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Welsh Affairs

In that case, I agree fully with the right hon. Gentleman and I apologise for misinterpreting what he said. We also have the rather bizarre problem of the Department for Work and Pensions job cuts on the horizon. There are now 32 towns in Wales that no longer have a DWP office. A large number of jobs have already gone, and 28 of the 33 proposed closures are in the objective 1 area. This is part of the debate that we have just had on upskilling and our gross domestic product. These are big problems. The right hon. Gentleman asked what was different about Wales. This is different: no matter how many times we shout about the problems caused by job cuts in objective 1 areas, nobody takes a blind bit of notice and the cuts go ahead. That is one difference. The job cuts at HMRC are expected to result in the closure of a further 14 offices, with 750 job losses in Wales, 550 of which will be in the objective 1 area. How can we possibly say that we want to raise the GDP or the gross value added in the objective 1 area if this is happening? Those are good, steady jobs—even if they are not hugely well paid—yet they are disappearing. Hundreds of them are going, including 35 in Porthmadog and 50 in Bangor. Some of them will undoubtedly involve voluntary redundancy, but a great deal of damage will none the less be done to the economy in various parts of the objective 1 area of Wales. If we look at the map, we see that the job cuts come within the arc of the objective 1 area. I am extremely disappointed that that is so. Jeff Evans of the Public and Commercial Services Union in Wales has said:"““Wages in Wales are, on average, 13 per cent. lower than the British average. Any reliance on market forces to determine regional public sector pay rates would disadvantage Welsh workers.””"