Leaflet in lieu of mainstreeting: 

The front of the leaflet is a list that reads “12 reasons to vote Liberal Democrat”, flanked by pictures of local candidates and topped off with the Lib Dem logo. The list reads as follows:

1. Political Reform and Ending Broken Two-Party Politics
2. Devolution Settlements that Give Power to the People
3. Committed Community Champions
4. Equal Rights and Civil Liberties
5. Tackling Burning Injustices
6. Better Funded Public Services
7. Higher Police Numbers
8. Smart and Ethical Foreign Policy
9. Investment, Not Austerity
10. An Entrepreneurial and Inclusive Economy
11. Fiscal Responsibility
12. Getting Things Done Even When Politics is at its worst

The back page of the leaflet is divided into two halves: the first half, with Lib Dem colours, chronicles some of the Lib Dem achievements in government, with handy icons denoting the subject (such as wedding bells for equal marriage), while the other half, in dark and foreboding blues, covers the recent Conservative record. 

In the Lib Dem side of the page: 

• EQUAL MARRIAGE
• VOTES AT 16
• A CLEANER ENVIRONMENT
• MORE HOMES
• THE PUPIL PREMIUM
• TAX-FREE PERSONAL ALLOWANCE
• SUPPORTING SMALL BUSINESSES
• PENSION TRIPLE LOCK
• REDUCING THE DEFICIT
• MORE MONEY FOR THE NHS
• OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

On the Conservative side of the page: 

• CUTTING PUBLIC HEALTH
• FLIP FLOPPING ON RAIL FARES
• FLIP FLOPPING ON FOREIGN POLICY
• OPPOSING POLITICAL REFORM
• NASTY POLITICS
• BACKROOM DEALS AND HORSE TRADING
• DOUBLE STANDARDS
• WEAK MANIFESTO 
• NO PLANS ON KEY ISSUES

Beneath this, a by-line, yellow text against a black strip, reads “WHEN POLITICS IS AT ITS WORST, THE LIB DEMS GET STUFF DONE.” 

At the bottom of the page there is both the legally required text and a form that can be cut out, allowing the recipient to get in touch with the candidate, either to discuss issues, to request GOTV assistance, or to offer support.

Wales HPE - Policy Rally

Graham Adiputera

I must start by thanking Jane and the Welsh Liberal Democrats for the work they did on this campaign, for the work they are doing in communities across the country. When it comes to the enthusiasm and public spiritedness, the Welsh Liberal Democrats are hard to beat.

The purpose of this rally is simple: to elucidate what Liberal Democrat policies and values mean for the people of Wales. This adds to, rather than replaces, our last general election manifesto. We are still committed to our 2014 manifesto - proud of what we have achieved thus far, eager to finish the job. 

We are a party that attracts those - and stands up for the rights and interests of - from every background, every region, every walk of life. We believe politicians should work for all, not just their base or floating voters.

When Alex Cardigan left the Tories - ultimately to join us - the message was clear. If you believe in responsible governance, inclusive politics, and respectful debate, the Conservative Party is no longer for you. Under Dylan Macmillan, they have become a party of double standards, of vitriolic personal attacks, of lies and scaremongering on issues from pensions to refugees, of insulting our friends globally. They have proposed callous cuts to the pupil premium, to investment in our economy, to fighting poverty both at home and abroad. They are gambling with our position in the EU - which is so important to our international credibility, to investment and growth in Wales, to our efforts in fighting climate change. 

The values of the Liberal Democrats - and of the Welsh Liberal Democrats - are clear, and have run through every decision we have made in government. 

We are the party of political reform, working to make sure votes matter, getting votes at 16, working to deliver good policy even when politics is at its worst, championing devolution and localism as a point of deeply held principle.

We are the party that is committed to giving everyone a fair shake in society, tackling the burning injustices in our society - whether they be from deprivation and a lack of opportunity, or from discrimination and oppression, or from disregard for essential rights and liberties. 

We are the party of a strong, humane, ethical foreign policy, working with the international community to tackle those challenges - from terrorism to climate change. 

We are the party of fiscal responsibility, of investing in our economy, of taking concentrated action to improve our infrastructure and unleash innovation and enterprise now rather than later, of ensuring every community, from cities to coastal towns to rural villages, has economic opportunity.

We are the party of environmental stewardship - working to clear up our air, protect our natural beauty, decarbonise our economy, and bring down waste.

We are the party of strong public services - of boosting funding for public transport, of ending public sector pay caps, of hiring more police officers, of investing billions into our schools and hospitals. 

For a country that is open, tolerant and united, there is only one choice. The Liberal Democrats. 

Jane Dodds (approved by admins)

Hello everyone, thank you all for being here. Graham is right: we are the party with the most comprehensive plan for government already, a manifesto in our hands that deals with issues no other party saw fit to talk about, and I think it is important, with each new election cycle, to show we are still a party of new ideas and bold leadership. The Liberal Democrats are, quite frankly, getting things done and standing up for ordinary people when the rest of the political establishment fails.

We support further devolution, including implementing the Silk proposals to devolve new powers to a newly empowered Welsh Parliament. We will support a Welsh Parliament based on a reserved powers model. We will look at reforming the Barnett Formula, which the Holtham Commission found underfunded Wales by ignoring certain Welsh needs. We will abolish the Severn Bridge tolls as soon as possible. 

We will step up investments in the Welsh economy and Welsh infrastructure. This includes a direct spend on 15k homes per year; promote investment in rural and urban broadband and mobile networks alike; make capital investments in schools and hospitals to enable more capacity; support renewable energy projects such as the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon to complement national Lib Dem efforts to create clean jobs and fight climate change; electrify North Wales Main Line and order a feasibility study into restoring Aberystwyth and Carmarthen rail links; invest in the South Wales Metro to properly connect communities in the region; create a Welsh Development Bank to support long-term infrastructure and business and trade development; and explore devolved city deals. 

In healthcare, we will create a Welsh NHS whistleblower hotline; enact a Safe Staff levels bill and national workforce strategy; implement more effective mental health strategies and end the scandal of people being sent to placements outside their local area, ensuring mental health treatment is conducted close to home; and establish a more generous carers' allowance.

In education, we will increase free childcare provision; invest in school broadband, computing and coding skills; step up pupil premium funding including for early years; prioritise student health and well-being; establish a legal presumption against closing rural schools; promote access to Welsh language textbooks; step up funding for special educational needs; establish new National Networks for creative and STEM subjects; promote inclusive SRE education and fight gender stereotyping in schools; support kids in getting healthy nutrition during school holidays; and invest more in Welsh universities and lifelong learning opportunities. 

Unlike with certain other parties, our priorities, values and worldview has remained the same.

Shadow Chancellor Steven Andrews makes his way to Holyhead for another round of mainstreeting. There, he met with voters and discussed:

Devolution
"The Conservative Party believes that, where practical, power should be exercised as close as it reasonably can to the people. In line with this, it was the Conservatives who moved first to give the people of Wales better control over their destiny by working to give the Welsh Assembly powers equal to those of the Scottish Assembly. We will continue to work to support giving the people of Wales historically unprecedented control over their destiny rather than trying to micromanage from London."

The Environment
"While the Conservative Party is firmly in support of achieving climate goals, we are also worried that there is a developing over-dependence on wind farms in Wales as a result of that being an 'easy answer'. This represents both a risk to power generation in times of light winds, for obvious reasons, but it also risks other environmental issues and potentially presents long-term noise hazards. This is why the Conservatives support using all power alternatives, as necessary and appropriate, to get us off of fossil fuels."

Tax
"The Conservative Party stands for a bold, responsible low-tax regime both in Westminster and in Wales. In Westminster, we have pledged to slash the Basic Rate of income tax by a quarter, giving the average worker a cut of £800, while both cutting corporation tax and abolishing capital gains tax so as to encourage investment and entrepreneurship.  Your vote in the Senate election will help make these great tax cuts possible.  We would extend these principles to Wales, abolishing business rates for small businesses and, if the appropriate powers are devolved, looking to mimic the adjustments to income tax seen at the national level within Wales."

Sylviane Jaubert met with voters in Clwyd, Wales. She spoke with them, listened to their problems and answered their questions.

Those who want to speak about healthcare: In Westminster we have invested billions in our NHS, provided pay increases for our staff, hired new doctors, nurses and added more beds and in Wales we have also invested heavily in our NHS and its staff. We have improved integrated care, with £70m for the Immediate Care Fund in the last two years, provided faster treatment times and improved survival rates for cancer patients in Wales. We have capped domiciliary care charges and gave a living wage for NHS staff. Our job is not done yet, we will double the capital people can keep when entering residential care to £50,000, we willMore action to tackle the stigma of mental illness, increase access to talking therapies and promote better emotional health in schools, we will invest more in facilities to reduce waiting times and exploit digital technologies to help speed up the diagnosis of illness. We will take action to attract more GPs to Wales and encourage more doctors to train in Wales. Tories say they hate the prescription charge but they also want to reintroduce it in Wales, say they want to invest in the NHS but when they are in government they starve NHS the funding they desperately need. Labour promises and delivers, Tories lie and flip flop. Vote Labour if you want access to quality healthcare for all. 

Those who want to speak about infrastructure: During our time in Westminster, we have invested billions in green transport, green energy, kept rail fares in frozen in real terms, and invested millions in our bus services. What did the Tories do, they promised frozen rail fares and increased it, they wanted to cut rail funding across the country and reversed their position in London. Tories do not care about Wales and the rest of the country. While Tories were gutting our public infrastructure, in Wales Labour  worked on Heads of the Valleys road dualling and made major improvements to the A55. We have introduced Superfast Broadband to more than half a million premises, we reached an agreement on the electrification of the Great Western mainline and the Valleys Lines, and spent more than £40m on improving the Wrexham to Chester rail line. We have upgraded railway stations across Wales and invested £14 million in our public libraries. Our job is not done yet, we will deliver fast broadband to every property in Wales. We will introduce metro systems in the North and the South. We will provide an M4 relief road, continue on A55 improvements, and will improve the A40 in West Wales 

To those who want to talk about making government work for people: Making government work for people, that is the biggest issue out there, on big issues and small ones, as Justice Secretary, I led the charge to eliminate the employment tribunal fees, these fees were so burdensome that it led to a 70 percent decline in workers seeking justice for wrongful employer actions. We have introduced, school breakfasts to children across the country and increased funding for school lunches because no children should stay hungry ever. We have invest billions in our schools, in form new equipments, by hiring more teachers and teachers assistants, doubled the pupil premium which is a funding that benefits the low income children, provided funding for sports and extracurriculars, established a school trip fund. In Wales, Labour invested in the biggest school building programme ever, worth £2 billion. Under Labour record numbers of apprentices and completion rates of over 80 per cent. 

What will do to improve lives in Wales and make government work for people, we will commit to practical steps to meet our target of one million Welsh speakers by 2050, establish Business Clubs to bring work experience into schools and re-shape careers support, create a Music Endowment Fund to help youngsters access music services and instruments and provide a better package of student support than that on offer in England, based on the recommendations of the Diamond Review

Leaflet:

Front:

Picture: A picture of North Wales towns

Caption: What Wales really needs?

Back:

Caption:

What Wales really needs is a party in government that understands the people?

While Tories are focusing on stunts, Labour has delivered higher pay, increased basic allowance, invested billions in NHS and education, increased nursery education. The job is not done yet. Vote Labour.

Tory Billboard #1
?width=1192&height=670

Tory Billboard #2

Wales High Profile Event

Faye Gallacher spoke in Wales at the launch of the Welsh manifesto:

“Comrades,

I’m proud to stand here today to unveil Welsh Labour’s 2016 manifesto. Throughout this election campaign we’ve made it clear: it’s been hard and mistakes have been made, but we’re turning a new page and Labour is working. And whatever the Conservatives say, Welsh Labour is working too.

Labour in Westminster have made it clear that we’ve fought for a strong economy. Record employment. Strong wage growth. Strong economic growth. A reduced deficit. Almost all of which the Tories had failed in delivering when they were in government. And Welsh Labour’s record is as proud, with 100,000 apprenticeships created, record employment, record investment in the Welsh NHS and the strongest growth in the UK.

The Tories can come to you with their spin, warm words and promises that are bound to be broken. But Wales is the natural home of Labour and has been for generations. The Tories have tried to convince the Welsh people that because we are not giving handouts to big businesses or bankers we are not on their side. As the Tories pledge to scrap capital gains tax, we’ll make it clear we back this move. We know most people in Wales will never pay capital gains tax, and we want to invest in the Welsh people, not in bankers in London.

The height of Tory arrogance was revealed when Dylan Macmillan dismissed our true claims that Welsh Labour have not put record investment into the Welsh NHS – comrades, we make it absolutely clear that the Welsh government were forced to make difficult choices after the Tories forced cut after cut on them, but Welsh NHS investment has repeatedly exceeded the English average while the Tories were in power. And only a vote for Labour can continue to protect the health service so many Welsh people value and cherish.

It speaks volumes that the Tories think prescription charges aren’t good enough for the English and want to scrap them in Wales, doesn’t it comrades? We deserve better.

As your Chancellor, I promise the people of Wales we will continue to ensure austerity is ended and Wales gets the investment it needs so it will never have to feel it would compromise on the NHS again. And as Devolution Secretary I promise that we will continue to deliver on devolution to the Welsh people.

The Conservatives boast about their role in delivering the Wales Act, but neglect to mention that their bill was weak and watered down before this government stepped in to do what it has always done: ensure their bill was fit to purpose. We fought to devolve public transport, policing, energy efficiency and other crucial powers to the Welsh people.

Crucially, we ensured to make sure there was a stable devolution settlement of income tax to Wales by ensuring income tax would be devolved with the approval of a referendum. Dylan Macmillan wanted to oppose this change top down from Westminster. We need to send him the message that devolution isn’t Dylan Macmillan’s achievement, it’s the people of Wales’ achievement.

But we know comrades that Dylan Macmillan is hoping that he can deliver the Wales Act, electorally benefit from it and neglect devolution in Wales from then on. We need to make it clear to him that this is unacceptable. We want to guarantee Wales the borrowing powers Scotland has and ensure justice can be devolved to Wales. Dylan Macmillan’s Tories have said this is unfeasible. Comrades, it’s time the people of Wales prove them wrong.

But throughout this campaign we won’t just talk about what we can do for you in Westminster, comrades. We’ve delivered a comprehensive plan so the Welsh government can outline what they will do for the Welsh people. So I’m proud to introduce you to your First Minister, Carwyn Jones!

Carwyn Jones:

Thank you, Faye, thank you.

Comrades, from my childhood Labour was all I knew and breathed. It was bred into me to vote Labour, and it’ll be bred into my children and theirs. This goes so much deeper than tribalism – Labour is Wales’ culture, heritage and our identity. We know that when we elect a Labour government in Wales, we have a government that works for people, not for profit. That fights for you, not the few. That works for Welsh people, not Westminster interests.

This manifesto is a blueprint of what this Labour government in Wales will do but is a reminder of what we have done for the people of Wales. And it’s as crucial we have Labour votes going to the Westminster Parliament and Senate too: we’ve seen that when the Tories were in government cuts were forced on the Welsh people against their will; a Labour government in Westminster is crucial in ending that.

The Labour Welsh government has delivered 10,000 jobs, 15,000 jobs for young unemployed people and up to 100,000 apprenticeships. It’s brought the Welsh people 10,000 affordable homes and the joint highest economic growth in the United Kingdom. It’s delivered over £5 billion in infrastructure projects. Tories will swan down from England and tell is this is failure: if that’s failure, I would like to see what success looks like.

In our manifesto we will deliver a Welsh investment bank, 20,000 more truly affordable homes and 30 hours a week of universal childcare – helping Welsh families get the best start in life for their children and develop a strong foundation.

This government delivered free prescriptions the Tories complain about but want to force on the Welsh people, and free parking charges for hospitals to boot. We’ve delivered on faster treatment times and improved cancer survival rates. We’ve done this not through cuts as the Tories suggested, but record investment. By continuing investment, we will continue to integrate health and social care, work to attract more GPs to Wales and establish a new Treatment Fund so those with life threatening illnesses are prioritised for treatment.

We’ve delivered record exam results, £2 billion in the biggest school building programme ever and a record fall in youth unemployment all while maintaining the education maintenance allowance for our young people that the Tories saw fit to scrap. We will continue to deliver on that, with another £2 billion schools programme, the establishment of 100,000 apprenticeships and a music endowment fund to ensure Wales’ proud musical tradition continues.

Friends, Labour is working. And it can continue to work. To continue our proud tradition of a strong Labour government that works for Wales, you must vote Labour on [date]. Thank you very much.

[manifesto: minus anything ahistorical, it’s http://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/themes/56f26ee2ebad64d813000001/attachments/original/1460733418/Welsh-Labour-Manifesto2016.pdf?1460733418 ]

Welsh Billboard - 

[Pictured: Rolling green hills that are very Wales-y]

[Caption: Don't let Westminster Tories tell you they delivered devolution. The Welsh people did - vote Labour to send them a message]

[Labour logo prominent.]

Welsh Billboard 2 - 

[Pictured: a diverse set of nurses beaming happily at the camera even though nobody smiles like that in a hospital]

Bulletpoints captioned:

• Fastest growing region in the UK.
• 10,000 jobs and affordable houses.
• Over 5 billion in infrastructure projects
• Record investment in our public services. 

Labour is working for Wales. Vote Labour on [date].