NINETY nine per cent of Welsh businesses are either small or medium sized enterprises, and they form the backbone of our economy.

That’s why looking after them should be a priority matter.

In December Plaid Cymru launched its plans to create up to 50,000 jobs in these businesses, and scrap business rates for 70,000 small businesses.

The public sector has enormous spending power, but at the moment only around half of public sector contracts are awarded to local companies.

If we can raise this figure and help local businesses get around 75 per cent of public sector contracts, that could create thousands of jobs in every part of Wales.

On top of this we also want to ease the financial burden on small businesses. By implementing Plaid Cymru’s business rates relief system we can help 83,000 businesses pay their rates, and lift 70,000 of them out of rates altogether.

At the moment Wales is the cheapest part of the UK for large businesses and the most expensive part of the UK for small businesses. The Labour government has got its priorities completely wrong – it’s time to rebalance it.

That’s what Plaid Cymru intends to do.

Jonathan Edwards MP

Plaid Cymru’s Treasury spokesperson