LOCAL ELECTIONS: Torfaen party statements

CONSERVATIVES 

The Welsh Conservatives have 22 candidates standing in the local government elections in Torfaen on May 4th.

We are campaigning hard on a range of issues affecting local people.

On employment, we want to see more jobs created in the private sector. We support the Cardiff City Region deal and we will push to take advantage of the Conservative-led reduction in bridge tolls to form stronger links with the rest of the UK.

On business, we say only the Welsh Conservatives can create conditions where business can prosper and generate the wealth needed to sustain public services.

On cost of living, we are campaigning hard to make sure Council Tax rises are kept in line with inflation.

On the bigger picture, we have found the number one topic of conversation on the doorstep is Brexit.

Torfaen voted overwhelmingly to leave the EU, and we use every opportunity to remind voters that at the General Election on June 8th they should vote for Theresa May to strengthen her position on leaving the EU and get the best possible deal for the British people.

Our message is clear. Strong and Stable leadership is essential to see us through Brexit and beyond.

LABOUR

Over the past five years, your local Labour councillors have worked hard to keep local services going, despite big cuts in funding from the Tory Government.

We’ve prioritised spending on schools and on the social care that many older, vulnerable or disabled people rely on, and invested in making Torfaen cleaner and greener – with a Torfaen Spring Clean and new local teams to help tackle littering. We’ve also become a Living Wage employer, giving 900 staff a pay rise and boosting the local economy.

But we can only continue to deliver for you if Labour councillors are elected on 4th May. In these tough times, it is vital that our communities have Labour councillors, to keep local services going despite Tory cuts. The more Conservative councillors elected, the more the danger to local services. Neither is this the right time for independents with no coherent programme to stand up for services under threat.

Labour has a great team of candidates standing in every ward, with the right balance between experience and fresh faces and a new Labour Group leader, Anthony Hunt. Elect your local Labour team on 4th May and we’ll work hard to stand up for you.

PLAID CYMRU

Plaid Cymru is on your side, when you vote for a Plaid Cymru Candidate you elect a Councillor that will fight for you and your family when you need it and fight for the interests of the ward in which you live all of the time.

This is still a local election, its not about who get the top jobs in London from the British based party’s, remember only Plaid Cymru is based in Wales and fights for us, here, all of the time.

Every single vote for Plaid Cymru counts because every new Plaid Cymru Councillor elected will deliver solutions for real issues that impact our daily lives, like the state of the pavements, illegal parking and yes - dog fouling. If you want to see these kind of issues addressed now is your chance, vote Plaid Cymru.

Everyone knows that the most effective opposition group in Torfaen is Plaid Cymru, we continually hold the Labour administration to account, while Conservative and Independent Councillors voted with Labour to elect a new Labour Leader, only Plaid Cymru didn’t. Ask yourself why don’t the Conservatives and Independents want to tell you about that?

Come home to Plaid Cymru on May 4th.

UKIP

Looking at the Labour Manifesto for the local council elections 4th May I realised ‘they just don’t get it’! They pledged the following: 1. Invest in a cleaner, greener Torfaen, local greening and cleaning teams and a council Spring Clean every year.

UKIP Response: this is what people pay their taxes for? It is their day job!

2. We invested £100 million in our schools and will work to raise standards.

UKIP Response: is closing schools, and the council’s education department placed in special measures evidence of this?

3. We will keep bills as low as possible.

UKIP Response: having one of the highest % community charges in the UK does not support that statement.

4. We will bring jobs and investment and increase prosperity for all.

UKIP Response: the facts - Torfaen have neither any active policies nor particular means to bring to Torfaen high skilled and well paid jobs.

UKIP will bring ideas and energy to a council that continually fails its residents, and left swathes of Torfaen to ‘wither on the vine’. WE have candidates who have experience in business, finance and running large organisations who will serve you and only you.