Jeremy Miles pledges more money for education as he launches Welsh Labour leadership bid
Welsh Labour leadership candidate Jeremy Miles will today (6 January) set out his pledges for Wales’ future, including plans to spend more money on schools and to cut NHS waiting times.
Mr Miles, who will officially launch his leadership campaign at an event in Swansea, will make six key pledges – the economy, the NHS, schools, housing, transport, and strengthening Welsh democracy.
Priorities
The pledges set out the policy priorities for the government Mr Miles would like to lead, and are described as “a set of choices that will reshape the Welsh Government in coming years and into the next Senedd term.
The pledges are:
- A green economy stimulus: target all Welsh Government capital and procurement spending – alongside new funding models in partnership with local government – to create quality, sustainable jobs and tackle climate change
- Invest in education: increase the percentage of the Welsh Government budget spent on schools – as the best investment in social justice and in a healthy economy
- Cut NHS waiting lists: establish dedicated orthopaedic centres for knee and hip replacements to clear backlogs
- Decent housing in our communities: expand cooperative housing and tackle barriers to providing social homes
- Fairer fares, better transport: simpler, fairer bus fares to encourage travel as we re-regulate the bus network
- A stronger voice for the people of Wales:strengthen the Senedd, devolve power within Wales, and secure a fairer deal for Wales in partnership with a UK Labour Government
Vision
Mr Miles, Minister for Education and the Welsh Language, said: “I’m standing for Welsh Labour Leader and First Minister because I have a vision for Wales’ future. We have difficult financial challenges now, but we must also think beyond those to secure a more hopeful future.
“As First Minister, I will invest more in education, provide practical help to the NHS in order to cut waiting lists, expand cooperative housing, and introduce fairer bus fares. Every penny spent on building and buying through the Welsh Government will have to meet the test of supporting quality, sustainable jobs and our aims of tackling the climate emergency.
“Our Welsh democracy will be strengthened with a stronger Senedd, I will press for the further devolution of powers, including within Wales, and I will work in partnership with Keir Starmer as Labour’s next Prime Minister to make sure Wales benefits from two governments – Welsh and UK – working together for Wales’ future.”
Vaughan Gething
Economy Minister, Vaughan Gething launched his campaign to replace Mark Drakeford as Welsh Labour leader and First Minister on Friday.
The former Health Minister announced several pledges to underpin the future health policies of a Welsh Labour government.
Mr Gething promised that under his leadership the NHS in Wales will never be sold off.
He said he would also guarantee that per head spend on the health and social care in Wales would never fall below that of England.
Mr Gething also committed to publishing a new partnership agreement with the NHS, patients, unions and local government to meet the challenges across health and social care.
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A decent and well meaning guy who above all listens to others; respects alternative input and appears to have a vision of an apiring nation outside the Cardiff Bay elite.
we will as a nation judge him by outcomes and to whether aspirations can overcome the restrictions and views of some of his more unionist colleages
I said he wouldn’t be very good didn’t I. Least worst of two very poor candidates. These policies are a mixture of shuffling the deckchairs on the Titanic and robbing Peter to pay Paul. What Wales needs is a paradigm shift. Wresting the vote away from the Unionists has to be our number one priority. We cant keep doing the same thing over and over, hoping for a different outcome.
If you were in the position he hopes to be in come March, what would you promise/do. I’m talking about things that he would have the powers to implement.
Being a member of Plaid Cymru, if I were to be so fortunate as to be elected First Minister, I would have a mandate to seek constitutional change. So I would call a costitutional convention and begin on the path to our Statehood. That Jeremy Miles is hamstrung by the daft Unionism of his party is exactly the problem.
and what about the NHS, education, social care, transport, etc that the First Minister (of whatever party) actually has powers to address?
I would suggest that Mr Miles cuts the so-called school improvements consortia. They are very well funded, yet are, essentially, quangos. In north Wales, the GwE quango, according to its website, has a budget of around £27million this year. (By the way, I am a high school teacher and my classroom has seen literally nothing from them!). That public money could be much better spent. For example, Conwy is preparing to cut teachers and school staff due to inadequate funding. I find it very difficult to understand how the huge amount of money being pumped into a quango can be… Read more »
Clywch, clywch. Likewise, he could reverse the decision to drop triple science and do something about the dreadful mess that is Curriculum for Wales.
I agree. We have spent so much time on preparation for the CfW, which could have been postponed, and the the time spent focusing upon rebuilding children’s literacy skills, which have deteriorated rapidly since the pandemic.
Also. Mr Miles, please come and look at the terrible state of some of our school buildings. Some of them are shocking.
What about reforming the rail network? Very cheap especially comapred to the money we had to send to HS2. Trains should be prioritised over buses.
I’m more interested in the candidate who makes manifestos legally binding, retroactively including the one they campaign on.
Anyone? My vote is up for grabs!!!