Welsh Affairs

People in my constituency have campaigned against the funding formula for local government for more than 10 years. I was recently at yet another presentation by Lord Barnett, who accepted yet again that there is a need to consider a needs-based formula. My constituency's uplift for this year of 1.5 per cent. will result in the loss of front-line services and a staff reduction. In my opinion, that is unacceptable. I urge the Government to bring forward a review of the Barnett formula at the earliest opportunity. The Assembly is looking into the issue, but the time being wasted is costing our constituencies very much. The worry is that the £500 million cut for next year will be even worse for us; that cut in services will go very deep. I also ask the Government to review the rates on empty property. If local government bodies own industrial parks, they have to pay hundreds of thousands of pounds in empty property tax. The principle behind the tax—to get people to use properties quickly—was good. However, given the economic crisis that we are in at the moment, that is not a reality. I am sorry to say that the problem with the banks is not new; it has been going on in my constituency for a considerable time. I raised the issue in 2006 in the House, soon after I first entered it. The problem is that average wages in my constituency are around the £17,000 mark, but house prices there average £100,000. Banks were giving 100 per cent. mortgages, the debt bubble just grew and grew and nothing was done to reduce it until the global crisis. Credit card interest is a huge problem. The interest rates are absolutely enormous and cost our constituents huge amounts of money on the basis of what they borrow. Taking the point made by the hon. Member for Brecon and Radnorshire (Mr. Williams), we need to do all that we can to put money into people's pockets, as well as looking at loans to businesses. I support loans to businesses, but without people buying, those businesses will still suffer—they will just borrow more and more. We have heard a lot about the global economy. This country of ours—Wales, I mean—has exported for hundreds of years. It has led the way in exporting. Going back to the civil war in America, we exported cannon balls. We have exported everything, from coal to steel to—as now—modern technology. The problem is that those at the top over the past 10 years have got richer and richer while those at the bottom have suffered because of it. There will always be enough in this world for everybody's needs, but there will never be enough for someone's greed, and the greed of those individuals has destroyed the financial services. The financial control of these companies belongs to the many, not the few. We need to bring bank controls back to local economies and local areas—through credit unions, for example. On regeneration, one of the projects that is vital not only to my constituency but to that of the Secretary of State and to constituencies along the Heads of the Valleys road is the dualling of that road. It is a massive project that will take a long time, but delaying it is causing huge problems to businesses in our areas. It is also a huge opportunity for construction and people's jobs. I urge the Secretary of State to do all that he can to bring that project forward. We have heard about rail services. The launch of the rail link in my constituency last February—a year ago now—has been so successful that the passenger numbers projected for the fourth year are travelling on it already. That is a fantastic demonstration of what rail can do for us. I urge the Secretary of State and the Government to look at where we can extend rail services. That is a massive opportunity. We had services across all our valley communities, and we need them back. The shadow Secretary of State touched on tourism, but she did not mention history. The history of the south Wales valley built the world. The industrial revolution spread from Cardiff to Merthyr to Torfaen to Blaenau Gwent. There is a massive opportunity to tell our story, especially to the Americans. We virtually built America—let us bring them back to spend their money in our constituencies! To do that, however, we need integrated transport. Bus services and rail services need to work together. They are not doing that at the moment: they are increasing in one area and reducing in another. We have seen regional buses taken off and bus services cut. That is not good news for us. The Welfare Reform Bill is currently going through Parliament. Last week, I mentioned that in my constituency we have 3,000 people looking for work and 6,000 people on incapacity benefit—a total of 9,000 people and an average of 200 to 250 jobs. That does not fit. However, the training opportunities are huge, and that is a real goal. Within that, we must get joined-up services. The hon. Member for Cardiff, North (Julie Morgan) mentioned jobseekers and jobcentres. Jobcentres need to work with other organisations as well. When individuals enter them, they are dealt with just in that one place. There is lots of help out there, but we need joined-up thinking, not working in isolation. Funding for further education has been raised on several occasions. I urge the Secretary of State—I know that this is a subject very close to his heart—to speak to the people at the sharp end. When we as politicians speak to the people who run these facilities and educational establishments, they tend to tell us what we want to hear. I have three establishments that cover my constituency, and the staff and the students tell me that they are in trouble. They will not be able to provide the services that they do already, and certainly not the services that we need for training opportunities. I want to touch on two other subjects. The first is the steel industry, which is close to the hearts of many Members of this House. There are continuing problems in that industry. The main plant shut down in my constituency in 2002. Across the country at that time, we lost 10,000 jobs, and we are now seeing another 2,500 go. We must do everything we can to give the steel industry a level playing field. I have urged the Leader of the House to introduce a debate on the future of the steel industry, and I hope that that will happen in the near future. One of the areas for which we can use the industry is training. It has one of the best training records anywhere and I urge the Government to look at that when we look at the apprenticeships Bill. The opportunity in Wales to use the industry to train is massive. Lastly, I have another big concern. I know that many Members have been in contact with the police authorities and the police themselves about threatened and perceived cuts to police funding. We hear from this House that money is being spent and that more police are on the streets, but in my constituency we have seen some police stations shut down and some have cut their hours—fewer police on the streets. We need to get the record straight, whichever side is right or wrong. We need to come together and sort it out. In a time of downturn, we will see more people on the streets. We may well see more crime because of it, with people forced into situations such as house repossessions. It is not going to be easy, but we need to work together to ensure that our communities are safe and ready when the global downturn turns around, so that we are there to respond to it.