Ed Townsend Liberal Democrat

More and more people in Newport are looking for a realistic alternative to Labour.

Here in Newport, the Conservatives are irrelevant. Liberal Democrats have become the real alternative to Labour in a city that has been taken for granted by Mr Blair's party.

The mark of a decent society is one which creates opportunity for young people and provides security and dignity for those in their older years. I believe Newport, Wales and Britain must do better for people of all ages.

That's why the Liberal Democrats will abolish student top-up and tuition fees and will guarantee free long-term personal care for the elderly. Already Liberal Democrats have kept their promise on both of these policies in Scotland.

Labour has the wrong priorities, such as handing out a one-off cash windfall to 18- year-olds at taxpayers' expense through the Child Trust Fund.

The Lib Dems will use this money better by investing it where it matters most, allowing schools to cut infant class sizes from the present maximum of 30 to an average of 20 and junior class sizes to an average of 25.

At the other age of the age scale, millions of pensioners are failing to receive the pensions they deserve because of demeaning means tests.

The Lib Dems will guarantee over £100 more a month on the basic pension, starting with the over-75s.

Changes to council tax bands will cost many Newport people a lot of money this year.

People must pay more, not because they are earning more, but because the market value of the home they live in has increased.

That is nonsense. Liberal Democrats will scrap the unfair council tax, replacing it with a local income tax based on people's ability to pay. A typical household would be £450 a year better off as a result of this change.

Tony Blair and his New Labour cronies have betrayed the trust we place in our governments.

We should not have gone to war in Iraq.

There were no weapons of mass destruction; there was no serious and current threat.

The war has cost thousands of lives on all sides, and the British taxpayer has had to foot a bill for over £3.5 billion so far.