Tax on tourists contained in Mark Drakeford's arrange for the following 5 years

October 12, 2021

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Legislation paving the way for a tax on tourism will be considered within the next 5 years, Mark Drakeford has revealed in the five-year plan.

The First Minister has included a proposal to permit local authorities to impose a levy on visitors – most commonly imposed on nights put in hotels, B&Bs or self catered holiday lets – in the programme for government.

The document details the 100 areas Mr Drakeford says his cabinet will require joint responsibility for more than the next five years.

The Welsh Government is billing the proposals as "an ambitious intend to develop a stronger, greener, fairer Wales for everyone" however it includes proposals on a wide range of issues from housing to education, employment and roads. Many of the ideas have already been trailed.

Key promises include:

Consult on legislation permitting local authorities to raise a tourism levy
Making some commonly-littered plastics illegal
A target for 30% of people to work remotely

Giving everyone under 25 the sale of labor, education, training, or self-employment
Creating a national forest from north to south Wales
Looking at reforming the college day and the school year
A pilot of Universal Basic Income

Make 20mph the default speed limit in areas and ban pavement parking wherever possible
Seek to reform council tax to make sure a fairer system for all
Establishing the Football Museum, National Contemporary Art Gallery and Museum for north Wales

In the Senedd on Tuesday, Mr Drakeford said a tourism tax would help the industry in Wales.

He said: "A tourism tax, properly done, will benefit the because what it will allow those local authorities to complete would be to purchase the things that make those areas appealing to tourists in the first place. At the moment it is those local resident populations who purchase everything. They pay for the toilets, they purchase the car parks, they purchase the neighborhood museum, they pay for the neighborhood festival-anything that's put there to attract people into the area, it's those local residents who bear the cost entirely."

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The 17 page document lists things that the very first Minister and cabinet will take responsibility for. It then divides the pledges made in the party's manifesto into areas under each minister, such as health, economy and climate change.

The plan has already been criticised by opposition politicians. Plaid Cymru express it is "thin in detail and absent of targets [and] probably does not supply the new start that Wales so faithfully needs". The Conservatives say “Families, workers and businesses across the country will therefore be alarmed and concerned that this 17-page document is the sum total of Labour's intend to get Wales on the road to recovery after the pandemic."

What the document contains:

Health

"The coronavirus pandemic indicates our overall health service at its best, however it have managed to make extraordinary pressures on staff and services. You want to produce a 21st century NHS by purchasing the post-Covid recovery, tackling health inequalities, improving mental health provision and focussing on prevention. We will continue to support our health workers, protect the NHS, deepen the integration of services, improve accessibility, reduce carbon in the design of new facilities, extend using new technologies and support people to live healthy lives".

Establish a new school of medicine in North Wales.
Provide treatments which have been delayed by the pandemic
Deliver better use of doctors, nurses, dentists and other health professionals
Reform primary care, combining GP services with pharmacy, therapy, housing, social care, mental health, community and third sector
Prioritise purchase of mental health and service redesign to enhance prevention, tackle stigma and promote a no wrong door method of mental health support.
Roll out child and adolescent mental health services 'in-reach' in schools across Wales
Introduce an all-Wales framework to unveil social prescribing to tackle isolation
Review patient pathway planning and hospice funding
Develop an HIV action plan for Wales
Introduce an autism statutory code of practice on the delivery of autism services

Protect, re-build and develop our services for vulnerable people

"The demands on our care services keep growing as the demography of Wales changes. To satisfy this need, we'll transform our existing care services into a new flexible, responsive and integrated system which will help people live meaningful and independent lives for extended. This system will come across the requirements of our most vulnerable citizens, and will support those children, young adults and families who face the greatest challenges."

Welsh Government promise to pay care workers the living wage
Increase apprenticeships in care and recruit more Welsh speakers
Pursue a sustainable UK solution to ensure that care is free of charge for those at the reason for need and/or consult on the potential Wales-only means to fix meet long-term care needs
Support innovative housing development to satisfy care needs
Fund childcare for additional families where parents are in education and training
Continue to support flagship Flying Start programmes
Prevent families splitting up by funding advocacy services for parents whose children are at risk of coming into care
Provide additional specialist support for children with complex needs who maybe on the edge of care

Economy

"We'll address the damage to our economy brought on by decades of austerity, Brexit and the impact of coronavirus to provide decent jobs, skill sets and new training opportunities. We'll work in partnership to construct an economy based on sustainable jobs that will take us forward into the next century. We will support Welsh businesses to produce new jobs, find new export markets and purchase the sustainable green industries of tomorrow".

Deliver the Young Persons Guarantee, giving everyone under 25 the offer of labor, education, training, or self-employment
Create 125,000 all-age apprenticeships
Put social partnership on the statutory footing through the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Bill
Use the brand new network of Disabled People's Employment Champions to assist close the gap between disabled people and also the rest of the working population
Strengthen Economic Contract
Support the Wales TUC proposals for union members to become Green Representatives within the workplace
Support the creation of a residential area Bank for Wales
Develop a Tidal Lagoon Challenge and support ideas which will make Wales a world centre of emerging tidal technologies
Enable town centres being more agile economically by helping businesses to operate co-operatively, improve their digital offer and support local supply chains, including local delivery services
Seek a 30% target for working remotely

Greener economy

"Devolution gives us the chance to re-build our economy and create a modern and productive infrastructure which acts as an electric train engine for inclusive and sustainable growth. We will create an economy which fits for everybody, grounded in our values of progressive change – moving forward together in the spirit of cooperation, not competition. New digital, economic and transport infrastructures will re-build and re-energise our communities."

Launch a brand new 10-year Wales Infrastructure Investment Arrange for a zero-carbon economy
Deliver the Digital Technique for Wales and upgrade digital and communications infrastructure
Create a contemporary legislative basis for transport in Wales
Lift the ban on local authorities setting up new municipal bus companies
Legislate to modernise the taxi and vehicle sector and address the issues of cross-bordering
Implement new Wales Transport Strategy
Build around the concessionary travel scheme for seniors and look at how fair fares can encourage integrated travel
Work towards new target of 45% of journeys by sustainable modes by 2040, setting more stretching goals where possible
Take forward the Burns Commission report for Newport – the replacement for the M4 relief road
Develop a new major routes fund to improve the attractiveness and biodiversity of areas alongside major transport routes in Wales

Put climate and nature in 'everything we do'

"We have the vision and ambition to deal with the climate and nature emergency. We'll generate a green transformation which starts in our local neighborhoods, with a concentrate on local green spaces, locally-grown sustainable food, locally-generated renewable energy and avoiding waste. We'll ensure that nature and the climate are on the agenda of each and every public service and sector business, and we will integrate positive action for nature into more of our economic activity."

Legislate to abolish the use of additionally littered, single use plastics
Introduce an extended producer responsibility scheme to incentivise waste reduction by businesses
Produce a National Forest to extend in the North of Wales to the South.
Harness the economic, cultural, and recreational potential from the National Forest included in progress towards a sustainable timber industry.
Create a brand new system of farm support that will maximise the protective power of nature through farming
Develop a Wales Community Food Strategy
Introduce legislation to deal with the legacy of centuries of mining and be sure coal tip safety; strengthening local authority powers to protect the public and also the environment
Introduce a Clean Air Act for Wales, consistent with World Health Organisation guidance and extend the provision of air quality monitoring
A new National Park to cover the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley
Support 80 re-use and repair hubs in town centres
Uphold policy of opposing the extraction of fossil fuels in Wales, both on land and in Welsh waters, while using powers available to us
Expand arrangements to create or significantly enhance green spaces

Education

"We'll make sure nobody in Wales is left behind following the coronavirus pandemic, repairing the harm done during the last year. We will continue a programme of reform including our world-leading curriculum, vital funding and governance changes in tertiary education, stronger leadership at every level of the training system along with a resolve for lifelong learning. We will work with children and young adults, their families and the education workforce to guarantee the best outcomes for learners, particularly the most vulnerable. "

Fund as much as 1,800 additional school tutoring staff
Build on School Holiday Enrichment Programme
Continue to meet the rise in demand for Free School Meals resulting from the pandemic and review the eligibility criteria, extending entitlement as far as resources allow
Invest within the learning environment of community schools, co-locating key services, and securing stronger engagement with parents and carers outside traditional hours
Explore reform of the school day and also the school year
Create a sustainable model for supply teaching which has fair work at its heart
Take the Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Bill with the Senedd

Diversity and equality

"We'll continue to work together for positive change, recognising our common humanity whilst celebrating diversity and difference. We'll challenge the structures of power and social relations that create fundamental disparities for our protected communities, including addressing the systemic causes of racism, hateful behaviours along with other forms of discrimination, working with progressive networks and organisations. We will aim to make Wales an anti-racist country, as well as the safest place in Europe to be a woman, support our disabled and LGBTQ+ communities and tackle societal inequality."

Implement and fund the commitments produced in our Race Equality Action Plan
Explore legislation to address pay gaps based on gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, disability, along with other types of discrimination
Ensure public bodies and those receiving public funding address pay disparities
Pilot a technique for the Basic Income
Ensure a brief history and culture of Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic communities are properly represented by investing further within the cultural sector and museum network
Make Welsh trains and buses system more accessible to disabled people
Continue strong partnership with voluntary organisations over the selection of responsibilities
Implement targets around Gender Budgeting
Strengthen the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Strategy to include a concentrate on violence against women in the street and workplace along with the home

Welsh language, tourism and sports

"The arts, tourism and sport have vital importance to both the Welsh economy and to our national life, and also the Welsh language is really a national treasure which is associated with every person in Wales. We'll widen access to our heritage, harness the creativity and sporting ability of individuals in Wales, and be sure these industries possess the support they have to maintain their proper put on the world stage."

Establish a National Music Service
Consult on legislation to permit councils to boost a tourism levy
Legislate to strengthen and increase Welsh language education provision.
Create a Welsh language Communities Housing Plan
Invest in theatres and museums, including investing in Theatr Clwyd, establishing the Football Museum and the National Contemporary Art Gallery
Promote equal access to sports and support young and talented athletes and grassroots clubs
Support the applying to recognize the slate landscape of North West Wales as a World Heritage Site
Develop plans for any Museum of North Wales

City centres

"We'll still build climate-secure homes for the future and develop Welsh businesses to support our building industry. We'll continue to support our partners in municipality and invest in local public services and local democracy – the glue that binds communities together. We will support Wales' long tradition of volunteering, local charities, faith groups and community organisations, and be sure that communities can thrive as centres of social exchange, leisure, sport and culture."

Build 20,000 new low carbon social homes for rent
Fundamentally reform homelessness services to focus on prevention and rapid rehousing
Support cooperative housing, community-led initiatives, and community land trusts
Create a timber based industrial strategy that can develop and sustain the high value production and processing of Welsh wood
Decarbonise more homes through retrofit, delivering quality jobs, training and innovation using local supply chains
Improve building safety to ensure that people feel safe and secure within their homes
Explore where services and contracts can sustainably and affordably be cut back right into a strengthened public sector
Ensure that each region in Wales has effective and democratically accountable means of developing their future economies
Make 20mph the default speed limit in residential areas
Ban pavement parking wherever possible

Constitution

"Wales is a confident and outward-looking country, and that we realize that issues like the coronavirus pandemic, climate change and globalisation cannot be solved without our friends and allies in Europe and beyond. We will build and strengthen our global relationships, celebrating different cultures and embracing internationalism. We'll work with a brand new and successful United Kingdom, pressing the united kingdom Government for reform"

Establish an independent, standing commission to think about the constitutional way forward for Wales
Promote and offer the work of the UK-wide Constitutional Commission being established through the UK Labour Party
Set up a Peace Academy -Academi Heddwch – in Wales
Seek to reform council tax
Reform municipality elections
Put in place a lb65 million international learning exchange programme
Reinvigorate twinning relationships across the EU via a Young People's Twinning Fund