Plaid Cymru’s Leanne Wood joined a large protest march in Newport yesterday to save the city’s passport office.

The AM for South Wales Central, who chairs the cross-party Public and Commercial Services union group at the Welsh Assembly, also spoke during a rally at John Frost square.

Scores of workers, trade unions and their supporters registered their protest at the Government’s plans to shut the city’s passport office where 300 people are employed.  None of the other six remaining passport offices in the UK will be affected by the austerity measures.

After the march, which began outside the historic Westgate Hotel at 11am, Ms Wood told the rally: “We know only too well what the long term effects of mass employment are.  We remember only too well how Thatcher left people and communities in Wales to rot.

“We cannot allow that to happen again.  We have to fight tooth and nail for every job – both in the public and private sector.  We have to do what we can to make sure people can work.

“This attack on the Newport Passport Office and the satellite offices throughout Wales is the opening salvo in what promises to be a long battle.  If the Tories and their Liberal Democrat friends win this, it will leave Wales as the only country in Europe without its own passport office.

“And as for assurances that a Welsh language service will still be available from outside Wales is a joke – on par with Jeremy Hunt’s suggestion to dub English language programmes as a substitute for S4C!

“Those of us who oppose these cuts have to stand united and be prepared to fight for these jobs.  This is just the start – we have to show that we’re not taking this lying down so that they’ll be forced to think twice before the next announcement.”

She added: “I urge everyone you know to join this campaign. We have to stand united because none of us knows who will be next.”

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