Plaid Cymru would set job targets for areas like Ynys Mon

As the Liberal Democrats unveiled their manifesto in Cardiff, Plaid Cymru launched its north west Wales with a claim that its economic plan would bring prosperity to the region.

The Conservatives highlighted how they said they would make savings in the assembly's budget, and First Minister Rhodri Morgan was meeting electors in the north.

Plaid Cymru President Ieuan Wyn Jones outlined how a Plaid Cymru government would tackle economic decline in the north west.

Prosperity

The Plaid plan would include moving government jobs out of Cardiff to the north west, and setting employment targets for seven designated regions of Wales, including Ynys Mon, Gwynedd and Conwy.

Plaid also wanted the University of Bangor to play a greater role in regenerating the local economy, and to provide easier access to Objective One European money.

We should expect more from Cardiff Plaid Cymru's Dafydd Elis Thomas

Mr Jones said these policies would bring economic prosperity to rural parts of north Wales, enabling young people to buy homes and stay in the area.

Plaid candidate in Meirionnydd Nant Conwy Dafydd Elis Thomas attacked Labour's record in north Wales.

He said: "It's not good enough to have a minister representing Cardiff (Rhodri Morgan), who's also the first minister with an extra bit of responsibility for north Wales. We should expect more support from Cardiff."

The Conservatives outlined a series of measures for saving public money.

These included the �50m the Tories said they would save by scrapping the proposed new assembly chamber.

The Tories say they wouldn't buy a whelk from the coalition

Other Conservative proposals included freezing the number of jobs in the civil service, which they said had grown by 50% since devolution, and abandoning a "driverless taxi" scheme between Cardiff City Hall and Cardiff Bay.

The Tories would also save the �15m cost of re-structuring the National Health Service in Wales, and the �3m set -up costs of six Welsh "mini-embassies" around the world, which they say would undermine the union of the United Kingdom.

Nick Bourne, leader of the Tories in the assembly, said the assembly government "couldn't run a whelk store at the end of Mumbles pier."

He also hated that the people of Wales were being asked to accept "third world standards in the health service" as well as poor standards in education, because of the way public services were being run by Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

'Reckless'

First Minister Rhodri Morgan was campaigning in several constituencies won by Labour at the last election: He was in Wrexham, Clwyd South and in Alyn and Deeside.

Meanwhile, Carwyn Jones, the Labour minister for open government, criticised proposals in the Liberal Democrats' manifesto as "reckless".

He described the Liberal Democrat pledges to extend free personal care for the elderly, to reduce class sizes to no more than 25 and to extend free access for young people to sports centres as "pie in the sky".

Asked whether Labour would be able to agree to any of the Lib Dem proposals as part of a future partnership agreement, Mr Jones said Labour would be unwilling to sign up to anything it vehemently opposed or could not afford.