Welsh Tory manifesto promises 50,000 jobs and 'real change'

The Welsh Conservatives have launched their assembly election manifesto, promising "real change" with the creation of 50,000 jobs.

Speaking in Wrexham, Andrew RT Davies said: "We can't afford for Wales to be left behind under Labour.

"It must be our passion to energise people to come out and vote for the Welsh Conservatives on the 5th of May."

Mr Davies highlighted the health service in north Wales, saying it had been "badly neglected" by Labour.

Across Wales, one in seven people were on waiting lists, he said, adding: "That is not something that can be tolerated."

Details: What is in the Welsh Conservative manifesto?

The party pledges to protect the NHS budget, lower tax bills for 1.3 million households, and to spend an extra £150m to directly fund schools.

On Sunday, Mr Davies wrote in the Sunday Times that his party would cut the basic rate of income tax in Wales by 2p in the pound.

One party candidate claimed the NHS in Wales currently wastes £1bn a year.

The party's candidate for Wrexham, Andy Atkinson, told BBC Radio Wales' Good Evening Wales that if it were in government the party would fund guaranteed increases in investment for the NHS by clamping down on waste.

The current annual NHS budget across Wales is £7bn.

Pledges

The manifesto includes promises to:

• Protect the NHS budget

• Ensure at least 75% of ambulances respond to immediately life-threatening calls within eight minutes across Wales

• Lower bills for 1.3 million households, freezing council tax and cutting income tax

• Create 50,000 jobs - ending age-caps on support, backing small businesses and improving infrastructure

• Protect £100,000 of assets for those in residential care and introduce a weekly cap on costs

• Direct an extra £150m to directly fund schools

• Treble free childcare for parents of three to four-year-olds

• Ensure councils collect residual waste no less than fortnightly

• Deliver universal broadband and mobile coverage by 2019

Plaid Cymru, UKIP, the Wales Green Party and the Welsh Liberal Democrats have already launched their manifestos.

Labour is due to launch its manifesto on Tuesday.