Local economics

Labour leadership race — By Daran Hill on November 14, 2009 6:45 am

AFTER the poor employment figures earlier this week, two of the Labour leadership candidates have made economic protection a key theme of their campaigns this weekend.

Yesterday Edwina Hart visited the British Airways maintenance plant at Cardiff International Airport (BAMC) and promised workers that she is backing their campaign to scrap Air Passenger Duty, a new tax on travel which is currently being introduced by the UK government. Her team reports that the new tax which is being gradually phased in could mean for example that Premium-economy passengers, who now pay £80, will have to pay £150 by the end of next year. Unite the Union, which represents most of the 600 workers at the maintenance plant and is backing Mrs Hart’s leadership bid, has received her wholeheareted support.

She said: “To have such a vital enterprise operating here in Wales is extremely important when we are telling everybody that Wales is open for business in these difficult times. To introduce this tax is not helpful and both I and Unite now plan to lobby the Treasury in London to get it scrapped.”

Meanwhile, Huw Lewis was in North Wales last night where he met members from across the region at a social event in Anglesey. Speaking specifically about the local economy, Huw said he wanted strategic sites like Bangor University and the port in Holyhead to act as drivers for growth: “There is uncertainty everywhere you look at the moment, particularly on Ynys Mon. On one hand you have the closure of Anglesey Aluminium and the continuing difficulties in the local authority, but on the other – better news around proposals for a Wylfa B. Things are shifting quickly and disrupting people’s lives. For too long this has been the pattern of the local economy in North West Wales, jobs come and jobs go, it is time to develop a coherent long-term vision for the future of this region.

“Central to that must be a hard-headed look about how we better exploit current strategic advantages we have here and work better with institutions and businesses already embedded. Bangor University for example, like all universities and colleges in Wales, needs to be better integrated in economic planning for the region. Research I’ve seen tells us that we have barely scratched the surface in terms of developing our intellectual property in Wales – it is an area that needs to be urgently addressed if we are serious about becoming a small, clever country.

“In terms of infrastructure, there are improvements we can make, but the port in Holyhead and the A55 are again strategic advantages already in place which we are currently underutilising. It is criminal that Holyhead’s town centre is in such a poor state whilst hundreds of thousands of people pass by the town each year. I want to see better joint working and more imaginative planning to put that right. We need to save our town centres.”

As the campaign moves into its final fortnight, expect the economy – especially local economic factors – to remain up-front with all candidates.

Tags: Economy, Edwina Hart, Huw Lewis, Labour leadership race