Wales: Economy

Lord Wigley Excerpts

Wednesday 7th November 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Wigley]

My Lords, I am very grateful to speak for a couple of minutes in the gap. I welcome this debate and I underlined a very dire need to get the Welsh economy moving. I welcome the fact that so many noble Lords who have spoken have referred to the importance of the manufacturing industry. Speaking as one who has spent his life in the manufacturing industry before entering this Chamber, I can say that what has happened to manufacturing, not only in Wales, but throughout these islands, is a tragedy. That needs to be reversed if our economy is to come right.

When I started working in politics in the 1960s, Professor Edward Nevin had shown, in his seminal work, that the GDP per capita in Wales was at that time 92% of the UK average. As has been said, it is now down to under 74%. Most of that drop occurred in the 1980s and 1990s. We now desperately need a capital investment programme to trigger economic regeneration. That cannot be done by the Welsh Government alone because they do not have either the powers or an adequate capital budget, having suffered a 40% cutback as a result of the Westminster cutbacks. It may well be that the Silk commission will bring forward proposals for stronger financial powers for the National Assembly when it reports in two weeks’ time. I hope that the UK Government will respond positively to any proposals that emanate from Silk and will flesh out last week's limited announcement on the borrowing powers of the Assembly once the Silk report has been published.

Wales needs a Government that is much more geared to achieving economic success and we need a system whereby the Government of Wales benefit from the economic success that they achieve by their own actions. I hope that the UK Government will also give wholehearted support for capital projects, such as the Severn barrage scheme, which will bring private sector investment into a project that could be of tremendous help to the Welsh economy. Likewise, I hope that early progress can be made with the Wylfa B scheme now that a commercial investor is showing some interest in it.

Finally, I welcome the recent statement by the Secretary of State for Wales, Mr David Jones, on the possible electrification of the railway line from Holyhead to Crewe. That would be very beneficial and would tie in with the electrification that has been mentioned by noble Lords in the debate. I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Randerson, on her appointment to the Wales Office. In response to the debate, I hope that she will be able to confirm that the Wales Office will be working very closely indeed with Transport Ministers get this important project off the ground.