Jobs (Hansard, 10 July 1995)

§ 22. Sir Wyn Roberts
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many jobs have been (a) created and (b) safeguarded since 1992. [31691]

§ Mr. Gwilym Jones
In Wales, between 1 January 1992 and 27 June 1995, offers of regional selective assistance have been accepted which are forecast by the companies concerned to create 23,850 new jobs and safeguard 14,561 existing jobs.
I believe that today is my right hon. Friend's 65th birthday. I am sure that the House will want to wish him well and to take this opportunity to mark the fact that his service in the House since 1970 for the people of Conwy has been an example that cannot be emulated by Opposition Members.

§ Sir Wyn Roberts
I am grateful to my hon. Friend. What a shame it is that Labour Members from Wales are not here to hear the good news, not about my birthday, but about the offers in connection with jobs created and safeguarded.
Will my hon. Friend give me an assurance that we shall not take economic success in Wales for granted, but seek to improve on our record and continue to look outwards to the rest of Britain, Europe and elsewhere to attract more investment and more jobs for Wales? Will my hon. Friend assure me that we shall not emulate the Labour party, which is inward-looking and seeks to give top priority to the creation of a Welsh assembly? If what we have seen happening here today is any sign of what would happen when an assembly was established in Wales, God help us all.

§ Mr. Jones
My right hon. Friend puts it well. A Welsh assembly would be the ultimate quango—jobs for the boyos. Opposition Members do not turn up here, so what is so marvellous about setting up that ultimate quango simply to feather-bed the ones who cannot get elected to this place—the second or third tier of Labour candidates in Wales?
614 My right hon. Friend is too modest. I feel that his birthday and all that he has done in the House and on behalf of the people of Wales is good news. Yes, it is a shame that Opposition Members—Labour, Liberal and Plaid Cymru—boycott the Chamber in such a childish way. It is a shame that they do not hear the good news about all the continuing economic success in Wales—the good news that, as the UK is leading Europe out of the recession, Wales is leading the UK, which is in no small part due to the policies of the Government.
However, I can certainly reassure my right hon. Friend that we are not content to sit back on our record, good though it is. Year after year, we usually manage to achieve a greater proportion of inward investment in Wales than would be justified merely on the basis of our share of the population of the United Kingdom. We continue to go deeper and deeper into other countries to sell Welsh goods and investment in Wales. My right hon. Friend will be pleased to know that the most recent new development was a Welsh Office trade mission that recently returned from Dallas—Wales has gone deep in the heart of Texas. I look forward to that being yet another successful mission in the ever-increasing programme there.
I must thank my right hon. Friend for the fact that, since he left the Government last year, he has carried on doing his best for the Principality—as when he recently visited Taiwan on behalf of Welsh interests. We are most grateful to him for his efforts.

§ Mr. Harris
Would my hon. Friend be surprised if, after this pathetic performance by the Opposition, they complained about a one-sided Question Time?
Many Conservative Members have no objection to trade missions going to the heart of Dallas and Texas, but we do object when trade missions from the Welsh Development Agency come to the heart of Cornwall and try to poach jobs from existing firms. Will my hon. Friend say how many of the jobs created in Wales that he mentioned in his answer are actually jobs redeployed from other parts of the United Kingdom, especially Cornwall? Will he have a word with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, whom I heartily congratulate on his appointment, so that the Welsh Office considers with all seriousness the activities of the Welsh Development Agency and the way in which, in unfair competition, it takes away jobs from other parts of the United Kingdom, especially the south-west of England?

§ Mr. Jones
My hon. Friend raises an important point. The last thing that we would want to happen is that any inward investment into Wales should come about as a result of unfair competition with other parts of the United Kingdom or wherever. We look as closely as possible at all applications, to try to ensure—

§ Madam Speaker
Order. I should be obliged if the Minister would address the Chair.

§ Mr. Jones
Madam Speaker, I assure you and my hon. Friend that we examine all applications as carefully as possible to try to ensure that all the projects provide additional economic activity and additional jobs. It is in no interest of Wales merely to poach jobs from across the border.
We want taxpayers' money to be spent effectively and wisely in creating additional jobs. Be they in the west of 615 England, the midlands or wherever, I can give my hon. Friends the assurance that we will always continue to do that.
On the first part of my hon. Friend's question, I have to agree that the childish demonstration that we have seen from Labour Members today is pathetic. My hon. Friend might be interested to know that the national newspaper of Wales, the Western Mail, conducted a survey recently which showed that English Members of Parliament were better questioners at Welsh Question Time than Welsh Labour Members of Parliament. Their lack of turnout today has only served to keep that ratio in favour of English Members. We can only speculate. Is their behaviour the result of a lack of care and compassion among Welsh Labour Members in representing their constituents or is it sheer laziness?