A Manifesto for a Fair, Green, Socialist Future
A fair, green and socialist alternative
Wales needs real change. Power and wealth are concentrated in the hands of the few, while workers and their families face rising prices, insecure work, poor housing and overstretched public services. This manifesto sets out a clear alternative: a Wales where power is exercised democratically in the interests of the mass of the people, not for the profits of big business and the super-rich.
Poverty, inequality and environmental destruction are not accidents. They are the result of an economic system that puts private profit before human needs. Communists work to build a fair, green and socialist Wales, founded on democratic control of the economy, strong public services, solidarity in our communities and internationally.
Power and democracy
Real democracy means more than voting every few years. It means having a real say over the everyday decisions that shape our lives at work, in our communities and across our nation.
That’s why Communists aim to:
- Extend democracy into the workplace, giving workers collective rights over pay and conditions, restructuring and investment decisions.
- Strengthen trade union rights, including the right to organise in trade unions, bargain collectively and take solidarity action without fear of the sack.
- End pay discrimination against women and young workers.
- Empower communities and local authorities with real control over services, development and investment.
- Defend and expand Welsh self-government within a federal Britain based on equality and solidarity.
Devolution has given Wales limited powers. Nonetheless, policies such as free prescriptions, hospital car parking and museum entry; safeguards against privatisation of schools and health care; free breakfasts for primary school children; rescuing Cardiff (Wales) airport from managed decline and closure; free bus travel for over 60s; Welsh votes for 16 and 17 year olds; and restoration of student grants instead of loans, have demonstrated the different path we can follow when we have the power to decide.
But Westminster governments have taken back industrial investment powers from Wales under the Internal Market Act, only returning limited policy-making powers from Brussels after Britain left the EU, refused to devolve the Crown Estate in Wales to the Senedd (unlike in Scotland); and blocked Welsh plans to protect farm workers’ wages and outlaw strike-breaking by employment agencies.
Communists want to protect and extend the powers and resources of our national institutions in Wales, so that more policies are taken in Wales for the benefit of the people of Wales.
A planned economy for people, not profit
Wales has suffered from decades of deindustrialisation, insecurity and neglect. Market chaos and dependence on multinational corporations have failed our communities. We need democratic planning and public ownership.
That’s why Communists say:
- Protect jobs in vital industries and services as a top priority.
- Ban asset-stripping, mass redundancies and ‘fire and rehire’ practices.
- Take failing but strategic enterprises into democratic public ownership.
- Establish a Welsh National Economic Development Authority to plan investment and guide private capital to where it’s most needed.
- Ensure public funding secures public ownership or shareholding.
- Support cooperatives and publicly owned enterprises rooted in local communities
A green Wales for current and future generations
The climate emergency demands urgent action.
Communists demand policies that protect workers, communities and the planet:
- Invest massively in renewable energy, including wind, solar and our world-beating tidal power in the Severn Estuary.
- Bring energy, rail and bus services into public ownership.
- Expand affordable, integrated public transport to reduce car dependency.
- Support environmental and energy policies that guarantee jobs, pay and retraining for workers.
- Reform land use and agriculture to prioritise food security, environmental restoration and carbon capture.
- Take the Crown Estate and its profits in Wales into public ownership.
- Invest to protect communities from flooding and other impacts of climate change.
- Reject market-based carbon trading and regulate polluters directly.
Health, care and wellbeing
Health, social and elderly care are public goods, not commodities. The COVID pandemic exposed the dangers of privatisation and fragmented provision.
Communists say:
- Defend and strengthen a fully public NHS in Wales, free from privatisation.
- Bring pharmaceutical production and essential medical supply chains into public ownership.
- Shift health policy towards prevention by tackling poor housing, pollution, low pay and insecurity.
- Plan GP and free universal dental provision to meet local needs.
- Create a fully funded National Care Service, publicly delivered and free at the point of need.
- Guarantee care workers decent pay, secure contracts and full employment rights.
- Protect and plan the provision of public conveniences to meet the needs of local communities.
Valuing care, ending poverty
Care work, paid and unpaid, sustains our society yet it is undervalued and disproportionately carried out by women.
Communists say:
- Introduce a social wage for parents and carers who leave paid work to care.
- Guarantee full state pension rights for carers.
- Expand paid maternity and paternity leave and protect parents’ jobs.
- Provide free childcare from birth for those who choose to return to work.
- Commit to ending child poverty through income support, services and secure housing.
Housing is a human right
Everyone deserves a safe, secure and affordable home. Housing must serve the needs of our people, not the profits of property speculators and the idle rich.
That’s why Communists say:
- Launch a major programme of council and social house building.
- Bring all social housing under accountable public control.
- Use compulsory purchase powers to bring empty homes back into use.
- Refurbish and retrofit all homes to improve energy efficiency and reduce bills and carbon emissions.
- Introduce rent controls and strong tenant protections.
- Ensure refuge places for all women and children fleeing domestic violence.
- End homelessness, overcrowding and rough sleeping as a matter of urgency and fund adequate support services for vulnerable households.
- Abolish the Bedroom Tax and restore full housing benefit.
Education, youth and lifelong learning
Education should unlock human potential, not reinforce inequality.
That’s why Communists say:
- Replace high-stakes testing with fair and humane assessment systems.
- Expand Welsh-medium education across the country, supporting the campaign for ‘Welsh Medium Education for All’, so all children have equal access to the Welsh language.
- Abolish private education and invest in comprehensive public education.
- End the injustice of term time-only pay for school support staff.
- Guarantee education to be free for all ages, including at degree and post graduate level and abolish student debt.
Our young people need:
- Secure jobs, apprenticeships and a real living wage.
- Free travel to education and job interviews , affordable public transport and housing.
- Restored youth services, leisure centres and community spaces.
- Expanded access to mental health and wellbeing support.
Support the Welsh language and our cultural industries
The Welsh language belongs to everyone in Wales. However, opportunities for people to learn and use the language are limited by insufficient investment and lack of strong rights and protections across the wider economy.
Welsh culture and the arts in both languages should be promoted in a planned and coordinated way. This should include:
- Support for magazines and news media based in Wales.
- Full broadcasting powers to be devolved to Wales.
- Local, integrated Welsh language plans that combine analysis of housing need, education provision, and economic sustainability.
- Support for artists, writers and translators in all fields.
- Greater emphasis on Welsh history and culture at both local and national levels within our schools.
Fair funding and economic justice
Wales needs the power and resources to invest in its future and redistribute wealth fairly.
Welsh Communists believe we should:
- Replace outdated and unfair Council Tax with a fair local income tax.
- Ensure we get our fair share of funding from the Crown Estate, HS2 and other UK rail projects and replace unfair funding formulas that disadvantage Wales.
- Introduce wealth taxes and higher taxes on corporate profits.
- Expand low-interest public borrowing powers for the Senedd and local authorities.
- Use public procurement to support local jobs and industries.
Internationalism and peace
We stand for peace, cooperation and international solidarity. Wales should never be used to serve British and US imperialism, war and exploitation.
Communists say:
- Oppose imperialist wars and militarism, whether in Palestine, Venezuela, Ukraine, Iran or anywhere throughout the world.
- Remove all imperialist military infrastructure from Wales.
- Oppose the giant US ‘Deep Space’ radar base planned for Pembrokeshire.
The growth of far-right and fascist groups in Wales is linked to capitalism’s profits-first agenda which causes division and conflict around the world. We oppose these developments at home and abroad, together with our allies in the communist, trade union, peace and women’s movements.
Real power for the people of Wales!
We hope this Manifesto informs and inspires you and other people in our communities, trade unions and political organisations.
Welsh Communists have a proud record of supporting the people of Wales in their fight for social justice and national self-determination. We have fought and campaigned against mass unemployment, the cruel Means Test and home evictions; against racism and against fascism; for a Welsh Parliament, a Wales TUC and Welsh-language rights; for fair rents and more council housing; for a cleaner, safer environment; and in solidarity with people fighting for freedom in apartheid South Africa, Chile, Greece, Cyprus, Iraq, Iran and Palestine.
We also believe another Wales is possible, one where wealth is shared, democracy is real, the environment is protected and human need comes before private profit.
Together, through collective struggle and democratic action,
we can win real power for the people of Wales!
Vote Communist. Fight for your community. Change everything.
See our policy comparison and statements on the parties contesting the Senedd elections in 2026 at https://welshcommunists.org/elections2026/