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Just over a year ago we stood for election to the Welsh Assembly on a hugely ambitious Welsh Labour manifesto.
We are extraordinarily proud that the people of Swansea put their trust in us, 12 months ago, to champion the area and to stand up and deliver for our local communities by returning us to represent them at the Senedd. A few weeks later and a year ago this week, the Welsh Labour Government was formed. Since then, the Welsh Labour Government have hit the ground running and we continue to deliver on our pledges and commitments we made to the people of Swansea and the people of Wales. We promised to invest in the future of our children and we’ve delivered - continuing investment in new schools and existing school buildings – with Morriston Comprehensive benefiting from a £22 million revamp, while Gowerton Primary’s new build benefited from £6.8 million of funding. Nearly 6,000 pupils in Swansea receive free school breakfasts, thanks to our Welsh Labour Government while we are investing more than £90 million in the Pupil Deprivation Grant, including doubling the support provided to disadvantaged pupils aged three and four across Wales, so every child has the same opportunity to develop and succeed. And this approach is paying dividends, with GCSE students in Swansea having outstripped their peers across Wales in 2016 with more of them than ever celebrating the top A* and A results. Our NHS has also seen considerable additional investment and Wales has the best performing ambulance service anywhere in the UK. The Welsh Labour Government has continued to invest in social care and Wales has not seen the same crisis that has been so well publicised over the border in England. The Welsh Labour Government have acted to raise the capital limit – increasing the amount of money people can keep when they go into care. This year the limit rises to 30,000 as a first step to meeting our election pledge of doubling the capital limit to £50,000 by the end of this Assembly term. Locally, there are a series of innovative healthcare plans in the pipeline. The world-leading ARCH scheme would see Singleton Hospital develop into a centre of excellence for diagnostic and same-day care, and Morriston Hospital double in size and become a regional centre for specialist treatments. This transformation of hospital services will revolutionise the treatment patients in Swansea and the South West receive. The Welsh Labour Government are delivering on the environment with Wales now established as the third best recycling nation in the world and we continue to improve. Significant amounts of funding has been announced to meet the ambitious target of 20,000 new affordable homes and Wales leads the way once again when it comes to building council houses. Here in Swansea, our Labour led Council administration are committed to building the first council houses in a generation. We also welcome Welsh Labour Government proposed legislation to end the Right to Buy in Swansea and across Wales. The Bill aims to protect the Welsh stock of social housing from further reduction, ensuring it is available to provide safe, secure and affordable housing for people who are unable to take advantage of the housing market to buy or rent a home. The Right to Buy and Right to Acquire initiatives, which were introduced by the Tories, have resulted in the loss of over 138,000 homes from the social housing sector. Over the last year, Wales has seen the third largest increase in the employment rate of all UK countries and regions with high quality new jobs coming to Wales through major investments by Aston Martin and General Dynamics. In Swansea, BT has expanded its customer service contact centre by creating 100 new jobs, with support from the Welsh Labour Government. The Welsh Labour Government continues to make Wales a better place to live and work, where prosperity is shared, where public services are protected and where the next generation are given the best start in life. Thank you once again for placing your trust in us 12 months ago and we pledge to continue to serve the people of Swansea with integrity, passion and commitment. Julie James, Rebecca Evans and Mike Hedges your Swansea Labour AMs Comments are closed.
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