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Welsh Affairs

The hon. Gentleman is aware of my views on those matters. Those responsible in the Assembly have taken their eye off the ball. Objective 1, and the convergence fund that has now replaced it, should be about increasing income levels and raising the standard of living. To do that, it should be used for upskilling and training above all else. Cicero said:"““The good of the people is the chief law.””" I believe in that. For me, politics should be about the common good, not responding to greed, selfishness and narrow personal interests. This great Labour party stands for social justice, fairness and equality of opportunity. In the past 10 years, the Government have brought great achievements to fruition. There are more people in work, a record amount of new jobs has been created, and full employment is a near reality. Our economy is strong, our people are more prosperous, and investment in health and education is at record levels. We have a solid base on which to build. However, our economic future will be secure only if we invest in training and upskilling our people. We need to give the people of Wales the skills that they do not yet have in order to create the jobs that we do not yet have. Wales in the 21st century can become the dragon economy of Europe. When Labour came to power, at the start of the journey to reform Britain more than a decade ago, Tony Blair declared that his priority was education, education, education. He was right, but now we must take the next step. Now our priority should be training, training, training. Everyone will have to go back to school to improve their skills. When my father went underground at the age of 14, it was the muscles in his arms that he needed to develop. My twin granddaughters, now aged 14, must develop the muscles between their ears if they want to get the right knowledge and skills to have a future. The great challenges that we face in the coming years are not Welsh but global. We are part of a world in which powerful new economies such as China and India will challenge and overtake Europe and the United States. China enrolled 15 million students in tertiary education in 2004, but there the average industrial wage is but 60p an hour. Wales—and, for that matter, Britain—cannot compete if we remain a low-skill, low-wage economy. The only way we will compete is by retraining and upskilling. We have to keep ahead with new and innovative ideas, which we can fully exploit only if we have the skills to do so. The challenge to Wales will be all the greater because we are on the edge of Europe geographically, but we can be at the heart of Europe economically. There are some in other parties in the House who will happily mislead the people by saying that Labour is interested only in middle England. When I first heard that I wondered how the hopes and aspirations of people in middle England were different from those of people in Islwyn, for example, so I did some research. I did not find much difference. In fact, I discovered that people in middle England want a job and a decent education for their children. The people of Islwyn want that as well. People in middle England want a first-class health service free at the point of need. People in Islwyn want that, too. In middle England, people want good public services to take care of them and a decent pension to live on in old age. Funnily enough, I found that people in Islwyn want exactly the same thing.