WHEN I think back to when I was growing up, wondering about my place in the world as a young gay man from a working-class family from just outside Swansea, I would never have imagined that one day, I would be putting myself forward to lead our great party and our nation.
 
That experience of growing up in industrial south Wales during the 1970s and 1980s shaped the person I am today. And it’s where my commitment to equality, to raising the aspirations of all our young people, about the need for public services which deliver the best for people, and an economy that offers everyone a chance at prosperity, comes from. So when I talk about my values — you know that it is deeply felt, long-standing, and very personal.
 
And that’s what has shaped the vision I have for Wales’s future.
 
I want a Wales where we can all live well, where our next generation inherits prosperity and grows up in a just, inclusive, greener country where we all feel at home. Our public services, our economy and our wider society should give us all a fair chance to fulfil our potential and live the life we want. No-one should be left behind.
 
The world is changing rapidly. As Wales embarks on the next quarter century, the context is very different from the last. But our Welsh Labour values endure. I am deeply proud of how Welsh Labour has shaped Wales. We are a country of free and universal healthcare, lifelong learning and cultural institutions; a country which believes that tackling the climate and nature emergencies must be at the centre of everything we do.
 
I will build on these foundations with a commitment to prosperity and solidarity. Together we will achieve both greater equality and more wealth to share. Wales will be a nation where young, brilliant people want to live, work and raise families, and where citizens of all ages live in dignity and respect. Wales will look outwards confidently, celebrating the richness of its heritage and the diversity of its communities. The nation I want to lead is one where everyone has a chance to prosper.
 
This contest isn’t about me — or indeed any individual. It’s about what Wales needs to do over the next decade to change our trajectory and flourish in a new world of changing technology and disruption. I have made six main pledges in this campaign:
 

• A green economy stimulus: target all Welsh government capital and procurement spending — alongside new funding models in partnership with local government — to create quality, sustainable jobs and tackle climate change.
   
• Invest in education: increase the percentage of the Welsh government budget spent on schools, as the best investment in social justice and a healthy economy.
   
• Cut NHS waiting lists: establish dedicated orthopaedic centres for knee and hip replacements to clear backlogs.
   
• Decent housing in our communities: expand co-operative housing and tackle barriers to providing social homes.
   
• Fairer fares, better transport: simpler, fairer bus fares to encourage travel as we re-regulate the bus network.
   
• A stronger voice for the people of Wales: strengthen the Senedd, devolve power within Wales, and secure a fairer deal for Wales in partnership with a Westminster Labour government.

 
In addition to this, my manifesto also outlines several other things that I will look to take forward if I am elected Welsh Labour leader and First Minister. These include:
 

• Bring Welsh Labour closer to our members by establishing a continuing policy network for party members to submit policy ideas.
   
• Work towards an Adult Literacy and Numeracy Guarantee, backed up with funded basic skills provision
   
• Maintain and progress work on our commitment to eliminating profit from the care of looked-after children.
   
• Take forward the development of the National Care and Support Service for Wales in the interests of service users and the workforce, building on the Rebalancing Care and Support Programme and work of the Fair Work Forum on sector collective bargaining.
   
• Refocus the Welsh government’s approach to women’s health, informed by the voices of women. We will look to provide a guaranteed menopause consultation at the age of 40, and a public health information campaign for employers on supporting women through menopause.
   
• Develop a new “rent to own” scheme to help renters buy a home.
   
• Establish a community asset commission and three community land trusts before the end of this Senedd term to support community housebuilding.
   
• Continue to work towards a right to adequate housing as well as a national set of terms and conditions for homelessness prevention and housing support sector workers, agreed through collective bargaining.
   
• Make the Welsh government a “nature-positive government” through a package of ambitious biodiversity measures, including a statutory target to reverse the decline in biodiversity with an improvement in the status of species and ecosystems by 2030 and their clear recovery by 2050.
   
• Work with an incoming Westminster Labour government on a “freedom from poverty” plan for Wales, with a particular focus on child poverty.
   
• Restore funding for the Wales Union Learning Fund as soon as possible, and work with social partners to expand the role of union-led learning in skills policy.
   
• Appoint a Minister for Work in the Welsh government, to bring together our cross-government efforts to embed fair work.
   
• Complete Senedd reform in time for the 2026 election, giving the people of Wales a stronger, and more diverse voice.

 
My full manifesto sets out a clear mission for Wales’s future. A government that I lead will focus on the day-to-day priorities of people across Wales, and the party that I lead will be rooted in our communities, bringing new and imaginative ideas forward that reflect the day-to-day experiences of people across our nation.
 
While the current budget situation poses real limitations on new spending initiatives in the short term, this will not limit our ambitions nor detract from the need for radical and imaginative approaches.

So from day one, I will bring a sense of urgency and purpose to taking forward the proposals in my manifesto that will help make Wales a more prosperous and compassionate country.
 
I urge Welsh Labour members, affiliates and all the people of Wales to join me on that journey together.