An estimated 50,000 workers in Wales will no longer pay income tax and many more will see a £200 reduction in their income tax bill as a result of the Chancellor’s plans to raise the income tax allowance by £1,000.

Raising the income tax allowance was a key commitment of the Liberal Democrats during the General election.

Kirsty Williams said:

“Increasing the tax threshold to help people on low and middle incomes was one of our key policies during the general election and I was very pleased that we were able to see it in the coalition programme of government.

“The announcement by the Chancellor will see over 850,000 workers across the UK lifted out of paying income tax altogether and thousands more workers will see more of their hard earned wages staying in their pocket. For Wales, this means that an estimated 50,000 workers will pay no income tax and many more seeing £200 stay in their pay packet.

“We all know that difficult times are coming given Labour’s recklessness with our economy over the last 13 years and that’s why we want to make sure that those on the lowest incomes are protected during the years ahead.

“Given the state Labour left our economy, there’s no doubt that this will be a tough budget. But it needs to demonstrate it will be both tough and fair. We need to begin making our tax system fairer, with progress towards the Coalitions long term objective of raising the personal allowance to £10,000, ensure the tax and benefits system rewards work and ensure that the burden is spread fairly.”

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Under Labour’s electoral college voting system, one third of votes go to ordinary party members, another third to affiliated organisations – mainly unions – and the remainder to parliamentarians. The mathematics mean that the votes of Labour MPs are worth considerably more than those of ordinary party members.

However AMs and MSPs [Members of the Scottish Parliament] are not included in the electoral college as parliamentarians – this only includes Labour MPs and MEPs. But in last December’s election of a Welsh Labour leader, MPs with Welsh constituencies did have a vote.

Welsh Liberal Democrat leader, Kirsty Williams, said: “It is clear from the Labour Party’s own rules that Welsh Labour has little or no say at a UK level in making important decisions. Their [party’s] lack of regard towards AMs and Wales is typical of the Labour Party. This lack of influence may explain why, for 13 years, the Labour government refused to change the Barnett formula to provide a fairer funding system for Wales and why we have to delay the decision to hold a referendum until 2011.

“This also raises questions about Labour’s attitude towards the Assembly and devolution. They clearly don’t think AMs are worthy of a vote as elected representatives, again reflecting their general attitude towards Wales.”

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That is reflected in all the coverage, even by the now politically-correct BBC, even though the festival organisers themselves do make an attempt to deal with the issue in the range and diversity of the events they put on. Not surprisingly one of the worse offenders is the Guardian itself, who recently published an article by Homa Khaleeli that suggested that the festival was being taken over by politicians, as if this invasion was unusual and game-changing.

This article has been taken to task in today’s paper by the Director of the Open University in Wales and former Welsh Liberal Democrat Party President, Rob Humphreys. He writes:

Homa Khaleeli’s piece of politician-watching at the Hay festival (Invasion of the politicians!, G2, 1 June), with its listing of some welcome visitors, was woefully (and typically for the Guardian) London-centric. Prominent elected representatives of Wales – where Hay-on-Wye is situated – are frequent attendees and speakers. This year the list of speakers and panellists includes the Welsh environment minister, Jane Davidson, the Welsh heritage minister, Alun Ffred Jones (members, respectively, of Labour and Plaid Cymru – the two parts of the governing coalition), and Kirsty Williams, the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats.

A better-informed glance around the festival site on the first weekend would also have revealed Nick Bourne, the Welsh Conservative group leader in the Welsh assembly, the local MP, Roger Williams, and prominent Labour AM Andrew Davies, to name but three. The former first minister of Wales, Rhodri Morgan, and the presiding officer of the assembly, Dafydd Elis Thomas, have been distinguished speakers in previous years at Hay. The director of the festival, Peter Florence, has brilliantly described Hay as a “free port” of ideas. It is, nonetheless, in and of Wales. Thus politicians of Wales do not have to “invade” the festival – for better or worse they play their natural part in sharing, transmitting and receiving ideas within Wales and, significantly, across a wider international stage.

Of course it is not just journalists who get it wrong. Last week I sat through an enthralling interview in which Rosie Boycott talked to the historian Niall Ferguson. Mr. Ferguson spoke authoratively and passionately about the ‘national curriculum’ and its treatment of history as if it applied to the whole of the UK, rather than just England. He spoke, and the interviewer did not correct him, as if he were in the heart of England and that all of us, Welsh, Scots and Irish included were blighted by the decisions of previous English Education Ministers in the same way.

Then, as if to rub it in Rosie Boycott pointed out that the new Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, was in the audience and invited him to contribute. He spoke as if he were responsible for the education of all of us and never once acknowledged the fact that he is not, in fact, the Minister responsible for the National Curriculum in the area in which he sat, but just England. Nor did he show any awareness of the devolution settlement. It is at times like these that one regrets rushing off to another event leaving no time to correct matters.

To be fair to the BBC, they have fully educated most of their correspondents and news readers as to the subtleties and nuances of the devolution settlement. I think it would be useful if the same course could be laid on for journalists on London-based newspapers and also for those presenting at Hay on relevant matters.

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Labour activists in seats across Wales took to posing with large “under new (Tory) management” signs in front of Lib Dem offices – and a page was apparently added to the Welsh Labour website for “confused Lib Dems” to contact Labour.

Labour members were also distributing leaflets about ‘ConDem cuts to the Child Trust Fund’, with Labour Party membership forms on the back.

Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader, Kirsty Williams hit back:

“Why would anybody want to join the Labour party who has left the country’s finances in a mess, ruled for over a decade where child poverty has increased, presided over years of increasing personal and national debt, taken us into an illegal and immoral war in Iraq, failed to properly equip our troops, criminalized children, abolished the 10p tax band, forced poor families to pay back tax credits, locked up children in immigration centres, failed to clean up politics, refused to link pensions back to earnings, left our pensioners poorer, decimated our rural communities, closed post offices and eroded our civil liberties?

“Stunts like this clearly show how sad and desperate Labour are after the people of the UK rejected them and their politics. They clearly do not want to participate in this new, grown up and responsible form of politics.”

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As well as changing the law on the DNA Database, the Government will abolish the Labour Party’s plans for expensive, intrusive ID Cards and biometric passports, end the finger printing of children in schools without their parents’ permission, and stop the Government from storing internet and email records unless there is a legitimate reason to do so.

I have campaigned for many years to protect civil liberties. In 2008 I tabled a 10 Minute Rule Bill in Parliament, to prevent police keeping innocent people’s DNA.

Nick Clegg’s speech will come as very welcome news to everyone who has seen their civil liberties disappear over the past 13 years.

I am particularly pleased by the decision to change the law on retaining innocent people’s DNA on the Police DNA Database. It is disgraceful that those who have never been charged, or who have been found innocent of a crime, have been treated by the Labour Government as though they were guilty.

The Lib Dems have been calling for years to abolish ID Cards, biometric passports and the finger printing of children without their parents’ consent. Now we finally have a chance to put into practice the promises we made in our manifesto.

This is a very important step in rolling back the worst excess of the Labour administration and helping to create a freer, fairer society.

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She said that in the light of the significant pressures on public finances and with the economy still in the early days of recovery, the Welsh government must look at every aspect of its spending. In 2009, the Northern Ireland Assembly announced that Senior Civil Servants would not receive a bonus.

Kirsty said: “We are facing difficult financial times ahead. As the former Chief Secretary to the Treasury kindly reminded the incoming government, ‘there’s no money left.’

“Welsh tax payers must be reassured that their hard earned money is being spent effectively and targeted to make sure that the services they rely on, like health and education, are protected.”

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The Liberal Democrats will make the first £10,000 workers earn tax free. People earning £10,000 or less will not pay any income tax and those on the basic rate of tax will have a tax cut of £700 per year.

The tax switch will be paid for by making sure the rich pay their fair share by introducing a mansion tax on the value of homes over £2million by taxing income and capital gains at the same rate, and switching tax from income to pollution. In Wales, over 200,000 people will no longer pay income tax and up to 800,000 people will receive an extra £700 per year.

Kirsty said: “The tax system in this country is fundamentally unfair and that’s why the Liberal Democrats want to turn it on its head by making the richest pay their fair share. Under 13 years of this Labour government, our society has become unfair and the gap between the rich and the poor has increased.

“The highly respected Institute of Fiscal Studies last week said that our tax plans were progressive, they add up and they give people an incentive to work. This is in stark contrast to the assessment of Conservative tax plans, which the IFS have shown to be both regressive by rewarding the richest, as well as self contradictory.”

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There are two things that jump out to me in this election, how much Labour have collapsed in Wales, one of their heartland areas, and how important young people will be to the election.

In 1997, Labour ruled the roost in Wales, but it is easy to see how much they have declined so much in recent years, and I predict they will lose a swathe of seats across all parts of Wales.

Indeed in rural Wales it seems likely that it is them who will become the ‘also-ran’ party. – They lost many rural seats in West Wales and they are constantly finishing poorly in other rural areas. I expect a lacklustre performance from Labour in my own seat, which was a seat they held until 1979. Even in the Valleys, famous for anecdotes about returning officers “weighing the vote,” Labour is losing support.

But in Wales’ big cities, it is the Welsh Liberal Democrats who are offering the only serious challenge. We began this by taking Cardiff Central in the last election, but in other parts of Cardiff, in Newport and Swansea and even in places like Wrexham the Welsh Lib Dems are supplanting Labour as the party with the ideas and message to run these authorities. In each of the cities I have mentioned, we have turned electoral success into government success, and back into electoral success.

Last week, I visited Glyndŵr University in Wrexham and the week before I accompanied Nick Clegg to talk to students in Cardiff. I have never seen groups of people so eager to hear the liberal message. Young people do not have the same, unshakeable links to the old two parties that older generation may have. It is really pleasing to see young people engage with the political system but it heartens me that they, above any other demographic, are willing to listen to our message.

I believe that these three groups – rural Wales, disillusioned Labour voters in urban Wales and young people, hold the key to our chances in Wales, both in this election and beyond. These three groups have two things in common – they have been let down by Labour and they are willing to look beyond old political allegiances. If there is an electoral coalition that will help deliver a more liberal future for Wales, immediately and in the long-run, then it seems pretty likely to me that that will be it.

But not only are these voters inclined to support us because 9of our overall message, fairness, I also believe that our specific polices will appeal to them. Our focus on job creation, on housing and on education are all issues that are prominent across these groups. We didn’t create them for their electoral appeal of course, but people respond well to our manifesto.

Because ultimately, in this election, it our manifesto and our answers to the question “What will you do for me and my family?” that is sustaining our surge in the polls. Nick Clegg has been put in the spotlight. And you know what, it turns out our policies hold up to scrutiny and people actually quite like them.

I firmly believe that we are in the middle of building a new, liberal coalition amongst voters. If we succeed, we will build a liberal Wales.

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Cafe Junior is a place where parents can relax while children are encouraged to play in a creative and imaginative way.

Welsh Liberal Democrat priorities include:

• Introducing an £80 million fund to increase schools funding for the most disadvantaged children.
• Allowing parents to share the full allocation of maternity and parental leave between them.
• Tax breaks for working parents would mean £1,400 extra in their pockets every year
• Maintaining the commitment to end child poverty by 2020

Kirsty Williams commented: “We believe that education is the ladder out of poverty and we need to make sure that the education system gives every child in Wales the chance to get on in life. Everyone in Wales, no matter their background, should get a fair start at life in order to reach their full potential. We know that every child is different, so schools should be given the flexibility – and resources – to teach children in different ways to get the best from them.

“We would introduce an £80 million fund to increase school funding for the most disadvantaged children and improve schools for everyone.”

Jenny Willott added: “Families are still struggling after Labour’s recession. It’s unfair: many parents have lost their jobs and balancing the demands of daily life with caring for young children is a real struggle. Getting time off work is difficult and finding quality, affordable childcare can be impossible.

“Our tax plans will also mean that every worker will get a £700 reduction in their income tax bill which means that a working family can see an average of £120 extra in their family budget at the end of the month. We’ve balanced our books so that it’s easier for families to balance theirs.

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