, the slightly grubby

elements to the conference and what happens afterwards. At one level,

the Labour bashing could be seen as an attempt to thrust home the

message that there is no appetite in the party for a former -- formal

coalition with Emily any party -- any party. Then they took back a

formal arrangement with the Conservatives. There are others who

are saying maybe that threat of doing some kind of deal with the

Conservatives, all the Labour bashing rhetoric, is a way to get

leverage with Labour. You can go round in circles on it. I suppose

the thing I would say in relation to be political earthquake and the

message from Adam Price was reflected in his speech. All the

Labour bashing only really works if the narrative of Labour can be

matched by one of Plaid Cymru momentum, and that is the problem

they are facing. This is a party which has seen no major or

significant electoral gain in recent years. Nick, thank you very much

indeed. The final fours with born. As Nick alluded, it takes to

Llanelli tango. Labour would have to come this way, Plaid Cymru would

have to come that way. -- the final thoughts with Vaughan. It is a

tipping point when it comes to the Labour Party. In the Welsh electoral

system, there is a quirk or design liberally included. As long as

Labour get 32% or above of the vote, they would get approaching 50% of

the seats, but if Labour dropped low 31% then they will be in trouble and

they could start losing seats rapidly. -- drop below. Not just to

one party but various parties succeeding in different areas. If

that happens and Labour did drop lower than say 26 or 25 seats, there

would be questions over the leadership of the Labour Party,

there would be questions over the mandate. Where would Plaid Cymru

look to win seats? Llanelli, possibly Carmarthen West, Rhondda,

Caerphilly and all the others! Vaughan, thank you very much. You

can follow all the latest on Twitter. That is its for our

coverage of the Plaid Cymru Spring Conference. The final conference

will see the Conservatives meet next weekend. Join us for that if you

can, same time, same place. From all the team, have a good afternoon,

goodbye.