Friends of the Earth Cymru has scrutinised the manifestos of the 6 political parties standing in the majority of seats at the Assembly election, and scored them out of 10 according to their commitment to environmental policies. The scores were allocated based on the environmental charity’s policy asks for the election and the results of a public survey it carried out on people’s environmental priorities. No other statements or announcements were taken into account.

The assessment revealed two tiers of manifestos: three that perform admirably and three of which struggle to demonstrate commitment to environmental policies.

Friends of the Earth Cymru’s Campaigner, Haf Elgar, said:

“We are pleased that all parties give attention to environmental issues and commit to some of our key policy asks, with broad support for renewable and community energy, opposition to fracking, and some innovative ideas of their own.

But it’s a very mixed bag and a number of parties suffer from a lack of detail in their manifestos. This information gap makes it difficult to assess what commitment parties have to the environment, and can make it difficult for people to make their minds up who to support.

This election is the key opportunity for parties to make a clear commitment to the environment and explain how they will work towards a Wales fit for future generations.”

The scores were as follows:

Party Overall score (out of 10) Plaid Cymru 8.25 Welsh Liberal Democrats 7.75 Welsh Green Party 7.25 Welsh Conservatives 3.00 Welsh Labour 1.75 UKIP Wales 1.5

See full details of the assessment http://foe.cymru/manifesto-assessment-table-election-2016