Jill Evans MEP will tell Plaid Cymru's Spring Conference (11 a.m., Saturday 24 March) that Plaid is the party of the communities of Wales, and the party that can make a difference for the benefit of those communities.
In her keynote speech to the Caernarfon conference, Plaid's Deputy President said:
"Plaid Cymru has always said that Wales is a community of communities. It is our communities that give us character, soul and strength as a nation. As someone who represents the whole of Wales in the European Parliament I well aware of this.
"As I travel around Wales I meet people fighting to keep services in order to save their communities - people campaigning to keep schools and hospitals open, to have local jobs and housing for their children, to stop landfill sites, to get investment to strengthen the local economy. People living in rural areas, in the valleys, in the towns and cities fighting against the Labour government's policies that want to centralise everything - centralisation plans which take away so much: post offices, schools, magistrates courts, tax offices, ambulance stations, fire stations."
Jill Evans said that one heartbreaking story summed things up:
"When Blaenclydach Infants School in the Rhondda closed it left a huge gap in the community. The parents and children who had put everything into campaigning to keep the school and youth centre open were left desolate that the government hadn’t listened. And to add insult to the injury, not only did Labour fail to listen, the school was sold off by RCT council at auction in a 4 star London hotel, with lots of other Rhondda land, to make a bigger profit than selling it locally at local prices.
"The purpose of government is to ensure high quality essential services for people, to ensure successful communities and enable people to reach their full potential. That is why Plaid Cymru's focus is on our communities. And that will be the focus of a Plaid Cymru government as well, seeing beyond the walls of the Assembly in Cardiff Bay.
"Devolution did not mean devolving power to Cardiff but devolving power to people. Plaid Cymru members speak on behalf of their electorate. They are the voice of the people in the Assembly - not the voice of the Assembly in Wales.
"We stand side by side with people who are campaigning to keep local services. We have the same priorities. And in government we will work hand in hand with those people to develop our vision, to achieve our policies, to make a difference."
