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ET. Economy and Transport

ET1. From the outset, the National Assembly for Wales has backed the economic strategy of attracting inward investment for the Welsh economy. As a consequence, our skills base, including small local companies, is developing to serve remote interests whose priority is certainly not the people of Wales. The drive towards an increasingly unaccountable global market threatens jobs, workers' skills and the environment. Inward investment is as easily lost as it is hard to win, with production now increasingly being moved to low wage countries. The shift of power away from communities and governments into the hands of multinational corporations imperils those communities, their cultures and democracy itself. Our communities are increasingly being treated as dormitory areas, dependent on the functioning of this multinational new world order.

ET2. Greens all around the world stand firmly against economic globalisation and the dependence that comes with it.

ET3. We need a Green jobs explosion. The creation of meaningful employment in benign industries is an essential step in realising a Green society. Implementation of Green policies would generate over 50,000 jobs in Wales over 10 years. These would not be 'here today, gone tomorrow' jobs. These would be real jobs, rooted in Wales, delivering real benefits to the people of Wales.

ET4. These jobs would come through: better provision for public transport; cleaner energy supplies; more organic farming; less pollution and more recycling of waste; better insulation and the incorporation of solar energy into building design and construction; production of energy efficiency technologies and equipment to monitor or reduce the emission of pollutants; maintenance of parks, open spaces, footpaths and wildlife habitats; improving water quality.

ET5. We will be building a self-reliant Wales.

ET6. Central to Green economic policy is the creation of strong local economies where local production is used to meet local need. We must maintain convenient local facilities, such as post offices, banks, and shops. With more people working locally there will be less traffic and pollution, less time wasted in travelling, improved local facilities and friendlier, safer communities, with less crime.

ET7. Greens in the National Assembly will:
Put quality before quantity - publishing alternative economic statistics for Wales that would measure our quality of life, not just economic output.
Stop the cap-in-hand mentality towards global investors - moving grant aid away from multinational corporations towards small and medium sized sustainable Welsh businesses.
Make computer software free - promoting the use of Open Source computer software throughout the whole of the public sector in Wales, in private industry and in people's homes.
Put morality back into business - encouraging companies to introduce ethical audits of their activities and establish a public register of these audits.
Promote alternatives to the competitive cash economy - supporting LETS (Local Exchange Trading Systems) schemes and other complementary currencies, co-operatives, community enterprises, development trusts, and credit unions, as means of building up local economies and ensuring that finance is spread more widely amongst our communities.

ET8. In the longer term Greens want to:
increase the number of Assembly Members and turn the National Assembly into a Parliament with powers like those in Scotland.
replace the formula that is used to determine the amount of money the UK government allocates to Wales, with one that is based on need rather than population.
replace Private Finance Initiatives (PFI) with government funding and local government bonds.
raise public awareness of the inequity of our current debt-based system of money creation, then seek to bring about monetary reform whereby money is spent into the economy by government rather than created by banks issuing loans.
widen the powers of the National Assembly to cover the benefits system, and once achieved, bring about its simplification as the first step towards introducing a minimum income for all.
use the tax system to encourage business to be more environmentally responsible through increased taxation of energy use, internalisation of environmental costs and the taxation of resources partly replacing tax on revenue.
reject the Euro as this will further inhibit the establishment of strong democratically accountable local economies.
reject the introduction of measures such as the MAI (Multilateral Agreement on Investment) that challenge the legislative power of local authorities and governments to protect jobs and the environment.
waive the international debts of the poorest nations.
introduce a tax on currency speculation.

ET9. Welsh public transport is very under-developed and cannot cope with the needs of a future sustainable Wales. There is a deficiency of rail routes within Wales and a need for alternatives to car and air transport.

ET10. Specific Problems with Air Transport:
(i) Short-haul flights are the most polluting form of transport available, being around 70 times more polluting than train travel. They are particularly polluting as most fuel is used by planes on take-off and landing.
(ii) Short-haul flights are being promoted in Wales, with flights from Swansea and Cardiff to London and Dublin being established, and political pressure being applied for flights from Haverfordwest and Caernarfon.
(iii) The British Airports Authority made in-kind political donations totalling more than £31.1million between February 2001 and September 2002. BAA was the 4th biggest donor to the Liberal Democrats, the 9th biggest donor to the Labour Party and the 11th biggest donor to the Conservative Party.
(iv) Air fuel is untaxed, meaning that air travel is effectively heavily subsidised, by about £37bn annually.
(v) Plans are afoot for further expansion of Swansea and Cardiff airports in the face of local opposition. The Swansea airport expansion will affect SSSIs and an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
(vi) In Ceredigion, there are advanced and potentially damaging plans for airport expansion at Blaenannerch, Aberporth, and a proposal for a further airport development in the North of the County.

ET11. Green Party policy aims to reduce the need to travel whilst increasing accessibility to public transport. Ideally most of us should be able to walk to work, to local schools and to local shops. The creation of strong local economies is vital in this regard because it will mean people need to travel less. Greatly increased investment in public transport is also required to ensure accessibility to all irrespective of age, wealth or disability.

ET12. Green transport planning will prioritise modes of transport from most preferable to least preferable:
- walking and disabled access
- cycling
- public transport (trains, light rail / trams, buses, ferries) and rail and water-borne freight
- light goods vehicles, taxis and low powered motorcycles
- private motorised transport (cars and high powered motorcycles)
- heavy goods vehicles
- aeroplanes.

ET13. Currently we are seeing greater centralisation of economies that is forcing people to rely on the private car and industry on road freight. Cars currently dominate our communities and road use. This trend must be reversed by providing effective public transport alternatives and lessening the need for car use.

ET14. Greens in the National Assembly call for:
· creation of a National Passenger Transport Authority for Wales with responsibility for delivering a truly integrated public transport network accessible to all
· increased funding for trains and buses with money coming in part from workplace and shopping centre parking charges
· investigation of the relaying of the rail lines between Carmarthen and Aberystwyth and Bangor and Porthmadog to support the West Wales economies
· better North-South public transport links, including improvements to the Holyhead-Cardiff train service
· provision for increased cycle transport on trains and buses
· provision of safe footpaths and cycle routes between neighbouring communities
· the effective halt of new road building and a halt to incremental road improvements (such as those to the A470 which passes through many upland sensitive environments), except for genuine safety reasons
· the halt of airport expansion and proposed internal Welsh flights
· reducing speed limits in built up areas and nationally
· promotion of Home Zones where traffic calming measures are employed so that people can chat, play, or sit and watch the world go by in the streets where they live
· encouraging our citizens to holiday in Wales through increased promotion of our tourist industry, sustainable transport and by raising awareness of the environmental impact of air travel.