---

Welsh Affairs

The hon. Gentleman makes a good point, and I support him in it. With China opening a new coal-fired power station every week—one a week—its contribution to global emissions will dwarf anything that we are able to do about it. However, what lies behind his question is a great opportunity for Wales in, for example, exporting our clean-coal technology and renewable energy experience so that we can get a much more balanced energy policy in China and other countries, including India and Brazil, to which he referred. In Wrexham in north Wales, Sharp has recently announced that it is doubling production of photovoltaic solar panels at its Wrexham plant, making it one of the largest such facilities in the world, and very welcome in terms of local employment, too. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Wrexham (Ian Lucas) for the way in which he has supported that company in its growth. So much has changed since Labour’s historic election victory of 1997 that it is worth remembering exactly what Wales was like at that time, after 18 years of Conservative rule. Thousands of jobs had been lost, a generation of young people had been thrown on the scrapheap with no chance of employment or access to education and training, and whole communities had been devastated by the rundown of local industries. Children were being taught in crowded classrooms; thousands of people were waiting more than 12 months for in-patient treatment; and crime had doubled. Mortgage rates, bankruptcies and inflation soared as the economy endured the worst two recessions since the second world war. Wales was also governed by Tory Secretaries of State from English constituencies, like governor-generals, with little knowledge or understanding of our needs, and the same fate awaits Wales if the hon. Member for Chesham and Amersham gets into my job in a future Conservative Government, if there ever is one. [Interruption.] Indeed, the hon. Lady would be a governess-general of Wales. Now, in 2007, with Labour, Wales is heading in the right direction, going from strength to strength. Employment is at record levels, with 133,000 more jobs and 37,000 fewer unemployed than in 1997. Private sector output is up for the 46th month in a row. Major international companies such as Airbus, Logica CMG, Sharp, Toyota, EADS, General Dynamics, Ford and Cogent are thriving in Wales and competing successfully in global markets. As the recent announcement of the £16 billion investment in the defence training academy at St. Athan demonstrates, people now know that Wales can do it. Investment in the health service is now more than £1,600 per person, double what it was under the Tories. As a result, we have more than 500 more consultants and more than 8,000 more qualified nurses in Wales alone. From 1 April, Welsh Labour’s landmark policy of free prescriptions for everyone in Wales will come into force, giving particular help to those on low incomes with chronic illnesses who are currently deterred from finding jobs by the cost of their prescriptions. From 2 April, another landmark Welsh Labour policy will come into force: the ban on smoking in all enclosed public spaces and workplaces, three months ahead of England, protecting workers from second-hand smoke. In our schools, class sizes are down, with 1,700 more teachers than in 1998, and 5,700 more school support staff. Since 2002, more than £100 million a year has been invested in school buildings, and that figure is now up to £150 million a year. Welsh Labour’s policy of free breakfasts in primary schools, introduced in ““community first”” areas from September 2004, has now been rolled out throughout Wales, with more than 600 schools now signed up. More young people are going on to higher education, and there are many more apprenticeships. Thousands of people who were previously in long-term unemployment, many of them lone parents or disabled, now have the opportunity of employment. Crime is down by a third, and 1,000 more police officers, 1,200 more police support staff, and more than 380 additional community support officers—the figure will rise to 700 later this year—have been introduced under Labour. There are 422 antisocial behaviour orders in Wales, which were introduced by a Labour Government in the face of opposition from many Opposition parties. Antisocial behaviour orders are making Wales safer, despite the opposition of the Conservatives, Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Liberal Democrats. Some 50,000 children have been taken out of poverty, with the help of tax credits and increases in child benefit. Child poverty rates in Wales, once among the worst in Britain, have been brought into line with those in the rest of the country. [Interruption.] Of course there is more to do, but if we consider the miserable Tory record, we have made fantastic progress. Over 220,000 working families with children in Wales now receive nearly £3,000 per year, on average, in tax credits. The 30,000 children born each year in Wales benefit from the child trust fund, which was denounced by the Liberal Democrats as a gimmick. Older people in Wales are better off under Labour, with more than 160,000 low-income pensioners having their incomes boosted by about £30 a week or more under Labour’s pension credit. More than 469,000 households in Wales will benefit from automatic winter fuel payments of at least £200—something denied them under the Tories. Free television licences for over-75s are given to about 190,000 pensioner households in Wales, and as a result of the Government’s Pensions Bill, re-linking the state pension with earnings, about 589,000 pensioners in Wales will benefit. Welsh Labour’s policy of free bus passes for older people and those with disabilities, pioneered in Wales and now being copied throughout the United Kingdom, benefits 530,000 people. Once again, Welsh Labour has led the way. The Labour Government introduced, for the first time in our history, a statutory national minimum wage. It has been increased by 40 per cent. since its introduction, has been extended to 16 and 17-year-olds, and benefits an estimated 70,000 low-paid workers in Wales, the overwhelming majority of whom are women. We have ended the two-tier work force, repealed Tory anti-union laws and introduced new rights for part-timers, for holidays, and for maternity and paternity pay. As a result of Labour’s Government of Wales Act 2006, Wales will have additional law-making powers from May this year, with the prospect of full primary powers in future, subject to the approval of the people of Wales in a referendum.