Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

Nick Smith Excerpts

Friday 20th March 2015 Commons Chamber

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr Heath), with whom I once spent an interesting and good week in a minibus in Nigeria, where we were supporting democracy with the Westminster Foundation for Democracy.

The Chancellor thinks we have never had it so good, but we in Blaenau Gwent know that is a long way from the truth. The only local growth we have seen under the Tories has been in food banks, payday loans and charity shops. More than 900,000 people used food banks last year nationwide. In my constituency, the payday loan company Wonga loaned more than £l million in my borough in just one year. Our valley towns have become run down, and there is no sign yet of that trend reversing. My constituents do not need empty claims that things are getting better; Blaenau Gwent needs jobs.

In recent years there have been some fantastic examples of good projects in the borough to boost our local economy, but the Chancellor does not deserve a shred of credit for the improvements that have occurred where the Tories have failed. Our housing association, Tai Calon, has invested over £100 million after negotiating with local banks to improve the quality of its social housing. Thousands of residents now have better kitchens and improved insulation.

The Welsh Labour Government, backed by European money, have improved, and continue to improve, our transport links. Road and rail are the arteries of any healthy economy. The Heads of the Valleys road improvements will allow commuters to get to the jobs they need and businesses to bring their jobs to Blaenau Gwent. That will also allow access to the Circuit of Wales project. Pleas to get the Conservative Government to back the project have so far fallen on deaf ears. In contrast, the Welsh Labour Government have provided important seedcorn money. Let us hope that the developers can now raise the £300 million needed to bring that venture to Blaenau Gwent.

Although we have not been cash-rich, with the Tories ensuring that their economic recovery passes us by, we are a borough that is rich in culture. Our brass bands and choirs have produced great talents that are still picking up national awards and acclaim to this day. The right hon. Member for Somerton and Frome nods—he knows the brass band world. It is obvious that, when we give our youngsters a culture of success, they produce time and again. The future of Blaenau Gwent is about not only celebrating our beautiful landscape—and we have plenty of that—but ensuring that those young talents are realised. The Circuit of Wales could bring thousands of jobs to the area, which is why we need to produce the work force to match.

The Labour-led council has improved the bricks and mortar of our schools, so now it is up to the professionals to deliver. That is why I am proud of Labour policies such as the jobs guarantee scheme, which will see 18 to 24-year-olds who have been out of a job for a year offered a paid role for six months. That is a massive deal for young people trying to get on to the employment ladder and will make a big difference in places such as Blaenau Gwent, where 16.2% of youngsters are still out of work. The Chancellor’s policies, however, have passed Blaenau Gwent by.

We were the birthplace of the NHS, but the Chancellor found no time to discuss the extreme budget cuts that could put it at risk. Tory tax changes such as the VAT rise have left families poorer than they were when the Government came to power. Working families are worse off while millionaires enjoy tax cuts. The coming election remains a choice between a Tory plan that is failing working families and Labour’s better plan, which will put working families first and save our NHS. We need a Labour Government for a better future.