2021 Election – Comparison of manifestos and key priorities

Welsh Labour Welsh Conservative Party Green Party Manifesto 2021 – The Welsh Conservative Party Manifesto Plaid Cymru Manifesto 2021 – Let us face Welsh Liberal Democrats 2021 Manifesto 2021 Moving Wales Forward 2021 – A plan for recovery and change the future together Manifesto – Put Recovery First – Transform Wales

Build quality - Improving building safety to ensure - Establishing a Fire Safety Fund to - Reforming the planning system to - Building 30,000 new social homes for - Building 12,000 new homes a and safety that “people feel safe and secure in compensate leaseholders for fire safety prevent the creation of poor-quality rent. year, the majority of which would their homes.” works and eliminate unsafe cladding. sector new builds. be social homes, with all meeting - Delivering reforms to protect people the highest environmental and - Developing a fire safety fund for - Reforming leasehold tenures, including - Replacing the Section 106 agreements living in high rise buildings in Wales energy efficiency standards. existing buildings. a ban on the sale of new leasehold with a single uniform community and preventing them from facing unfair homes, to establish a redress system for infrastructure levy. costs. - Implementing new, positive - Campaigning for the Health and leaseholders. planning approaches, with a Safety Executive to be devolved to - £4bn extra funding in infrastructure to - Setting clear minimum standards for statutory requirement for local Wales. - Committing to achieving and support economic recovery from Covid- the private rented sector on citizen engagement to create maintaining the Welsh Housing Quality 19. accessibility and energy efficiency. places with distinctive identities. - Masterplans for towns and Standard and introducing a highstreets to coordinate economic Student Accommodation Quality - Tasking the National Infrastructure - Introducing a Planning Act to change - Advocating for a Land Value Tax opportunities and services. Standard for halls of residence. Commission, Development Bank and existing planning laws, ensuring that and giving the public sector and Future Generations Commissioner to community interests are protected and not-for-profit housing organisations - Developing a register of empty - Building 100,000 new houses in the next turn its State of the Nation report into a making sure that Health Impact greater powers to buy land at buildings and help for small decade, including 40,000 new social detailed schedule of investable Assessments are embedded in planning agricultural price, to encourage businesses to move into shops. homes. infrastructure projects. decisions and decision-making. developers to build houses rather than sit on land banks. - Launching a new 10-year Wales - Overhauling the Welsh planning system - Placing the National Infrastructure - Granting the Future Generations Infrastructure Investment Plan for a “with new technology and cutting red Commission for Wales on a statutory Commissioner powers to scrutinise and - Abolishing the Community zero-carbon economy. tape whilst putting communities first.” footing, widening its scope to include challenge planning decisions that are Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and social infrastructure, and merging with detrimental to the Wellbeing of Future replacing it with direct public - Delivering on the £100m Tech- - Allowing local communities to establish the Design Commission for Wales. Generations Act. funding. Valleys programme and the £1bn neighbourhood plans, to influence dualling of the Heads of the Valleys development in their areas. - Building or converting 50,000 public - Replace Section 106 contributions road. homes over the next five years – with a Development Levy. - Simplifying Section 106 contributions to 30,000 council houses or other social - Progressing plans for a metro in speed up house building and ensure that housing, 5,000 cost-rental homes at and Bay. developer contributions are used intermediate rent, and 15,000 genuinely properly. affordable homes to buy. This will - Investing in major new bus include some 26,000 empty homes and infrastructure projects. - Investing £2bn to create modern empty spaces to be brought back into infrastructure, including new roads and use. - Investing £1.5bn in the next phase of road upgrades, and green charging points. the 21st Century Schools and Colleges Programme. - Building five new and upgraded community hospitals and creating an NHS - Building a new medical school in Hospitals and Buildings Recovery Fund. North Wales.

- Creating a freeport in North Wales and establishing a £20m Welsh Ports Development Fund.

- Accelerating the 21st Century Schools and Colleges Programme.

Education, - Developing a Young Persons - Expanding degree apprenticeships and - Supporting young people in - Expanding degree apprenticeships, - Widening higher and further skills and Guarantee which will give everyone providing 150,000 apprenticeships by employment through the creation of a including at postgraduate level, education, and ensuring no fees training under the age of 25 the offer of work, 2026. National Employment Plan to set out diversifying the subjects available and are payable for initial degrees. education, training, or self- the jobs needed to meet the Youth creating more routes into employment. employment. - Introducing a Second Chance Fund for Guarantee. Particular focus on - Providing more training and re- those who have left formal education to construction and in the low carbon - Addressing under-representation in training opportunities as part of - Creating 125,000 ‘all-age’ go back and study a level three economy. apprenticeships by setting and meeting the Green New Deal, readily apprenticeships in the next Senedd qualification targets for disabled people and people accessible to all with locally based term, working with unions to expand - Creating 60,000 new jobs over the from BAME backgrounds. delivery to supplement online the use of shared and degree - Investing £100m in Further Education course of the Senedd term. Including learning. apprenticeships. colleges and using Further Education to thousands of new jobs through a Welsh - Embedding a right to lifelong learning create apprenticeships. Green Deal. through expanded Personal Learning - Re-investing in Further Education - Expanding Personal Learning Accounts which will give everyone in sector and supporting Accounts to allow flexible learning - Establishing an Institute of Technology - Investing in major training Wales access to free, flexible courses. apprenticeship routes into work at and the development of new skills. in North Wales, focusing on STEM programmes to tackle under- the Further Education stage. subjects. represented groups in areas such as - Working with the Further Education construction sector, employers, and key stakeholders - Continuing the Education - Cutting tuition fees in half for Welsh to develop a vision for post-16 Maintenance Allowance (EMA) for students studying STEM and modern - Conducting a Ministerial review of education that works in the best all young people who need it to foreign languages subjects. post-16 provision and placing vocation interest of learners and staff, providing continue their education. education on the same foundations as flexible and valid qualifications. - Introducing a compensation scheme for academic learning. students whose courses have been disrupted by Covid-19. - Developing a new Skills Framework for Wales to better match jobs to people and vice versa.

- Setting a target of producing 5,000 additional STEM graduates a year.

- Consulting with universities and employers about phasing out GCSEs, A levels and BTEC’s – replacing with a Welsh version of the International Baccalaureate.

- Ensuring all apprentices under the age of 21 are partnered with a Further Education college to ensure appropriate support.

Net zero and - Building 20,000 new, low carbon - Setting a target for Wales of net zero - A Green New Deal - Creating an investment package of - A Green New Deal, to deliver net the social homes for rent, which Labour carbon emissions by 2050, and a target £1bn per year to tackle the climate zero carbon emissions by 2030. environment says will create thousands of green for all new homes to be net zero by 2026. - Bringing forward Wales’ zero carbon emergency, create green jobs and jobs through a “low-carbon emissions from 2050 to 2035. support supply chains. - A Green Transformation Fund for housebuilding revolution.” - Creating 15,000 new green jobs to make Wales to finance Green New Deal Wales the “green energy capital of the - Banning fossil fuel in new homes from - Introducing a Green Homes Act to cut Measures and decarbonisation. - Creating a timber based industrial world”. 2022 and by 2023 ensuring all will have average household energy bills and This fund will issue bonds to raise strategy to “develop and sustain the be highly energy efficient. build more energy efficient homes. finance for the decarbonisation of high value production and processing - Vouchers of up to £5,000 for existing houses and construction of of Welsh wood.” households to improve their energy - Creation of a long-term energy - Investing in retrofitting existing new, net zero homes. efficiency, with the limit increased to efficiency infrastructure plan to retrofit homes to make them more energy

- Creating a new National Forest and £10,000 for households on low incomes. the entire Welsh housing stock to efficient, to create jobs and save - Ensuring sufficient ongoing creating 30 new woodlands and higher environmental standards by households money. investment to deliver the harnessing the power of this Forest to 2050. This includes the retrofitting of retrofitting of existing housing build on progress towards creating a 200,000 homes in the Senedd term. sustainable timber industry. stock to meet the highest energy - Every home will be offered a free efficiency standards and removing energy audit and recommendations on the 5% VAT on refurbishment a conversion plan. materials.

- A programme of installing heat - Requiring all new housing to be pumps, prioritising off-grid homes. built to net zero standards.

- Increasing the level of investment in - Advocating for a carbon tax to flood mitigation to £500m over the help reduce Wales’ carbon course of the Senedd term. emissions to net zero by 2030.

- Ensuring all departmental budgets - Strengthening existing Welsh within Government are aligned with Government commitments to a nature and climate restoration. circular economy, including support for new re-use and repair - £6bn Green Economic Stimulus to help hubs. create 60,000 jobs. - A new Planning and Environment - Introducing a Nature Act with Act, linked to the Well-being of statutory targets to restore biodiversity Future Generations Act, to by 2050. harmonise planning and environment law.

- Ensuring a presumption against development in certain areas, including those at risk of flooding, previously undeveloped land, high quality agricultural land and important natural areas.

- Using planning to prioritise the conservation, restoration and enhancement of valuable landscapes, including reforestation and the development of Welsh forestry and wood products, consistent with biodiversity.

Other key - Keeping the 1% increase in Land - Creating 65,000 new jobs, 15,000 of - Expanding Welsh firms’ share of - Piloting a nation-wide Universal Basic - Advocating for the immediate pledges Transaction Tax charged on second which will be green. public contracts from 52% to 75% of Income. introduction of a Universal Basic home purchases. the public procurement budget. Income. - Committing to a two-year Council Tax - Freezing business rates for the life of - Committing to no increases to freeze and ensuring no new taxes during - Creation of Prosperity Wales, an arms- the next Senedd, and work towards - Proposing a Green Wellbeing Welsh rates of income tax until the the next Senedd term. length development agency to focus on replacing them in the long-term with a Economy that is geared to directly economy has recovered from Covid- growing SME Welsh firms. fairer system. contributing to social and

19, and to reforming Council Tax to environmental wellbeing, that - Cutting Stamp Duty for first time buyers make it fairer. - Enshrining the right to housing in law. - Introducing a Business Rate supports small local businesses and and raising the threshold to £250,000. Investment Relief Fund to support communities. - Helping businesses work - Making health equality the goal in businesses to invest in productivity and cooperatively to support local supply - A ‘Jump Start’ scheme for micro Government, with emphasis on decarbonisation. - Advocating for a reset of the tax chains. businesses, paying the employer National preventative measures that improve system to redistribute wealth from Insurance contributions of two new mental health. - Introducing an Economic the rich to the poor, and to more - Strengthening the autonomy and employees for two years. Development Bill, to support adequately reward front-line work effectiveness of local government. - Appointing Managers to co-ordinate businesses and promote high-value and prioritise the environment. - Cutting business rates for small town centre development. enterprise and investment. - Prioritising investment in mental businesses and creating a 3-year business - Creating price stability in housing health services to support long-term rate - Enshrining the right to affordable, by regulating to make speculation pandemic recovery. The manifesto holiday for SMEs. safe housing in law. in housing less attractive and to promises to “invest in our workforce, increase the housing supply.

training people to provide early - Increasing mental health’s share of - Establishing ‘Innovate Wales’, based in support with mental wellbeing and funding to 13% of all NHS spend by - Committing to affordable, North Wales, to support new and existing resilience.” 2028. accessible, secure and decent enterprises. housing as a human right.

- Creating an equalities legal service - Introducing a People’s Procurement - A Covid bounce back package, including to provide support on unfair or Act, requiring local authorities to - Raising the legal status of the a £2.5bn Rebuild Wales Investment Fund, discriminatory employment practices. commission small local businesses and Wellbeing of Future Generations and a dedicated Covid-19 Recovery supply chains as a priority. (Wales) Act, to ensure that more Minister in the to - Implementing a decisions are informed by oversee the coronavirus recovery. Communities Housing Plan. wellbeing and environmental goals.

- Introducing a new Metal Health Act to update current legislation and undertaking a review of mental health services through a Commission on Mental Health.