General election 2019: Plaid Cymru wants 'green jobs revolution'

Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price will call for a £20bn “green jobs revolution” in Wales when he launches the party’s general election manifesto later.

Plans include huge investment in rail and bus travel, three tidal lagoons, a barrage and a new offshore wind farm.

Mr Price will say tens of thousands of “green collar” jobs can be created and the “urgent climate emergency” tackled.

The manifesto will also say there should be another EU referendum so voters are given a final say on Brexit.

Mr Price will say the proposals will make Wales self-sustainable in renewable energy by 2030.

“Wales was the cradle of the first industrial revolution, but the sad truth known to all of us who live in Wales is that our country hasn’t reaped the benefits of our own wealth,” he will say at the launch event in the south Wales valleys.

“We know that Wales has enormous potential – we are rich in natural resources and our people are talented and skilled.

“Just as we were the first time, we can be the cradle of another revolution – a green jobs revolution – creating tens of thousands of green collar jobs and seriously tackling the urgent climate emergency we face.”

The green plans include:

• Electrification of all mainline rail lines, the south Wales Valley Lines and North Wales Coast railway
• A south east Wales “super metro” transport system, metro for Swansea Bay and the western valleys and for north east Wales
• Re-opening rail services in the Amman, Tawe, Neath, and Dulais valleys
• Building tidal lagoons in Swansea Bay, Cardiff and Colwyn Bay, an offshore wind farm off Anglesey and a barrage on the River Usk
• Building 20,000 green social houses and a £5bn home energy efficiency programme

To pay for the plans, Plaid Cymru is calling for the UK government to devote an extra 1% of GDP, a measure of the size of the economy, to green investment over 10 years, which the party says would give Wales a share worth £15bn.

The party also says the Treasury should raise Wales’ borrowing limit from £1bn to £5bn, to reach the £20bn total for green schemes.

Other policies in the manifesto, some of which have already been announced, are the recruitment of 1,600 police officers, a £35 a week payment for every child in low income households and free social care at the point of need.