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Welsh Affairs

At least we have support from one section of the Opposition. We should also explore the idea of a high pay commission, which could be modelled on the Low Pay Commission. It would look at the effects of very high pay—people earning millions of pounds in salaries and bonuses—on the economy and wider society. Very large inequalities in pay, and people earning very high pay, distort the economy and are bad for the well-being of society. The Government needed to be there to prevent the collapse of the banks and its impact on the economy, but they also need to be there to support people when they are struggling and require help. The Tories simply do not understand that. I was here in the 1980s and '90s and remember their attitude towards people then. As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State observed, for the Tories unemployment was a price worth paying, despite its devastating consequences for individuals and communities. I do not believe that their attitudes have changed at all since then. I think that when the Tories talk about cutting state involvement in people's lives, they mean cutting support for people. I think that the difference between a Labour and a Tory Government—which is becoming all too apparent—is that Labour understands that when people are struggling they look to the Government for support, and understands that Governments can be a force for good. In my constituency, 8,200 families are receiving child or working tax credit. In April, a £65 increase in the child element of child tax credit will benefit more than 200,000 families in Wales. More than 4,000 pensioner households in Cynon Valley receive pension credit. There are also winter fuel payments of £250 for the over-60s and £400 for the over-80s, along with, this winter, cold weather payments of £25 a week. More people have kept their jobs and more businesses have kept going because of the action taken by the Labour Government throughout the recession. The rate of job losses during this recession has been four times lower than it was in the 1990s. In Cynon Valley, the new deal job schemes have created 3,390 jobs since 1997. Other schemes, such as the future jobs fund, are helping people into jobs rather than throwing them on the scrapheap as the Tories did. Labour is supporting young people by guaranteeing an education or training place for those aged up to 18, and a job or training place for 18 to 24-year-olds who have been out of work for six months On Monday, along with my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State, I shall visit the Cynon Valley whisky-producing factory in Penderyn. I shall then attend a "topping-out" ceremony for the new Cynon Valley neighbourhood hospital, which is due to open in April 2011. All that represents a Labour Government at Westminster, a Labour-led Government in Wales, and a Labour council in Rhondda Cynon Taf delivering real public service improvements.