The Plaid Cymru leader, Adam Price, struck a defiant note at the launch of his party’s manifesto, claiming that an independent Wales could become the cradle of a global green revolution.
Price announced a range of ambitious policies including three power-generating tidal lagoons, a barrage and an offshore wind farm as well as new rail lines and metro networks.
Comparing his dreams to those of John F Kennedy at the time of the space race, Price said the plans were audacious but achievable if the people of Wales pulled together and freed themselves from the control of the Westminster government.
“We’re little over a month away from the beginning of a new decade,” he told supporters at the launch at a college in south Wales. “Let’s inject some hope back into our politics. Let’s set ourselves an audacious goal, as the Kennedy administration did with the Apollo programme.
“Let’s plant our flag not on the moon’s surface but here in our own land, not to escape our planet but to save it. Let’s make the coming decade the decade of hope and change. Let 2030 be the year of three zeros – zero carbon, zero waste, zero poverty.
“We have the power, we have the potential to create tens of thousands of new high-skilled jobs as Wales becomes the cradle of the green industrial revolution.”
Price said his revolution should be led by Wales for Wales. He said the country should have its own national energy company and its own digital infrastructure company rather than those industries being run by “a distant British behemoth”.
Plaid is calling for the UK government to give an extra 1% of GDP to green investment over the next 10 years, which Price said would give Wales a boost worth £15bn. The party wants the Treasury to raise Wales’ borrowing limit to £5bn to reach a £20bn total for its “green revolution”.
Price has made it clear that if Jeremy Corbyn wants the support of any of his party’s MPs after the election he will need to back Plaid’s investment programme.
The manifesto puts 2030 – or before – as the target date for Welsh independence. Price said: “The answers for Wales won’t come from Islington, they won’t come from Bullingdon. The answers will come from us, from Wales. We can lead the way in a million small ways. This is the moment when we start to believe that our future won’t be written for us in the corridors of Westminster or the streets of Whitehall but by us in the valleys and villages.”
During the election campaign, Price has been accused of being deliberately provocative to garner headlines. Ahead of the manifesto launch he promised he would keep his anger in check and channel it into hope. As well as the plans for its green revolution, Plaid promised more doctors, nurses, police officers and social housing.
The manifesto says there should be another EU referendum and Plaid would campaign for remain. Despite Wales voting in favour of leaving the EU, Price said: “Europe is core to the future of Wales. This Brexit is not for us. It never was, it never will be.”
Price said that Wales wanted to be “at the heart of Europe”, adding: “We must defeat the hope-crushing wrecking ball that is Brexit.”
