Gross Value Added

Lord Thomas of Gresford Excerpts

Wednesday 13th January 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

The trouble with comparing England and Wales is that England has a population of about 53 million, while the population of Wales is some 3 million, so it is a difficult comparison to make. A better comparator would be the regional differences in England. But obviously, what we want is for more people to go into higher tax bands in Wales because the economy is booming and we are doing our bit to help that through investment. We hope that, when the devolution settlement is reached under the new Wales Bill, the Welsh Assembly will be able to play their part in growing the Welsh economy.

[Lord Thomas of Gresford (LD)]

My Lords, in 1999 the GVA index for Wales was 79.2 as against a UK average of 100. The Labour Government of the day promised to increase it to 90 by 2010, but in fact it has dropped to 71. Perhaps I may employ my family motto, ar bwy mae’r bai—who can we blame?

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

My Lords, I think we should take a more positive view and work out what we are going to do about it. Certainly in Wales, there is plenty that the Government are doing. For example, capital spend is increasing by £900 million over this Parliament. Infrastructure investment through the block grant in this Parliament will rise by just under 17%, and among other things we would like Cardiff to agree to a city deal which will help its economic growth.