Darren Millar
Leader of the Welsh ConservativesOne of the key criticisms levelled at the Conservative Party following our drubbing at the last general election was that we let taxes grow, not by increasing them, but because while the economy was growing and wages increased, thresholds for tax free income were frozen and this hit people’s pockets.
The last Conservative Government was mistaken in letting that happen. Working people deserve to keep more of their hard-earned money, particularly here in Wales where we have some of the lowest pay packets in the whole UK after 26 years of Labour (and Plaid Cymru) mismanaging the Welsh economy.
That’s why the Welsh Conservatives are offering a bold tax-cutting agenda to voters in advance of the 2026 Senedd election as a key part of our plan to fix Wales.
This week, we announced that we will cut income tax for the 1.7 million basic rate payers in Wales by 1p in the pound – an effective 5% decrease in their basic rate income tax obligation to the Treasury, a game-changer worth £450 to the average hardworking family.
It’s vital that any plans to cut taxes are credible and deliverable.
That’s why we’ve been clear that we will take an axe to Labour and Plaid’s vanity projects and root out public sector waste to fund our plans.
From their fantasy-economics Basic Income pilot, which pays £19,200 per year to people with no strings attached (even if they sit on their backsides at home!), to their £37m+ default 20mph speed limit that is hitting the Welsh economy by up to £9 billion, Labour’s propensity to waste taxpayers’ money knows no bounds.
The Welsh Government fritters money away on areas for which they have no responsibility, like their so-called ‘justice transformation’ budget and ‘international relations’ agenda with millions spent on overseas offices.
Speaking of offices, millions more is being wasted here in Wales on heat, light and leases for often near-empty Welsh Government buildings. These temples of waste are sacrificing public money on the altar of a ‘work from home’ policy that Labour has allowed to get out of control.
While public services in Wales have gotten worse, public sector fat cats and Labour Ministers have enjoyed consistent pay rises so we’d freeze pay for Ministers and government employees earning over £100,000.
And Labour’s friends in the Unions have also done well out of Welsh Labour’s largesse. Millions has been funnelled into the treasure chests that fund the Labour party, including investment in the ‘Unions in the world of work’ indoctrination project in schools, direct funding for the Trade Union Council, the Welsh Union Learning Fund, and millions more on so called ‘social partnership’ contracts. All of this will be axed under a Welsh Conservative administration.
To add insult to injury, Labour, with the support of Plaid and the Lib Dems, is implementing plans to increase the size of the Senedd by 60% by spending £120 million on 36 extra Members of the Senedd.
Let me be clear Wales needs more doctors, dentists, nurses and teachers, it does not need more politicians.
Only the Welsh Conservatives have opposed the Senedd expansion plans, which are even supported by Reform UK’s Chairman, Zia Yusuf, who described the expensive plans as ‘an exciting opportunity’ for their party to get people elected.
But there’s nothing less ‘exciting’ to the Welsh public than jobs for the boys.
We’ve been clear that efficiency savings across departments will not impact vital public services, because we will also protect funding for health, schools and farming.
Council tax has risen more sharply in Wales than elsewhere in the UK, in large part because there is no cap on tax rises that Councils can levy, unlike in England.
If council tax had only risen by the same rate in Wales as has been the case in England since 2010, the average Band D household in Wales would be £350 a year better off.
That’s why, another part of our agenda to keep taxes down is to give local people a greater say over council tax, requiring Welsh councils to hold referendums if they want to hike taxes by more than 5%.
The Chancellor’s decision to pile additional National Insurance costs onto Welsh businesses has clearly stifled growth, and coupled with the Labour’s imposition of the least competitive business rates regime in Britain, has been a recipe for disaster for Welsh firms.
We want businesses in Wales to thrive, not dive.
So we’d scrap business rates for small businesses, cut business rates in our town centres, and axe Labour’s plans for toxic tourism taxes.
Undermining Wales’ reputation for a welcome in the hillside would be devastating for our tourism sector and put jobs and livelihoods at risk; taking money from visitors to Wales that would otherwise be spent in Welsh shops, cafes, restaurants and tourist attractions.
The Welsh Conservatives are the only party that will credibly put money back into your pockets, but it isn’t just working people and businesses that will benefit.
Pensioners have been let down by Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves who cruelly cut the Winter Fuel Payment worth up to £300 to older people here in Wales. That’s why the very first policy announcement I made as Leader of the Welsh Conservatives was that we’d create a new, fully-funded Welsh Winter Fuel Allowance to replace it.
The Central Services and Administration budget of the Welsh Government has grown by a third in the last two years alone. We’d reverse this ballooning bureaucracy to fund our Winter Fuel Payment plans.
So whether it be for pensioners, working people, or businesses, the Welsh Conservatives are offering a bold agenda to put more money into Welsh people’s pockets.
As part of our mission to fix Wales, we are restoring the Conservative and Unionist Party’s reputation as the low tax, people empowering, and pro-business party we should always be.
