Ein Gwlad have launched a manifesto – what’s in it?

A citizen’s income,  the creation of a new digital, participative democracy and ensuring that all Welsh public expenditure is spent within Wales.

These are some of the ideas contained within the manifesto of Ein Gwlad, a new Welsh political party which launched in the summer.

The manifesto for the 2021 Assembly Election was drawn up by members and ratified at a meeting in Newtown at the beginning of the month.

“We aim to move away from the party doctrines, ideology and ethos of the old style parties and create something totally new and exciting, that cares for our country and her people,” the party’s Chair, Gwilym ab Ioan, said.

“To do that we implement total democracy within our party, with our name, logo and now our manifesto being the accumulated manifestation  of  what the majority our members want, from the bottom up.”

What’s in the manifesto?

Some of the other policies contained within the manifesto include:

• Support for offshore renewable power generation, whether wind, wave or tidal, and opposition to large scale nuclear projects.
• Complete freedom of movement with unrestricted, document-free travel across all land and sea borders.
• Opposition to the development of development of commuter estates at the expense of social housing.
• A 500% Council Tax surcharge to all second and subsequent homes.
• A rejection of the development of ‘Super Prisons’, and the creation of a separate women’s prison facility.
• The expansion of Welsh-medium primary and secondary education to the point where it becomes the norm in every part of Wales.
• Investment in internal transport infrastructure, with a particular emphasis on those running north-to-south within Wales.
• Exports of water would continue to England without restriction but will be sold for a fair economic value.
• Devolution of policing and criminal justice to Wales, alongside the formation of one police force.
• A more decentralised structure with six regional bodies covering different parts of Wales. These regions would take responsibility for all local government services within the region, including education, and health.
• The immediate transfer of responsibility for broadcasting and media from England to Wales and the development of a distinctive Welsh news service.
• The use of ‘Brand Cymru’ for all Welsh food products.

 ‘Debate’

Ein Gwlad’s Interim Leader, Gwyn Wigley Evans, of Llanddeiniol near Aberystwyth, said that the manifesto showed that they were a “proper” political party.

“Following robust debate and with contributions from some members who were unable to be present but wanted to be heard, we have a Manifesto aimed at the 2021 election and beyond which we all agreed upon,” he said.

“We are proud to present it to the electorate anytime, anywhere”.