“GRAND” PLAN TO SUPPORT WALES’ YOUNG SELF-EMPLOYED SUPERHEROES

“Grand” plan to support Wales’ young self-employed superheroes

A £1,000 booster payment to help kick start enterprises for bright young unemployed people with a sound business idea is more than a “grand” plan – it’s a real investment in Wales’ future, said Welsh Labour leadership candidate Eluned Morgan.

Welsh Labour Leadership contender, Eluned Morgan said:

“I’ve met some really dedicated individuals for whom self-employment is a life-changing, modern-Wales marvel and we really must be investing in more of these up-and-coming economic superheroes.”

“I’ve identified there are huge and very exciting changes afoot in the workplace; we already have a significant growth in the number of people who are self-employed, and all reliable indications point to a continuing upward trajectory.”

Eluned said the self-employed now amount to around one in seven of Welsh jobs and, in the past decade, have accounted for nearly two in five of Wales’ total employment growth.

“In the US, estimates position 40 percent of workers self-employed in some way in two years’ time
or less.

“We have the chance to pump prime a young, new, optimistic economy that all too often has
to slog away in isolation under the radar.

“While Wales has traditionally been very strong in manufacturing, it’s a sad fact that the Thatcherite legacy, globalisation and Phillip Hammond’s ever-tightening financial noose has meant that today the sector accounts for only around nine percent of employment.”

“There has been a recalibration. The manufacturing sector is indeed a key engine of our economy, but we must lead and act on structural changes. I would like to make Wales the best place in the UK to be self-employed.”

“However, rest assured we will crack down on the bogus self-employed, a position often forced on people by employers wishing to avoid their employment and social responsibilities. I would work with Trade Unions and the Police to root out this practice in Wales.”
Eluned would:
• Offer a one-off payment of £1000 to unemployed young people under-25 on presentation of a sound business plan offering the possibility of starting up their own company;
• Offer unemployed disabled people the chance to start their own business with the provision of £1000 subject to the presentation of an acceptable business plan
• Provide an enhanced tax, benefit, legal, financial and employment advice support system around them;
• Tailor specialist advice to male and female needs and rural, urban and valleys community requirements;
• Add infrastructural backing- more hubs for the self-employed, more 5-9pm clubs offering business start-up help and much more.
• Give practical support to any self-employed who will be worse off with the shift to Universal Credit and put pressure on the Tory UK Government to change assessment methods support for the self-employed.