§ 8. Mr. Jon Owen Jones (Cardiff, Central)If he has met the First Secretary of the National Assembly for Wales to discuss the impact on Wales of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's pre-Budget statement. [98884]
§ The Secretary of State for Wales (Mr. Paul Murphy)I meet the Assembly First Secretary on a weekly basis to discuss a range of issues.
§ Mr. JonesWhen the Secretary of State next meets the Chancellor, will he convey to him my encouragement for his bold ambition to achieve full employment? Will he tell him that his policies have already created in my constituency a 78 per cent. reduction in youth unemployment and a 57 per cent. reduction in long-term unemployment? Those are important steps; but does he share my concern that a whole generation have lost their 294 most valuable productive years through living under a Conservative Government who did not share that ambition?
§ Mr. MurphyOf course I agree with my hon. Friend. The next time I meet my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer, I shall let him know that the people of Wales believe that his policies of fairness, stability and enterprise are paying off in Wales, and that his policies are right for us in Wales. I shall also be able to tell him and the people of Wales that, since May 1997, total unemployment in Wales has fallen from a little more than 80,000 to a little less than 60,000; that is progress in anybody's language.