Job Creation
What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help create new jobs in Wales.
Creating high quality jobs across Wales is a priority for this Labour Government, which is why we are backing major growth sectors across the country. We have delivered £2.5 billion for small modular reactors at Wylfa, supporting at least 3,000 jobs. Alongside that, new AI growth zones in north and south Wales are expected to create more than 8,000 jobs.
The UK Labour Government are investing across the UK in initiatives that are creating jobs and fuelling economic growth, such as Parkwood Springs and Special Melted Products in my constituency of Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough. Will the Minister update the House on the difference that UK Government growth funding is making in Wales?
The UK Government growth funding has been transformational across Wales, delivering jobs in local communities across all parts of the country. Last week, we announced £134 million for the Cardiff capital region, which has already created 7,000 jobs and is fast on its way to delivering 25,000 jobs for the region. This latest investment will help cement Wales’s place at the forefront of technology and innovation, helping even more businesses to thrive and grow the Welsh economy.
Universities in Wales and Scotland are engines of job creation through the crucial role they play in fostering innovation. Will the Minister please update the House on what the UK Government are doing to fuel innovation in Welsh universities?
Universities are a core part of our industrial strategy, as countries that lead in research and innovation also lead in growth and investment. Welsh universities play a unique role right across Wales by building and investing in our industries and businesses of the future. As a Minister in the Wales Office, I am bringing all the Welsh universities together in collaboration to help maximise R&D funding, deliver stronger results, and ensure that the impact reaches the communities that need it most.
I have repeatedly asked the Government to publish their assessment of Scotland’s nuclear potential, without success. Perhaps the Minister can help me in the meantime. What does she regard as the greatest benefit of the Wylfa site in Wales: the long term, skilled jobs, the local investment that it draws in, or the contribution to our energy security? Does she believe that Scotland would be able to share in the same benefits?
There are absolutely huge benefits right across Wales. Wylfa is expected to support 3,000 jobs across north Wales. This is a generational commitment to the future of clean energy right across the country.
Does the Minister agree that a strong and effective UK internal market is critical to creating jobs in Wales, and will she work with Cabinet colleagues to secure frictionless east west trade so that businesses in Wales and Northern Ireland can more easily supply each other in key sectors, such as manufacturing, food and construction?
Absolutely. Through collaboration and working together, we are creating tens of thousands of jobs right across Wales. Our Welsh freeports and investment zones have the potential to deliver at least 25,000 new jobs in Wales. Our generational commitment to modernise Welsh rail will bring 12,000 jobs in Wales. This is about a collaborative effort right across the United Kingdom to help and support Welsh communities, but also communities right across the UK.
I call the shadow Secretary of State.
Boarded up windows, derelict buildings and deserted towns are increasingly common on high streets in Wales, as highlighted by North Wales Live and its readers. Our hospitality sector is being hollowed out thanks to Plaid Cymru and the last Welsh Labour Government’s disastrous tourism tax. The Conservative and Unionist party believes that this tax should be urgently scrapped to support the approximately 150,000 people in Wales who are employed in this crucial sector. Does the Minister now regret her party’s decision to impose the tax, and will she join me in calling on the new Welsh Government to scrap it?
I will take no lectures from the Conservatives and the hon. Member when her party presided over completely unprecedented wage stagnation and businesses took blow after blow, with—to be specific—the worst wage growth performance of any decade since Napoleonic times. On our side of the House, the Chancellor announced just last week the great summer savings scheme, with a reduction of VAT from 20% to 5% over the summer to help families enjoy the summer and use hospitality venues. This will boost local spend and boost the local economy.
I call the Plaid Cymru Westminster group leader.
The Secretary of State had some cheek earlier, but Wales had 27 years of Labour and has had less than six weeks of a Plaid Cymru Government, so we have work to do, and we are getting on with it.
The Port Talbot steelworks fire caused huge damage, but not a single penny of Labour’s £2.5 billion steel fund has been guaranteed for steel in Wales. Instead, millions are being spent from this fund to support steel at Scunthorpe, leaving Welsh workers fearing they have been pushed aside. Will the Government stand up for Welsh interests and guarantee a fair share of the steel fund to all steel sites in Wales?
Our steel strategy will revitalise the UK steel sector, restoring domestic production, 50% of which will come from Wales, and securing supply for key sectors and national infrastructure. I really hope that the minority Plaid Welsh Government will support this work to support our Welsh steelworkers.
I am interested to hear the Minister’s response, but she is muddying the waters, because what she said does not relate to the steel fund. I am specifically talking about the steel fund and the contribution it will make to Wales; we know that that money is going to Scunthorpe.
On another matter, next week it will be a decade since the EU referendum, and the promised Brexit dividend is still a fantasy unicorn. The Welsh economy is at least £4 billion smaller and exports are down £1.1 billion. Over the same period, Northern Ireland—still in the single market, remember—has seen gross value added per head grow 20% faster than in Wales. We see the damage, and we know the solution. Wales, of course, is very much an exporting economy. Surely the Minister knows that the right thing to do by Wales and the rest of the UK is to rejoin the single market and the customs union.
I am proud that this Government are resetting our relations with European partners to improve our economic and security co operation following Brexit. The historic first UK EU summit last year marked that turning point, and striking a deal is good for bills, good for borders and good for jobs. Our focus is on driving that forward and delivering a very strong EU UK relationship.
I call the Chair of the Welsh Affairs Committee.
I thank the Minister for her responses. I want to raise the issue of young people not in education, employment or training. We know that the Conservatives failed our Welsh young people for 14 years, so I am really pleased that this Labour Government are investing £2.5 billion in the youth guarantee. How many Welsh young people will benefit from this scheme?
Far too many young people are not in education, employment or training, which is why we have committed to a youth guarantee to grant young people right across the UK, including Wales, the choice to learn or to earn, backed by £820 million of funding. This week, we announced seven more youth hubs for Wales, helping young people build critical skills and find jobs. Those measures will be life changing opportunities for young people, significantly reversing the increase we inherited from the Conservative party in the number of those not in education, employment or training.