WELSH Labour will launch its election manifesto today and will argue it has the experience and credentials beyond any other party, to help Wales recover from Covid and build what it says will be a "stronger, fairer Wales".

At the heart of the manifesto lie six pledges:

  • Recovery after Covid – to put in place the biggest ever catch-up programme in our NHS and schools we’ve ever seen and build a new medical school for North Wales.
  • A Young Persons Guarantee – to give every young person under the age of 25 the guaranteed offer of a job or a place in education, training or help to start their own business.
  • A Fair Deal for Care -to give care staff the guarantee of the Real Living Wage.
  • A Greener Country – to take action for future generations by abolishing more single-use plastics and by creating a National Forest for Wales.
  • Safer Communities – to keep communities safe by putting 100 more Police Community Support Officers on our streets and funding 600 in total across Wales.
  • New for Jobs for Wales – to create new jobs in low carbon house building and construct 20,000 new low carbon social homes for rent.

The manifesto sets out a number of major cutural projects, including plans for a new National Music Service to assist young people learning to play an instrument, establishing the Football Museum in Wrexham and a National Contemporary Art Gallery.

In North Wales, where the the manifesto will be launched, Labour will set out plans for a major upgrade of Mold's Theatr Clwyd, and proposals to help the slate landscape of the north west win designation as a World Heritage Site.

Crucial to the party's cultural offer it will say, is its commitment to implement the new Curriculum for Wales, whisch it describes as "the most important step forward in education for a generation." Welsh Labour will help learners "become ethical and informed citizens of Wales and the world" it says.

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Welsh Labour says its spending plans "do not rely on any increase in devolved taxes - unlike the proposals of other parties - they do not depend on the whim of UK Tory Ministers" and that its financial commitments are based "on decisions that will be taken in Wales, for Wales."

Ahead of the launch, Welsh Labour leader and first minister Mark Drakeford said:

“This election is a choice. It is about trust and ambition. A choice to go on investing in our young people with a Welsh Labour Government or to take a different path.

“Today we launch a manifesto that sets out Welsh Labour’s plan to go on investing in the future. A plan to help us not only recover from Covid, but to do something more – to build the Wales of tomorrow."

  • This article originally appeared on the Argus' sister site The National.