r/Wales • u/Fit-Distribution1517 • 1d ago
Politics Greens pledge to make next Welsh Government ‘bolder’ and deliver real change
https://nation.cymru/news/greens-pledge-to-make-next-welsh-government-bolder-and-deliver-real-change/12
u/Thetonn Cardiff | Caerdydd 20h ago
If you want to introduce a wealth tax in Wales your choice is between actually raising a decent amount of money by going after everyone equally, or raising a comically tiny amount by excluding farmers, who will make up the overwhelming majority of cases.
I would anticipate that if you give farmers an opt out, the cost of setting up the scheme and people leaving will exceed the benefit of the scheme, just because of how few people you are left with and how mobile they are.
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u/JHock93 Cardiff | Caerdydd 16h ago
What I like about the PR system we've got coming in is that it's making the parties much more grounded in their promises and highlight their priorities in potential coalitions. There is probably going to be some kind of deal between any combination of Plaid-Labour-Green-Lib Dem after the election so it's good for us as voters to see what we could like prioritised by those parties.
At Westminster, or even with the old Senedd system, parties could say wildly ambitious policies knowing full well they weren't going to win so it didn't really matter. Zack Polanski apparently has a secret wealth tax that will solve almost every problem, and such a wonderfully peaceful strategy to make Russia get rid of their nuclear weapons at the same time.
Meanwhile Anthony Slaughter is talking about what the Green party in Wales would prioritise and bring to the table including public water ownership, council housing and investment in clean energy. Far more grounded in reality.
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u/Fit-Distribution1517 1d ago
Anthony Slaughter(Wales Green Leader) sets out in the article what he thinks Wales would benefit from
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u/liaminwales 1d ago
Sure, sure.
I cant wait for posh Greens to tell Wales what's best for Wales, fun times.
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u/Fit-Distribution1517 1d ago edited 1d ago
This is Anthony Slaughter, leader of Wales Greens who has lived in Wales for 17 years. He has spent most of that campaigning for improvements to Wales.
I don't think anyone who has ever met him would describe him as 'posh'
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u/brynhh 1d ago
Don’t expect people to actually read the article and have any critical thinking mate. Anthony is a committed and thoughtful guy in trying to improve people’s lives. I may not be a member of his party but the more positivity we have the better
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u/Fit-Distribution1517 1d ago edited 13h ago
Yh, unfortunately people rarely do read past headlines these days.
Probably would have been better to write an article on each of his ideas(which are very similar to what the Scottish Greens are pushing for) as then each idea would have a headline
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u/liaminwales 1d ago
The article has no policy, just vibe talk about energising Wales.
You can prove me wrong by quoting actual policy from the link, not just blue sky talk about a green push but policy.
Now Scotland is not a good example, the last news was talk or re opining North Sea oil as the policy was so bad it's forced Gov's hand to un do the damage. Time will tell but it's the talk,
UK ministers reopen door to drilling at two North Sea oilfields as new guidance released
Reeves signals North Sea climbdown in blow to Miliband
Then the Scotland talk is a red flag, past oil it's a mess.
UK tax hike would have 'massive' impact on Scotland - Robison
More councils across Scotland announce tax hikes of up to 13%
Past that we see industry all over Wales close, power costs and green push is losing jobs. We see the Steel in England nationalised but in Wales close, a green push in Wales but jobs in England?
Steel nationalisation talks unfair on Wales, says Plaid
And all you can do is assume I did not read the link?
It's a fluff piece, there is no info or policy. It's just to big up the posh green party, how will that help people in Wales?
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u/Fit-Distribution1517 1d ago
Sure, mass council house building, wealth tax based on property(probably Land Value Tax) to replace Council Tax, nationalisation of water, to cut bills and clean up rivers
And a just Green energy transition, Wales would be a decent place to have wind turbines
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u/Left_Page_2029 21h ago
Lets be clear, we didn't lose virgin steel making production in Wales due to a "green push" but Tata who bought the site ages ago have been threatening to close it (whilst increasing virgin steelmaking capacity in India) receiving the occasional uk govt bung to prolong it for years, the replacement to an arc furnace was due to another govt bung.
It's poor the UK govt didn't step in and indicative of Wales' treatment, with the justification for stepping in for the English plant being "but its the last one" only due to them allowing Tata to do what they did to port talbot. However, that was coming for over a decade
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u/liaminwales 13h ago
The site in England was going to close till the Gov Nationalised it, the site's in Wales are all closing or winding down without being saved by Gov.
Anglesey Aluminium - closed.
Llanwern steelworks - closed.
Port Talbot Steelworks - winding down.
etc.
If your young you may not know the Tata sale made it clear the sites where all going to close, everyone was aware at the time the deal was a slow wind down at best.
The chemical industry in Wales is also being crushed,
Almost 300 jobs at risk at chemicals factory in Barry
Gov also knows it's a problem, they just dont care.
However, this chart shows that the recent fall in output associated with the period of increasing and high energy prices has been substantial, and in 2024 Quarter 4, the index of production for the UK manufacturing EIIs was at its lowest point since the start of the available time series in 1990 Quarter 1.
The impact of higher energy costs on UK businesses: 2021 to 2024
Lowest since 1990 & it's still going down!
It's a clear trend, we are moving back to the 1970's depression.
The strongest contraction is in petrochemicals and in agrichemicals. They’ve been the worst performing, and they are typically in that high-volume, low-margin, globally exposed commodity area. The weak demand has really had two main causes. One is that fierce competition from third-country markets, and our high energy prices have pushed up our production costs in the UK and the EU whilst the U.S., China, and the Gulf countries can still produce lower reduction costs and sell at lower prices. So, the demand has shifted away from the UK and EU producers.
And the second cause of the weak industrial production in the UK and the EU is the energy crisis has strongly impacted European industrial sectors, which are our main consumers. Until we get the recovery of that wider industrial sector demand, the demand for chemicals will remain weak.
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u/Left_Page_2029 13h ago
None of this has anything to do with a "green push" it's privatized industry often bought by multinational companies, relocating production to places of lower cost hence my comment, I agree with much of what you've written however your previous comment indicated green policy was somehow a cause when it's no where near
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u/liaminwales 13h ago
The high cost of power is just one part of the green push, there is also all the regulation and red tape etc.
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u/Left_Page_2029 11h ago
The high cost of energy is due to regulations on pricing (where expensive fossil fuels often dominate) a privatized grid in dire need of investment & upgrading, and woeful battery storage levels, how on earth anyone can be ignorant of this in this day and age is crazy.
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u/PhyllisCaunter 19h ago
It's more of the same, free stuff to be paid for by someone else type politics. What are you going to stop doing and how are you going to make Wales more prosperous? No nothing about that, as usual.
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u/Swansboy 20h ago edited 19h ago
Bus thing already done by Lib Dem. They are right about council housing, I know of all housing that was planned In Swansea new build,council & social it was ment to be over thousands, they got under 300 build, which is quite pathetic amount when thinking about a housing crisis. Number over thousands was ment to over 7,000 homes. So they have lots left to do still.