Plaid Cymru Demands Greater Powers For Wales

Plaid Cymru said it is time to "settle up with Wesminster" and demand greater powers for Welsh public services which had been "cut to the bone".

Party leader Leanne Wood said it was time to secure the same funding powers as Scotland did in the wake of the independence referendum.

Pledging 1,000 extra doctors, 50,000 more Welsh jobs and a rise in the minimum wage, Ms Wood said Plaid Cymru could play "a big part" in negotiations if the election produced another hung parliament.

Keen to improve on the three seats it secured in the last election, the Party for Wales said the economy would be at the heart of its election campaign.

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Launching the Plaid Cymru manifesto in Bangor, north west Wales, Ms Wood told Sky News: "We want parity with Scotland, parity in terms of power and resources. An additional £1.2bn we could expect to see into the Welsh coffers.

"That would enable us in practical and real terms to end austerity in our public services."

She added that her party would not enter into an agreement with Labour in the event of a hung parliament if they maintained their support for the Trident nuclear deterrent programme.

"We would not support that," she said.

"We would like to put that money back into Welsh public services because they've been cut to the bone and can take no more.

"There's only one opportunity to make sure that Wales matters in this election and that is by electing a team of Plaid Cymru MPs, otherwise there's a real risk that Wales won't feature on the agenda at all."

And she refused to speculate on when she would like to see an Independent Wales, adding: "I think putting an arbitrary timescale on that would be foolish.

"But we are going all out to build the Welsh economy and persuade people in Wales that this is something we definitely can do."

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