Kirsty Williams: New First Minister must quickly match rhetoric on education with action. (Kirsty Williams AM )

Cymraeg
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Kirsty Williams AM <info@kirstywilliams.org.uk>

Kirsty Williams: New First Minister must quickly match rhetoric on education with action.

January 12, 2010 1:16 PM

The Welsh Liberal Democrats are calling on the new First Minister to act on his commitments to education in Wales, by reversing the higher and further education cuts his government voted for in late 2009.

Kirsty Williams, Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats commented:

"The New First Minister made some bold promises in his leadership manifesto, notably outlining his belief that 'education is the route out of poverty'. Sadly, the First Minister voted to cut college and university budgets by 5% this year, so his first act must be to reverse this terrible decision by tabling a supplementary budget."

"Unless he shows leadership and reverses the 5% education cuts, First Minister Jones will send a clear message to Welsh voters - I'm all talk, no action. I'll be asking First Minister Jones whether he will take a laid-back or a pro-active approach to tackling the issues that matter most in Wales today. "

"As the new First Minister begins his new job, around 125,000 are unemployed in Wales(1), about half of which are aged 25 or younger (2). I hope, for their sake, that our new First Minister doesn't choose the 'do nothing' option."

Ends-

Notes.

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/lmswales1109.pdf

http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/monitoring-poverty-wales-2009