English: And he's defending his party, which bequeathed austerity to the incoming UK Government in 2010, austerity that would have led to far greater imposed cuts if the UK Government had not taken the action they did. There were only two EU Members - and obviously, we were in the EU then - who were in a worse position; they were Ireland and Greece. Ireland imposed bigger cuts than the UK to drive out their austerity. Greece didn't, and they had far bigger cuts imposed upon them. Which would you have preferred? Peter Fox: our motion, he says, is right on so many levels: family, economy, education and Welsh NHS. He said if only successive Labour Welsh Governments had done more over the last 23 years to build strong, resilient communities and a strong economy, bringing hope and aspiration for future generations. He said their failure to do this could end life chances, and despite Welsh Conservative-led Monmouthshire receiving the lowest Welsh Government funding in Wales, it's provided some of the best innovation and services in Wales. He said that Labour-controlled councils generally slash vital services despite sitting on vast reserves that they carried forward year on year on year. And he said that Conservative councils deliver for communities; Labour councils in general fail them. Mabon ap Gwynfor said Wales is a community of communities - absolutely - let down, he said, by a neoliberal ideology. I struggle to understand what that means. In other words, a far-left party, Plaid Cymru, is condemning an approach that dislikes extremes, recognises the benefits of giving voice and control to local people and community, generates enterprise that improves prosperity and funds public services, and champions evolutionary change whilst recognising that revolutionary change almost always hits the weakest the hardest. Altaf Hussain said we should be doing all we can to help our businesses thrive as we build back from the pandemic and to give local people a central role in building stronger, safer communities. Carolyn Thomas said when she walks around the community she belongs to, you can see what's been achieved. Well, I belong to the same community - we live very close by - and I work with many of the organisations and am the patron of some of them that she mentioned, and I applaud the brilliant people, those community fighters and entrepreneurs, who have driven so much of that change. But I also receive every day a bucketful of e-mails from people in Flintshire telling me that, despite their vulnerabilities, they've been told by Labour politicians or a Labour council what is good for them, rather than being asked what they want to achieve. [ Interruption.] And, of course, I wish the casework wasn't so huge, particularly disabled people and others, and, of course, prosperity per head in Flintshire, which was on a par with the UK level in 1999, is now trailing behind. Joel James - he said a centralised system of Government planning in Wales, or the centralised system in Wales, fails to understand the needs of local communities, with cohesion damaged as people become apathetic to this system of Government. We need greater empowerment of local communities and communities should not have to fight so hard to get their voices heard. From Jane Hutt, the Minister, we heard a party political broadcast based once again upon a deflection - [ Interruption.] - a deflection of responsibility for their atrocious, shocking failure in Welsh Government since 1999. She also once again gave us a list of how they've distributed the funding they've received from the UK Government. Launched in 2001 Communities First was the Labour Welsh Government's flagship programme to improve the living conditions and prospects of people in the most disadvantaged communities across Wales. However, the Wales audit review of Communities First stated the programme emerged from chaos, was not planned and there was an absence of basic financial and human resource planning before the programme was launched. When they scrapped it, £0.5 billion had been spent on it when it was announced the Welsh Government was phasing it out, having failed to reduce the headline rates of poverty or increase relative prosperity in Wales. As the Bevan Foundation said: 'Communities First did not reduce the headline rates of poverty in the vast majority of communities, still less in Wales as a whole.' Well, after 23 years of a top-down, poverty-trapping, command-and-control Labour Welsh Government, a Welsh Conservative approach to enable, empower and set free our local communities is urgently needed. And this will require a revolution in policy and service delivery in Wales, enabling people and communities to identify their strengths and to tackle the root problems preventing them from reaching their potential. As the Carnegie Trust states, the enabling state approach is about recognising that 'government, alongside driving the performance of public services, should enable communities to do what they do best', where communities are best placed to bring a wealth of local knowledge and collective energy to the decisions that affect them. However, as Building Communities Trust research found, 'People in Wales feel increasingly less able to influence decisions affecting their local area.' The 2011 UK Conservative Localism Act gave new rights and powers to communities and individuals in order to decentralise power and encourage greater local innovation and flexibility. However, the Labour Welsh Government failed to introduce most of its key provisions in Wales. Well, by finally adopting the community rights agenda in Wales, we can shift power away from central Government in Cardiff towards communities, creating a society that is more engaged and responsive. It's time to break the shackles of top-down Welsh Government, time to enable our communities and time to set Wales free to travel the road to a vibrant people-powered recovery. Since the devolution era began almost a quarter of a century ago, the Welsh Labour Government has been ever keener to destroy its critics through derision, spite and buck passing, while barely bothering to offer a serious political argument. Throughout my time here since 2003, I have listened to them boast about outputs rather than outcomes, how much is spent rather than how well, while failing to effectively monitor and evaluate their programmes and expenditure. Whenever Welsh Conservatives have proposed human rights and community rights-based motions, legislation and amendments to legislation, they have voted these down.
Welsh: Ac mae'n amddiffyn ei blaid, a adawodd gyni yn etifeddiaeth i Lywodraeth newydd y DU yn 2010, cyni a fyddai wedi arwain at orfodi toriadau mwy o lawer pe na bai Llywodraeth y DU wedi cymryd y camau a wnaethant. Dim ond dau o Aelod-wladwriaethau'r UE - ac yn amlwg, roeddem yn yr UE bryd hynny - a oedd mewn sefyllfa waeth, sef Iwerddon a Gwlad Groeg. Gwnaeth Iwerddon orfodi toriadau mwy na'r DU i gael gwared ar eu cyni hwy. Ni wnaeth Gwlad Groeg hynny, a gorfodwyd toriadau mwy o lawer arnynt hwy. Pa un a fyddai wedi bod orau gennych chi? Peter Fox: mae ein cynnig, meddai, yn gywir ar gymaint o lefelau: teuluoedd, yr economi, addysg a GIG Cymru. O na bai Llywodraethau Llafur olynol Cymru ond wedi gwneud mwy, meddai, dros y 23 mlynedd diwethaf i adeiladu cymunedau cryf, gwydn ac economi gref, gan roi gobaith ac uchelgais i genedlaethau'r dyfodol. Dywedodd y gallai eu methiant i wneud hyn roi diwedd ar gyfleoedd bywyd, ac er bod sir Fynwy, dan arweiniad y Ceidwadwyr Cymreig, yn cael y lefel isaf o gyllid yng Nghymru gan Lywodraeth Cymru, maent wedi darparu rhai o'r gwasanaethau gorau a pheth o'r arloesi gorau yng Nghymru. Dywedodd fod y cynghorau a reolir gan Lafur fel arfer yn torri gwasanaethau hanfodol er bod ganddynt gronfeydd wrth gefn enfawr y maent yn eu cario ymlaen flwyddyn ar ôl blwyddyn. A dywedodd fod cynghorau Ceidwadol yn cyflawni dros gymunedau; mae cynghorau Llafur, yn gyffredinol, yn eu gadael i lawr. Dywedodd Mabon ap Gwynfor fod Cymru'n gymuned o gymunedau - yn sicr - sydd wedi'i gadael i lawr, meddai, gan ideoleg neoryddfrydol. Rwy'n ei chael hi'n anodd deall beth y mae hynny'n ei olygu. Mewn geiriau eraill, mae plaid asgell chwith eithafol, Plaid Cymru, yn condemnio ymagwedd nad yw'n hoff o eithafion, sy'n cydnabod manteision rhoi llais a rheolaeth i bobl leol a'r gymuned, sy'n cynhyrchu menter sy'n gwella ffyniant ac yn ariannu gwasanaethau cyhoeddus, ac yn hyrwyddo newid esblygiadol gan gydnabod bod newid chwyldroadol bron bob amser yn taro'r gwannaf galetaf. Dywedodd Altaf Hussain y dylem wneud popeth a allwn i helpu ein busnesau i ffynnu wrth inni ailgodi wedi'r pandemig ac i roi rôl ganolog i bobl leol wrth adeiladu cymunedau cryfach, mwy diogel. Dywedodd Carolyn Thomas, pan fydd yn cerdded o gwmpas y gymuned y mae'n perthyn iddi, y gallwch weld yr hyn sydd wedi'i gyflawni. Wel, rwy'n perthyn i'r un gymuned - rydym yn byw'n agos iawn at ein gilydd - ac rwy'n gweithio gyda llawer o'r sefydliadau y soniodd amdanynt ac yn noddwr i rai ohonynt, ac rwy'n cymeradwyo'r bobl wych, yr ymladdwyr a'r entrepreneuriaid cymunedol hynny, sydd wedi hybu cymaint o'r newid hwnnw. Ond rwyf hefyd yn cael llond bwced o e-byst bob dydd gan bobl yn sir y Fflint sy'n dweud wrthyf, er eu bod yn agored i niwed, fod gwleidyddion Llafur neu gyngor Llafur wedi dweud wrthynt beth sy'n dda iddynt, yn hytrach na'u holi beth y maent am ei gyflawni. [ Torri ar draws.] Ac wrth gwrs, hoffwn pe na bai'r gwaith achos mor enfawr, yn enwedig pobl anabl ac eraill, ac wrth gwrs, mae ffyniant y pen yn sir y Fflint, a oedd ar yr un lefel â lefel y DU ym 1999, bellach yn llusgo ar ôl. Joel James - dywedodd nad yw system ganolog o gynllunio Llywodraethol yng Nghymru, neu'r system ganolog yng Nghymru, yn deall anghenion cymunedau lleol, gyda chydlyniant yn cael ei niweidio wrth i bobl ddod yn ddi-hid ynghylch y system Lywodraethol hon. Mae arnom angen i gymunedau lleol gael eu grymuso i raddau mwy, ac ni ddylai cymunedau orfod ymladd mor galed i sicrhau bod eu lleisiau'n cael eu clywed. Gan Jane Hutt, y Gweinidog, clywsom ddarllediad gwleidyddol yn seiliedig unwaith eto ar osgoi - [ Torri ar draws.] - osgoi cyfrifoldeb am eu methiant erchyll ac ysgytwol yn Llywodraeth Cymru ers 1999. Hefyd, rhoddodd restr i ni unwaith eto o sut y maent wedi dosbarthu'r cyllid y maent wedi'i dderbyn gan Lywodraeth y DU. Wedi'i lansio yn 2001, Cymunedau yn Gyntaf oedd rhaglen flaenllaw Llywodraeth Lafur Cymru i wella amodau byw a rhagolygon pobl yn y cymunedau mwyaf difreintiedig ledled Cymru. Fodd bynnag, nododd adolygiad archwilio Cymru o Cymunedau yn Gyntaf fod y rhaglen wedi deillio o anhrefn, nad oedd wedi'i chynllunio a bod diffyg cynllunio ariannol ac adnoddau dynol sylfaenol cyn lansio'r rhaglen. Pan gafodd ei dileu, roedd £0.5 biliwn wedi'i wario arni pan gyhoeddwyd bod Llywodraeth Cymru yn ei dirwyn i ben yn raddol, ar ôl methu lleihau'r prif gyfraddau tlodi na chynyddu ffyniant cymharol yng Nghymru. Fel y dywedodd Sefydliad Bevan: 'Ni wnaeth Cymunedau yn Gyntaf ostwng y prif gyfraddau tlodi yn y mwyafrif helaeth o gymunedau, a llai fyth drwy Gymru gyfan.' Wel, ar ôl 23 mlynedd o Lywodraeth Cymru Lafur sy'n llywodraethu o'r brig i lawr, sy'n cadw pobl mewn tlodi, yn gorchymyn a rheoli, mae taer angen dull y Ceidwadwyr Cymreig o alluogi, grymuso a rhyddhau ein cymunedau lleol. A bydd hyn yn galw am chwyldro o ran polisi a darparu gwasanaethau yng Nghymru, gan alluogi pobl a chymunedau i nodi eu cryfderau ac i fynd i'r afael â'r problemau sylfaenol sy'n eu hatal rhag cyflawni eu potensial. Fel y dywed Ymddiriedolaeth Carnegie, mae ymagwedd gwladwriaeth sy'n galluogi yn ymwneud â chydnabod 'y dylai'r Llywodraeth, ynghyd â hybu perfformiad gwasanaethau cyhoeddus, alluogi cymunedau i wneud yr hyn a wnânt orau', lle mae cymunedau yn y sefyllfa orau i ddod â chyfoeth o wybodaeth leol ac egni cyfunol i'r penderfyniadau sy'n effeithio arnynt. Fodd bynnag, fel y canfu ymchwil yr Ymddiriedolaeth Adeiladu Cymunedau, 'Mae pobl yng Nghymru yn teimlo'n llai a llai abl i ddylanwadu ar benderfyniadau sy'n effeithio ar eu hardal leol.' Rhoddodd Deddf Lleoliaeth 2011 gan Geidwadwyr y DU hawliau a phwerau newydd i gymunedau ac unigolion ddatganoli grym ac annog mwy o arloesi a hyblygrwydd lleol. Fodd bynnag, methodd Llywodraeth Lafur Cymru gyflwyno'r rhan fwyaf o'i darpariaethau allweddol yng Nghymru. Wel, drwy fabwysiadu'r agenda hawliau cymunedol yng Nghymru o'r diwedd, gallwn symud grym oddi wrth y Llywodraeth ganolog yng Nghaerdydd tuag at gymunedau, gan greu cymdeithas sy'n ymgysylltu mwy ac sy'n fwy ymatebol. Mae'n bryd chwalu hualau Llywodraeth Cymru sy'n llywodraethu o'r brig i lawr, yn bryd galluogi ein cymunedau ac yn bryd rhyddhau Cymru i anelu at adferiad bywiog sydd wedi'i bweru gan bobl. Ers dechrau datganoli bron i chwarter canrif yn ôl, mae Llywodraeth Lafur Cymru wedi bod yn fwy a mwy awyddus i ddinistrio ei beirniaid drwy wawd, malais ac osgoi cyfrifoldebau, heb gynnig fawr ddim dadleuon gwleidyddol difrifol. Drwy gydol fy amser yma ers 2003, rwyf wedi gwrando arnynt yn brolio am allbynnau yn hytrach na chanlyniadau, faint sy'n cael ei wario yn hytrach na pha mor dda, gan fethu monitro a gwerthuso eu rhaglenni a'u gwariant yn effeithiol. Bob tro y mae'r Ceidwadwyr Cymreig wedi argymell cynigion, deddfwriaeth a gwelliannau i ddeddfwrieth yn seiliedig ar hawliau dynol a hawliau cymunedol, maent wedi pleidleisio yn eu herbyn.