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The Labour First Minister of Wales, Eluned Morgan, has suggested opposition parties do not have a serious plan for government during a manifesto launch speech delivered ahead of the Welsh election. The leader of Plaid Cymru, Rhun ap Iorwerth said the "old union" is "finished" and will need to be replaced with new alliances during his recent speech at the Institute for Government.
Transcript
00:00Wales is ready for a new chapter, and this new chapter must be about something very simple.
00:09Fairness you can feel. Tagoch i chi'n teimlo. Not fairness as a slogan, fairness in your life,
00:18on the bus, in your playslip, at the school gate, in the waiting room, in the streets where you live.
00:24New leadership for Wales mustn't just be a campaign slogan. It must also be seen through the lens of wider
00:31possibilities,
00:32unburdened by a loyalty to Westminster which has held Wales back for too long.
00:38In recent months, Elinid Morgan has adopted the language of the Senedd's arch-right winger Tory Andrew R.T. Davis
00:45in labelling those who seek a more ambitious future for our country as separatists.
00:50You have to spit it to say it properly. They may not be obvious bedfellows, but their burgeoning
00:56alliance reflects a pincer movement by the old guards. We're seeing the forces of the establishment
01:03parties coming together to try to protect the status quo in a vain attempt to paint the new
01:09political movement in Wales as somehow insular.
01:12Now, let's be honest about the last decade. For much of that time, our job in government
01:18and alongside you was to protect Wales. That wasn't a press line. It was the daily reality.
01:28Budgets were squeezed by years of Tory austerity. Public services were under constant constraint.
01:36Communities were dealing with the aftershocks of Brexit. And then we had to contend with the
01:41pandemic. Families were doing their best, often going that extra mile, and yet they were still
01:48feeling worse off. Now, in those years, you didn't get to govern with the wind at your back.
01:55You governed with your sleeves rolled up. And you do the hard, unglamorous work of holding
02:03the line. We protected free prescriptions, free breakfasts for our schoolchildren. We kept hospital
02:11parking free. We invested in new schools and colleges across Wales, whilst England walked away
02:17from building.
02:18Keir Starmer is determined to hoard power in Westminster's hallowed halls.
02:24Farage, that's something different again. A backwards, nostalgia-driven mission based on powering
02:30a cult of personality more than anything. We want to empower people by giving them more say over
02:36their future on a national level in Wales. So as the UK fragments, we must focus on fostering
02:42cooperation based on shared values, mutual respect and principled collaboration. The old union as it was
02:50is finished. So let us replace it with new alliances underpinned by radical pragmatism, partnership and principle.
02:58For example.
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