Lembit
Öpik: Although we must not get too specific at this
stage, those who are in favour of a tidal lagoon system argue that that
technology can produce comparable amounts of energy. They are slightly
frustrated, because they feel that the amount of energy that their
system can generate has been misrepresented. I realise that we cannot
go into further detail at the
moment.
Mr.
Hain: The consultants are considering the tidal lagoon
system, and I am not closing the door on it. My assessment at the
moment, particularly as tidal lagoon technology is relatively
underdeveloped, is that the barrage proposal is preferable. We shall
have to see, and my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary or I would
certainly be happy to receive a delegation on the matter, which the
hon. Gentleman might want to
lead. Reforms to the
state pension system will benefit almost 589,000 people in Wales. They
will create an affordable and sustainable pensions system to meet the
needs of generations to come, make pensions much more generous and
widely available and tackle the scandalous inequalities faced by far
too many women and carers. By 2010, 70 per cent. of women reaching the
state pension age will have a full basic state pension, compared with
only 30 per cent. today, which will be a massive boost for women in
Wales. Working with
the police and the security services, we will continue to take whatever
steps and tough choices are necessary to tackle the very real threat
that terrorism poses to the world. Reforms to the criminal justice
system will put the victim first, with new powers to tackle the
antisocial and violent behaviour that blights our communities. The
Criminal Justice Bill will include measures further to protect the
public, to reduce crime even further and to bring more offenders to
justice. Last week,
the Chancellor delivered his 10th pre-Budget report against a backdrop
of sustained economic growth and an unprecedented period of stability
and expansion in Wales, the like of which we have almost never known,
thanks to a Labour Government. The pre-Budget report provides for extra
Treasury funding for the Assembly
Government.
Mr.
Hain: I am about to tell the hon.
Gentleman. As well as
additional capital of £156 million in the three years from 2008,
there will be an additional £9 million in resources
for Wales next year, making a total of £165 million of new
money. The hon. Member for Chesham and Amersham scoffs, but we will
have doubled the Welsh budget that we inherited from the Conservatives
in just 10
years. Chris
Ruane (Vale of Clwyd) (Lab): Redwood sent the money
back.
Mr.
Hain: As my hon. Friend has reminded me, the right hon.
Member for Wokingham (Mr. Redwood), when he was Secretary of
State for Wales, sent £100 million back to the
Treasury and boasted about it. What scandalous behaviour. If that is a
precedent that the hon. Member for Chesham and Amersham is likely to
follow, if she ever gets into my
position—
Mr.
Hain: The hon. Lady is about to confirm that she will
exact the same penury and misery on Wales as her Conservative
predecessors.
Mrs.
Gillan: Will the Secretary of State guarantee that there
will be no real cuts in funding to the Wales Office under this
Chancellor?
Mr.
Hain: I am intrigued that the hon. Lady takes such a keen
interest in the Wales Office budget. It is a slice out the block that
goes to the Welsh Assembly each year, and it is an agreed amount. It is
primarily devoted to policy staff, and it is actually very small. The
Wales Office is a policy-heavy unit of Government, and no other major
costs are
involved.
Mrs.
Gillan: Will the Secretary of State confirm that the
Chancellor is requiring a 5 per cent. cut in the overall Wales budget,
which will include the block grant and the Wales
Office?
Mrs.
Gillan: In real
terms?
Mr.
Hain: No; there is no such agreement. As the hon. Lady
knows, the Welsh block is decided mainly by Barnett
consequentials—health and education are the principal components
along with a number of other areas. Health and education are key
priorities for the Chancellor and, of course, the
Government. The extra
money provided by the Chancellor will help the Labour Government in
Cardiff to develop and deliver their objectives, to tackle priority
areas for investment in infrastructure and to build the world-class
Wales that we all want to see. As well as the extra funding to the
Assembly, the Government have reaffirmed their commitment to tackling
child poverty and assisting people back into work. An £80 uplift
to the child element of child tax credit will help around 300,000
families in Wales. We are extending the support offered to lone parents
to help them back into employment through the continuation of in-work
credit in pilot
areas. Furthermore, we
are improving the jobseeker’s allowance by offering expert
support when new claims are made and extending the job grant to 18 to
24-year-olds. On training and skills, we aim to double the number of
apprenticeships in the UK. When we came into power in 1997, we
inherited a miserable record on apprenticeships, because there had been
a scandalous decimation of skills and apprenticeships in Wales and
throughout the UK. Growth will continue in Wales, where the number of
modern apprenticeships has increased from 9,000 in 1999 to nearly
15,000 last year.
Mr.
Stephen Crabb (Preseli Pembrokeshire) (Con): Will the
Secretary of State confirm that the number of young people in Wales not
in full-time education, employment or training has increased
substantially since
1997?
Mr.
Hain: As the hon. Gentleman knows, there has been a big
reduction in youth unemployment, which was at a scandalous level in
1997— [Interruption.] Well, I think it important to remind
the Committee of that terrible
record. When I was
elected in 1991, long-term and youth unemployment in Neath was
terrible, and many of my hon. Friends will have had similar
experiences. Indeed, I could go canvassing in the daytime and find
everyone at home—I am sure that you experienced that,
Mr. Caton, because your constituency is in the Swansea
valley. In the 1991 by-election and the 1992 general election, I could
get most of my work done during the day, but now I cannot find anyone
at home during day. It is difficult to reach people thanks to the extra
jobs created under this Labour Government.
I also welcome the
Chancellor’s response to the environmental challenges set out by
the Stern review. Sir Nicholas Stern made it clear that we cannot
afford to ignore the huge threat of climate change. The
Chancellor’s announcement on air passenger duty is a first step
towards reducing emissions from aviation, but it is not enough on its
own, which is why the Government are leading the way in pressing for
aviation to be included in the European Union emissions trading scheme.
What a contrast between the Government’s policy of engaging with
Europe and the Conservative’s anti-European policy, which would
have left them unable to negotiate the scheme, which is vital in
combating climate change on a European
basis.
Lembit
Öpik: I declare an interest in the aviation sector.
Does the Secretary of State agree that the aviation industry needs to
pay its way environmentally? I love aviation and everything that goes
with it. [Interruption.] Yes; including occasionally falling out
of the sky myself. Does he agree that we must find an international
solution on aviation taxation, because it will be difficult for a
country to do it on its
own?
Mr.
Hain: The hon. Gentleman makes a fair and sensible point.
I shall take his remarks as an invitation to speak to the Chancellor
tomorrow about a special duty on Lembit airways. I am sure that that
will not affect the hon. Gentleman’s competitiveness or his
abilities as a pilot, which are legendary. We shall see what we can do
to help him. In recent
years, the strong partnership between our Labour Governments in
Westminster and Cardiff has produced huge progress for Wales. With 1.3
million people in work, employment is at historically high levels.
Hospital waiting times are falling—there are more than 400 more
consultants and more than 7,300 more nurses under this Labour
Government. Standards in our schools are rising—there are 1,700
more teachers and 5,700 more support staff under this Labour
Government. Crime rates in Wales are falling—there are 1,000
more police officers than in 1997 and 270 new community support
officers, a figure which will rise to
700 next year, under this Labour Government. We have also implemented a
ground-breaking devolution settlement. Yet Wales faces massive future
challenges from fierce global competition, especially from China and
India, that must be answered by additional public investment in skills,
science and infrastructure. We face threats to our personal safety and
security. The very future of our planet is threatened by climate
change. Our policies
must ensure prosperity in an ageing society. We must do more to narrow
the growing gap between rich and poor. Those challenges will shape our
society and politics in the decades to come. The Queen’s Speech,
together with the pre-Budget report, shows that only Labour stands
ready to take on those challenges, providing progressive government
that is on the side of the citizen in a time of great insecurity and
change. We do not provide contracted-out government that leaves
citizens on their own facing the vagaries of the market, but
progressive government financed by progressive taxation to invest in
public services and to create social justice.
Next May, the people of Wales
will face a choice between a Labour Welsh Assembly Government, working
in partnership with London, who are providing answers to the great
challenges of our age, or a shambolic Tory-led coalition incapable of
providing stable leadership and coherent policies. Last week, during
discussion of the Budget, we saw an example of exactly how such an
Assembly coalition might operate—united for the cameras in the
morning and fighting among themselves before the day was out. I do not
believe that the people of Wales will put at risk our hard-won economic
stability and prosperity or our enormous progress by opening the door
to such a coalition, which would be directionless and divided within
itself. The
Queen’s Speech and the pre-Budget report show that only Labour,
working in partnership in London and Cardiff, has a vision for the
future, the policies to meet the challenges it presents and the unity
of purpose to help build a better Wales.
9.58
am
Mrs.
Gillan: First, as an official Opposition Member, I
welcome the opportunity to discuss the implications for Wales of the
Gracious Speech. I was sad that so many members of the Committee were
absent for the questions. That failed to provide us with the
opportunity to question Ministers in this forum on the subjects on the
Order Paper. I do not know whether we could do something in future to
encourage Committee members to attend, so that questions can be
reached. Although I would normally raise the matter as a point of
order, I decided to deal with it in the narrative in the hope that that
would give other Committee members the chance to
intervene.
Mr.
Llwyd: Has the hon. Lady got that right? If Committee
members are absent, we shall get through more questions, not
fewer.
Mrs.
Gillan: The truth is that we get through the same number
of questions in the same time, as I am sure that the hon. Gentleman
appreciates, but we miss
out some very important topics that need to be raised. I am so glad that
I have shown the hon. Gentleman the error of his ways, and I hope that
he will bear it in
mind. I turn to the
main thrust of the Secretary of State’s speech. He seems
increasingly frantic in his attempts to distort Conservative policy. I
know that he is trying to cover up Labour’s failings in Wales,
but I want to make my party’s position very clear. He continues
to say that we are anti-Welsh because of the stance that we took on the
Government of Wales Act, but he knows that to be quite untrue. We are
very pro-Welsh, and we are pro giving the people of Wales a say on how
they are governed. He knows that our principled objections to the Act
were about the electoral changes and on the matter of a referendum. We
believe that the people in Wales should have been asked much earlier in
the process through a referendum whether they wanted more powers to be
devolved to the Assembly. That is not anti-Welsh, but about giving the
Welsh people more power than the Secretary of State would give them;
he, of course, sets himself up as the viceroy of Wales, ruling over
them. We support
devolution in Wales. It is here to stay, but we want it to work. It is
clearly not working well under a Labour Welsh Assembly
Government.
Mr.
Roger Williams (Brecon and Radnorshire) (LD): I wonder
whether the hon. Lady has checked the content of her speech with the
hon. Member for Monmouth (David T.C. Davies), who is doing good work in
the Assembly.
Hon.
Members: Where is
he?
Mrs.
Gillan: I think that my hon. Friend the Member for
Monmouth is in the Assembly, where a little deal is being cooked up
between Plaid and Labour over the budget, if the press can be
believed—or is it between the Liberal Democrats and the Labour
party—to prop up a minor Administration after the May elections.
I am not sure, because Labour seems to be in negotiation with
everybody, except for the Conservatives, of course. However, it is the
Conservatives of whom they are really frightened, hence the fact that
the Secretary of State has spent most of his speech attacking me and my
colleagues. Let me
make it clear one more time that we would like the Assembly to work and
that we want to take the people of Wales with us, not to drag them
kicking and screaming to the brink of separatism by closing deals with
Plaid. We want a strong Wales in a strong Union. I think that that is a
good ambition for Wales and its people, and I will not take any lessons
on being pro-Wales from the Secretary of State, who denied the people
of Wales the referendum on extra Assembly powers that we wanted to give
them.
Mr.
Hain: Will the hon. Lady explain why, given what she has
just said, the leader of the Welsh Conservatives, Nick Bourne, has
publicly advocated a Tory-led coalition with Plaid and the Liberal
Democrats to defeat Labour at the next Welsh Assembly elections? The
choice is likely to be between a Welsh Labour-led Assembly
Government and a
Conservative-led shambolic Opposition. It is a fight between Labour and
the Conservatives next May. That is the
choice.
Mrs.
Gillan: My colleague in the Welsh Assembly, Nick Bourne,
who so ably leads the Conservative Assembly group, which has the
reputation of being the hardest working group in the Assembly,
acknowledged in meetings and at a press conference that, of course, we
are always in discussion with Opposition parties. Indeed, the issue
about the budget in the Assembly today is because Plaid, the Liberal
Democrats, the independents and the Conservatives have discussed it and
are trying to get a better deal for Wales. There is no doubt in my mind
that there are occasions when people collaborate and co-operate.
Indeed, I have collaborated and co-operated with my friends in Plaid
from time to time. As the Secretary of State knows, I left my sick bed
to vote with Plaid against the Government on Iraq.
[Interruption.] Does the Secretary of State want to
intervene?
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