Last week’s Budget marked an important step in preparing and supporting the UK in a post-Brexit and post-covid world. The Budget rightly focused on the Government’s commitments to level up communities and to bring economic prosperity to areas that have seen disinvestment and loss of opportunity over recent years—areas such as my own constituency of Ynys Môn.
In terms of its economic productivity, Ynys Môn—the Isle of Anglesey—has one of the lowest gross value added in the UK. In recent years, we have lost major employers such as Wylfa, Anglesey Aluminium, Octel
and Rehau. During the pandemic we have seen the fragility of our tourist economy, on which so many local people depend. This has resulted in our young people having to leave the island to find good quality work, leaving behind their families, leaving behind their culture and leaving behind their Welsh language.
Last week, the Chancellor of the Exchequer said:
“There is a reason we talk about the importance of family, community and personal responsibility. We do so not because these are an alternative to the market or the state, but because they are more important than the market or the state.”—[Official Report, 27 October 2021; Vol. 702, c. 286.]
Ynys Môn is all about family and community, which is why we need to level up opportunity and provide permanent, well-paid careers on the island. Only this will drive up our economic productivity, give our young people aspiration and keep them on the island. Only by creating healthy and self-sufficient communities can we ensure that our Welsh language and culture continue to thrive.
Last week, we saw some huge numbers: £2.6 billion to the UK shared prosperity fund; £5 billion to Project Gigabit; and £1.4 billion to the global Britain investment fund. These will unleash private capital, and we on Anglesey look forward to reaping the rewards of this investment.
Ynys Môn is known as energy island, and so we particularly welcomed the announcement of £380 million for the offshore wind sector, £1.7 billion to enable a large-scale nuclear plant, £385 million towards nuclear R&D, and £120 million for a new future nuclear enabling fund. With the National Nuclear Laboratory already based at M-SParc in Gaerwen, and Bechtel, Rolls-Royce and others keen to set up at Wylfa Newydd—whether it is AP1000s and/or small modular reactors—these announcements bring hope to Anglesey. It is hope that we may once again enjoy the economic benefits of hosting nuclear.
We are also keen to see the UK’s first thermal hydraulic test facility established locally. There are currently only two worldwide: one in Italy and one in the US. To have the third thermal hydraulic test facility in the world in north Wales would be absolutely fantastic.
The people of Anglesey are already starting to see the impact of the levelling-up agenda. We have jobs and opportunities appearing as a result of the Government’s investment: more than 200 new jobs at the HMRC Holyhead inland border facility; expansion of the workforce at Orthios Eco-Park supported by Government investment; the Holyhead hydrogen hub, which was earmarked for almost £5 million in the March Budget; and, of course, as chair of the Anglesey freeport bidding consortium, I continue to press for Anglesey to become a freeport with all the advantages that that would bring.
Finally, I thank the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury and the Secretary of State for Transport for awarding my bidding team up to £50,000 for a feasibility study on the disused Gaerwen to Amlwch line on Anglesey. This money will be match funded by the Welsh Government and allow us to fully investigate viable options and alternative uses so that we can bring this community asset back to life.
Our island used to be known as Mon Mam Cymru—the Mother of Wales. I am proud that this Government are giving Ynys Môn a hand up, not just a hand-out, so that once more Ynys Môn and its people will not only lead but roar on the global stage.
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