91Èȱ¬

The Conservatives have defended their record in power at the launch of their general election campaign in Wales.

Welsh Secretary Stephen Crabb said the Tories had delivered rising employment and income tax cuts.

He claimed they were the "true party of Wales", saying Labour "always put Scotland first".

The campaign was launched in Gower, one of the Conservatives' target seats for the election on 7 May.

Since winning eight Welsh seats in the 2010 election, the Conservatives say they have put together a plan for the Welsh economy that includes commitments to electrify railway lines in south Wales and open a prison in Wrexham.

Mr Crabb called on voters to make 2015 the year "Wales lets go of Labour".

He said Labour leader Ed Miliband would need a "piggy back from Alex Salmond" of the SNP to get into Downing Street and accused him of being more at home in leafy parts of north London than the south Wales valleys.

It had taken the coalition government to make progress on projects that had been discussed for years, such as rail electrification, Mr Crabb said.

Labour had treated Wales like a "hereditary fiefdom", he added.

Welsh Tory leader Andrew RT Davies criticised the record of Labour's Welsh government.

"Week in, week out we see what Welsh Labour are doing to communities in Wales in health, education and local government," he said.