Myfanwy and Helen Mary welcome u-turn on support for older and disabled people after pressure from Plaid

Dr. Myfanwy Davies, Plaid's Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Llanelli and local Plaid AM, Helen Mary Jones, have welcomed a u-turn from Labour over support for older disabled people. Attendance Allowance and Disability Living Allowance previously been under threat to pay for Government schemes in England.

The Government has now promised that they will no longer be looking to change them in the next Parliament.

Myfanwy and Helen Mary had supported local disabilities and pensions campaigners in fighting the threat and had worked closely with Plaid colleagues in Westminster to oppose these changes which would have seen thousands of elderly and vulnerable people in Llanelli between £65 and £75 per week worse off on average.


Dr. Davies said:


“This U-turn doesn’t come a moment too soon– although some might question its timing just before a general election”.

Across Llanelli, 4,000 people depend on Attendance allowance while 8,000 people depend on Disability Living Allowance.

“These people are all either disabled or over the age of 65, the groups least likely to be able to live on their own and look after themselves.

“The proposals that Labour made last summer put enormous pressure on our most vulnerable people. It is wrong that so many of them and their families have had to live with the uncertainty about how they would manage to live independently if this support was taken away”.

“It was unacceptable that the Government suggested these cruel cuts in the first place”.

“They are not doing our most vulnerable people a favour by removing the threat that they themselves made.”

Helen Mary added:

“We have fought these changes since they were first suggested and we have been supporting local disability rights and pensioners groups in putting pressure on the Government to change its mind”.

“It is clear that the combined pressure has helped the Government towards this last minute conversion”.

“We should not have needed to defend support for the most vulnerable but, time and again, we have had to do so. Decisions on support for our most vulnerable need to be made by the Assembly in Cardiff so that we can avoid the distress caused to so many older and disabled people by these cruel cuts initially planned by Labour.”

Myfanwy calls on Nia Griffith to protect Royal Mail

Plaid Cymru Llanelli
Ty Bres,
Heol Bres
Llanelli
SA15 1UH
July 2nd, 2009

Nia Griffith MP
6 Queen Victoria Road
Llanelli
SA15 2TL

Dear Ms Griffith,

I enclose a letter sent to you on June 2nd and note that I have not yet received any response to this from your office.

I had asked you to oppose plans to privatise our Royal Mail to protect jobs and to preserve the level of service we expect and need. As you will know your colleague Lord Mandelson has now admitted that the UK Government will not push through legislation to part-privatise the Royal Mail in the near future because no buyer could be found.

It is also very clear that among your more outspoken colleagues this is an unpopular measure and failing to get the bill passed would be an embarrassment for the Government.

While the climb-down is welcome, it not good enough for the plans to be shelved so that they can be resurrected when a buyer is found or when the Labour whips think they can win the debate. Not even the Tories dreamed of privatising the Royal Mail and you must know that job losses will follow from this move and that there can be no justification for supporting a measure that puts more jobs in Llanelli at risk.

I urge you to pledge publicly to people in Llanelli that you will vote against these reckless measures when they come up for debate.

Yours faithfully,

Myfanwy Davies

Myfanwy and Helen Mary fight to save Llanelli Bingo Clubs

Myfanwy and Helen Mary slam Gordon’s Bingo Tax
Dr Myfanwy Davies, Plaid’s Llanelli Westminster candidate and Helen Mary Jones Llanelli’s Plaid AM have spoken out against the double taxation on bingo clubs that MPs voted on last week. Myfanwy has accused Gordon Brown’s government of placing Llanelli’s bingo clubs at risk.
The warning comes after Welsh Labour MPs defeated a Plaid-backed SNP motion to reverse the increase in the rate of duty from 15% to 22%. Other forms of gambling such as casino or online poker will remain taxed at 15%.
Myfanwy said:
Bingo clubs are an important part of social life in Llanelli. They provide safe entertainment and are places where women in particular come to meet their friends. This is a tax hike on bingo, when duty on other forms of gambling will remain the same. This is entirely unfair.
She warned:
“Bingo clubs may have to close in Llanelli over the next few weeks. Along with Helen Mary Jones, I will be supporting customers and staff at Llanelli’s bingo clubs who are very concerned about the situation”.
Helen Mary said
“There is widespread support for bringing down the rate of Bingo duty from 22 per cent to 15 percent in line with the tax rate for every other form of gambling. This is about fair play for one of the most popular pastimes enjoyed by people in all communities."
Myfanwy and Helen Mary will be talking to staff and customers at Bingo Clubs in and around Llanelli over the next few weeks.

Myfanwy's Open Letter on Royal Mail privatisation

Plaid Cymru Llanelli
Ty Bres,
Heol Bres
Llanelli
SA15 1UH

June 2nd, 2009

Nia Griffith MP
6 Queen Victoria Road
Llanelli
SA15 2TL

Dear Ms Griffith,

I have heard that the Government intends to announce the privatisation of part of the Royal Mail in the course of the next few days. Along with postal workers and many people in Llanelli, I am outraged by this foolish and reckless step. No sensible government would sell off this vital public service, particularly so during the deepest recession we have seen in our lifetimes. The disastrous Tory years taught is that brutal job cuts follow privatisation. We cannot afford to loose any more jobs in Llanelli - least of all through the intentional action of the UK Labour Government.

The Hooper Report commissioned by your Labour Government says that the Royal Mail should be partly privatised to release funds to enable it to modernise. The report claims our Royal Mail is not as efficient as other European postal operators. But the evidence it offers to support this is misleading and inconclusive. For example, it confuses pricing and operational efficiency. It fails to take account of the different domestic markets. It ignores the negative effects of our Royal Mail being an established operator. Worst of all, the report does not explore how Royal Mail could modernise by other means and does not even suggest how much money would be needed to support that process. Many people suspect that the whole process has been biased in favour of selling off this national asset to continental competitors such as DHL or INT.

The privatisation of the Royal Mail on the basis of this flawed report would be nothing short of an act of vandalism. The consequences will be felt first by loyal Royal Mail workers but very soon I fear we will all be suffering a decline in service and a jump in prices. This is the lesson of previous Tory privatisations.
I urge you in the strongest possible terms to vote against these measures when they come up for debate. People in Llanelli want the Royal Mail to remain in public hands and it is right that they demand the support of their MP to help protect it.

Yours faithfully,





Dr. Myfanwy Davies
Plaid Cymru Westminster Candidate, Llanelli.