Plaid Cymru reveals plans for ambitious new economic development agency, Prosperity Wales

“Poverty is not inevitable – it is a lack of political decision” – Helen Mary Jones MS

Plaid Cymru has today (Saturday 6 March) outlined its plans for a bold new freestanding agency – Prosperity Wales – which will be tasked with developing Wales’ economy.  

Speaking ahead of the party’s Spring Conference, Shadow Economy Minister Helen Mary Jones MS said that a Plaid Cymru government would have a clear economic policy to “create and share wealth” and to “build our national prosperity” to enable the “world-class public services that we all deserve.”

Prosperity Wales will be characterised by:

·       Spatial approach: Focussing attention where it is needed most

·       Rebalancing: Addressing historical patterns of discrimination that have led to chronic injustice and inequality

·       Growth: Nurturing local businesses, enabling export and improving productivity

·       Research & Development: Enabling existing businesses to innovate, decarbonise and thrive.  

Ms Jones says that the focus on foundational economy will ensure local procurement on a massive scale, “spending as much as possible of the Welsh public pound here in Wales.”

Prosperity Wales will be led by a Board made up not only of the best minds from the business world, but also experts in tackling inequality and in decarbonisation.

Plaid Cymru’s Shadow Minister for the Economy and Tackling Poverty, Helen Mary Jones MS said,

“There is nothing inevitable about the poverty that so many of our fellow citizens face. This poverty is both a direct result of, and a lack of, political decision.

“Prosperity Wales will be an economic development agency with a difference, drawing on expertise from the business world as well specialists in tackling inequality and decarbonisation. Tasked with developing our economy in such a way that opportunities are created fairly across our nation, there will be an emphasis on addressing historical patterns of discrimination that have led chronic injustice and inequality in the way our economy has functioned.

“Come the election in May, Labour will have had 21 years in which they have failed to deliver the transformation that Wales so desperately needs. A third of our children are in poverty, our Valleys still bear the scars of the ravages of Thatcherism and our rural communities remain fragile. And with a Welsh Tory party happy to hang on to the coat-tails of their Westminster parents, only a Plaid Cymru government will have the vision, ambition and passion to build the fair, green and prosperous nation – an equal nation – that we all want to live in.

“We are clear as a Party about the purposes of our economic policy. We have to make different decisions, and we have to do it now.”