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Welsh Affairs

I was going to speak for the limit of 12 minutes, Mr. Deputy Speaker, but I know that you will not let me, so I will try to condense my remarks into two minutes. [Interruption.] Well, if the Liberal Democrat Front-Bench spokesman had taken a little less time, we all could have got in. However, I am not going to argue with the Liberal Democrats, because I have some important constituency issues to discuss. Last week I joined Assembly Minister Andrew Davies on a visit to the new Maes Awyr Môn—to Anglesey airport—to announce the intended operator of the north-south link between Cardiff and Anglesey. It was a very important step in a long political campaign that I have been involved in, working closely with the Westminster and Assembly Governments. The link will provide great opportunities for the people of north-west Wales and Anglesey in particular. A lot of objective 1 and local authority investment has gone into the project, and I hope that it will bring the benefits to the area that we all feel we deserve. RAF Valley is very important to Ynys Môn not just in military terms—I will discuss that issue briefly in a moment—but for search and rescue. Next year, the United Kingdom search and rescue headquarters will be relocated there. That is to the credit of No. 22 Squadron, which does an excellent search and rescue job. Scheduled flights will run from Ynys Môn and the search and rescue headquarters will be there. Following this week’s announcement by the Ministry of Defence, RAF Valley will also have the contract to service the Hawk T1—the next generation of the fast jet—subject to the contract being completed between Babcock, the civil maintenance operators at the airfield, and BAE Systems. That is good news for Anglesey. RAF Valley is central to the island’s and the region’s economy. I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Caerphilly (Mr. David) that Plaid Cymru undermines military and armed forces investment in Wales. Indeed, it is not just a junior member of its team but its president who wants to remove all air bases and military establishments from Wales. The hon. Member for Carmarthen, East and Dinefwr (Adam Price)—he is not in his place, but if he were I would still raise this issue—did not have the courtesy to tell me that he wanted to curtail low flying in Wales. Doing so would also curtail jobs at RAF Valley. Of course, the Assembly Member and leader of Plaid Cymru was silent on this issue. In his own constituency, a spokesman said that they wanted to reduce the amount of low flying in the area, which would do away with the jobs. Plaid Cymru cannot have it both ways. Military and defence expenditure in Wales is the fault line in Plaid Cymru, and we are right to expose that before the Assembly elections so that people know that jobs will be secure with a Labour team here in Westminster and a Labour team in the Assembly.