Popeth ddywedodd Luke Fletcher yn ei araith i'r gynhadledd flynyddol

Araith lawn Luke Fletcher, Aelod o'r Senedd dros Orllewin De Cymru i'r gynhadledd flynyddol, yn amlinellu gweledigaeth Plaid Cymru am yr economi.

Conference, we come together at a tough time for the Welsh Economy.  

We know the impact of the cost-of-living crisis in our communities, which is also a cost-of-doing business crisis.   

And we have suffered blow after blow, culminating in what we have seen at Port Talbot.  

I want to assure you all today, that the Senedd group fought tooth and nail to save Welsh steel.  

We offered alternatives only for them to be batted down by Labour politicians in Cardiff and Westminster who are wedded to a way of economic thinking that doesn’t work for the people of Wales.  

Labour accused us of political point scoring. Well I refute that accusation in the strongest possible terms.  

Labour politicians stood, time and time again for photos holding ‘Save our Steel’ placards. But when they came into Government, they blinked.  

Starmer was elected to Number 10 on a promise that he had a plan to save primary steel-making in Port Talbot. Conference, there was no plan.  

We were told, that two Labour Governments at either end of the M4 would deliver for Wales.   

All it has delivered so far is loss and failure.  

And that’s why I am more determined than ever to see Rhun Ap Iorwerth elected as First Minster, leading a Plaid Cymru Government, because friends, we can sit here and mourn our losses or we can strive to build better.  

We can do the hard yards to right the wrongs and secure Wales’ place as a nation where its people have the opportunity to thrive as a right.  

And in putting together the party’s new economy strategy, we have aimed to do just that.  

My team and I have been working behind the scenes to develop what Labour has never had – a vision and a plan for the Welsh economy, and I am excited to be able to share an outline of this work with you today.   

A thriving economy – one that delivers a decent and sustainable standard of living for everyone from Tenby to Holyhead, Pwllheli to Abergavenny and everywhere in between – can only be built on a solid foundation. 

But over 25 years of devolution, Labour have let those foundations weaken and crumble: papering over the gaps and ignoring the dry rot.   

The experts are near unanimous on this.   

Under successive Labour governments, economic development in Wales has gone backwards. GDP, Gross Value Added, levels of innovation, incomes: all at a standstill.   

And what do these economic measurements really mean in the abstract? – nearly a third of our children are going to bed hungry or cold. A third of Wales’ children are living lives blighted by a level of poverty that should long ago shamed Labour in Wales into doing something – or anything – about it. 

Now, there is a paradox in how Labour’s approach to the Welsh economy has evolved over the last 25 years.   

The more power devolved over the economy; the less Labour Governments have looked to make use of that power.   

Targets on productivity and growth set in 1999 were never met.   

And rather than using an increasing range of economic levers to revisit and redouble efforts to meet those targets, Labour have instead just dropped them completely.   

A nothing to see here attitude.  

I can be no clearer than this.   

Just like on Tata, Labour has no plan for the Welsh economy.   

It is lost in a word soup of policy documents, statements, press releases and manager speak - that commit it to nothing and deliver even less.   

Cynhadledd, dros y misoedd diwethaf, rydym wedi bod yn gweithio gydag arbenigwyr i ddatblygu dull newydd o osod targedau.   

Rydym wedi bod yn edrych ar sut i ddefnyddio a gwthio ffiniau'r ystod lawn o bwerau sydd gennym i adeiladu economi gynaliadwy: un sy'n seiliedig ar waith teilwng a chyflog byw go iawn, ac yn cynnig safon byw da i bawb, ym mhob rhan o Gymru.  

Wrth gwrs, does dim amheuaeth gyda ni ym Mhlaid Cymru mai dim ond annibyniaeth fydd yn rhyddhau potensial llawn economi Cymru - mai dim ond annibyniaeth fydd yn rhoi'r ystod lawn o bwerau sydd angen arnom ni i drawsnewid ein economi.   

Ond, cynhadledd, mae mwy y gallwn ac dyle ni neud nawr i ailadeiladu sylfaen ein economi.  

As we build our path to independence, a Plaid Cymru Government can and will do more than manage ongoing economic decline.   

A Plaid Cymru Government will get to work, from day one, on fixing those vital foundations of our economy.   

And conference, there is one critical problem that we will look to overcome as we do that work.   

That problem is the ownership gap.  

In simple terms, we do not currently own enough in Wales – enough of our own resources, institutions or businesses – to begin to turn the economic tide.   

And one way or another, everything in our new economic plan is geared to addressing this central problem in the Welsh political economy.   

The range of overlapping measures in the plan are all about re-localising our economy, building and retaining capital in our communities – human, social as well as purely economic – and stopping it leaking – and in some cases flooding – out of Wales and along the M4.   

To give a prime example of what I mean here, let’s take the Crown Estate – a critical economic resource that is owned outside of Wales, and whose profits are used to fill the coffers in Whitehall and line the already well-lined pockets of the royal family. Instead of beating down the door of Westminster to gain control of our shore-line and sea bed, Labour has instead rolled out the red carpet for Keir Starmer to deepen London’s hold on it, through his so-called ‘Great British Energy’.   

Byddai Llywodraeth Plaid Cymru yn brwydro bob dydd dros berchnogaeth Ystâd y Goron.  

O ganlyniad gallwn wedyn osod telerau ein hunain ar gyfer y chwyldro ynni gwyrdd yng Nghymru, er mwyn sicrhau bod ein cymunedau ni sy'n elwa o’r botensial.   

Ac yn y cyfamser, byddem yn gosod telerau newydd ar gyfer perchnogaeth cymunedol mewn prosiectau ynni adnewyddadwy.    

Growth in our green economy comes with new opportunities for high-skilled, high-paying jobs.  

But are we ready to really seize these opportunities?   

When I meet with employers, schools, colleges, universities and students alike, they all tell me the same thing – that there is no joined up thinking in our skills system.   

They tell me that we don’t have a clear picture of Wales’ future skills needs: of what courses, training programmes or apprenticeships we need to be prioritising in order to give our young people the best chance to succeed in the economy of tomorrow.   

So a Plaid Cymru Government would deliver a national skills audit – a full assessment of where we need to be putting our resources to best support people to get ahead in the new economy.   

Further innovation in this economy will be supported by a new deal for Wales’ universities.   

As it stands, around 2 in every £5 spent by the Welsh Government on student finance goes to subsidise universities in England.   

While protecting those students from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, our new funding settlement would look to redirect around half of that back into our universities here in Wales.    

Innovation will be further supported by a new dedicated innovation agency for Wales.   

And efforts to both grow and green the economy will be given renewed impetus by a new National Development Agency and a reformed Development Bank.   

We will rationalise and improve Wales’ current business support offer by creating a real ‘one-stop-shop' for those looking to take their business to the next stage.   

The emphasis will be on ensuring that successful businesses stay here in Wales, instead of being sold off and liquidated in England.  

Combined with other measures to support the small and medium-sized businesses that are the backbone of the Welsh economy – including reform of business rates – our aim will be to finally overcome the challenge of filling in Wales’ ‘Missing Middle’ – to create a strata of successful and sustainable medium-sized businesses, rooted in their communities and driving innovation and investment.  

And, conference, I’ve saved the best ‘til last. Above all, our new economic plan for Wales represents a transformational level of ambition for community wealth building – for promoting social, community-led and co-operative business models that will see wealth accumulate and better recycled in our communities.   

Wales is the historic home of the co-operative movement, and it’s time that we fully embraced and learned from that radical history to drive a new era of inclusive, sustainable development.   

Indeed, from Blaenau Ffestiniog to Blaenau Gwent, there are already leading examples of where communities are taking their economic destiny into their own hands.   

A Plaid Cymru Government would support these community-led ventures in new ways – investing in communities’ capacity to establish, lead and grow them.   

We want community and co-operative ownership to become a default, rather than an exception.   

And we know from case studies around the world that we would be wrong to limit our ambitions for the social and co-operative economy.  

Co-operatives in the Basque Country and the Emilia Romagna region in Italy, to take just two examples, are among the largest and most successful industrial exporters in the world.   

Conference, the lesson from what has happened in Port Talbot is clear – if we don’t take decisive action now to address the ownership gap and change the structure of the Welsh economy, then we will remain at the whim of multinationals who have no investment in, and no loyalty to, our communities.   

Rwy'n falch o'r weledigaeth yr ydym wedi gallu gosod mas heddiw - a bod gynllun i'w chyflawni.   

Ond nid dyna yw ddiwedd y stori. Wrth i ni weithio i gwblhau ein cynllun ar gyfer economi Cymru, rydym eisiau ac angen eich mewnbwn.   

I am looking forward to taking the discussion around this plan to all corners of Wales over the next few months, sharpening and stress-testing our ideas, and working with those who share our ambition for Wales’ economy and its people as we do.   

Because, conference, the Welsh economy can and should serve the people of Wales – not the other way around.    

That central principle is, and always will be, at the heart of mine and of Plaid Cymru’s approach to economic development.   

In 2026, we will have an historic opportunity to put that principle at the heart of Government in Wales.   

Conference, friends – Wales needs a Plaid Cymru Government.   

And the hard work of making that a reality starts now.