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Welsh Affairs

I shall begin by congratulating my right hon. Friend the Member for Neath (Mr. Hain), although he is not in his place at the moment, on an excellent speech. I add my words to those of many Members on both sides of the House about the service that he has given to Wales and Northern Ireland, and to the people of the United Kingdom when he was Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. He clearly has not stopped working or thinking, and still has the same dynamism as he had in office. I also welcome the new Secretary of State. He and I have worked together on several occasions in the past, and I know that everyone recognises his abilities. Everyone in the House has enormous respect for all the work that he has done in the past, and I look forward to working with him in the future. The last time I spoke in a Welsh Affairs debate was from the Back Benches before the 1997 election. It is true to say that Wales has been transformed, and nowhere more so than my own constituency. West Wales had a reputation throughout the 1980s and through most of the 1990s as an economic blackspot. At times, it had some of the worst unemployment in the whole of the United Kingdom. Our services were not good and we were considered a peripheral area with poor communications. We also saw the erosion of the main pillars of our economy, because international changes were affecting us. For example, changes in agriculture saw more people leaving the industry as mechanisation was introduced. There was a squeeze in particular sectors, such as new potatoes, which faced competition from imports from Morocco and Egypt. The defence closure programme in the 1990s saw the then Conservative Government close several bases or radically reducing the number of staff. The energy industry also went through a period of severe contraction, which saw the closure of refineries, power stations and so on. The last 10 years have seen a dramatic transformation. Instead of being at the bottom of the league in terms of employment, we are now close to the top. We have had a 65 per cent. reduction in unemployment and the investment in infrastructure—roads, new, refurbished and extended schools, and new and refurbished hospitals—has led to a dramatic change in public services in west Wales.