PRESS RELEASE : Why Labour have been a disaster for the Welsh economy [November 2022]

The press release issued by the Welsh Conservatives on 10 November 2022.

Paul Davies MS and Shadow Minister for the Economy argues that Labour have failed the Welsh economy.

Labour have dominated the Welsh political landscape for a quarter of a century, they have held many of the levers of power and have been responsible for the Welsh economy.

While Wales’ resilient and dynamic economy has endured, Labour’s dereliction of duty has left us lagging behind the nations and regions of the UK on a number of measures from pay packets to employment.

Crucially, Wales is not seeing the kind of growth required to fund the public services we desperately need to address other inadequacies, from gargantuan NHS waiting lists to poor educational outcomes.

The Labour Government exercise a socialist philosophical approach of high tax, redistribution and state expansion. They admit themselves, that they do not know what they are doing on the economy.

This is exemplified by their insistence on raising council tax rates in the name of reforming the tax. Be in no doubt that their plans are designed to raise more revenue by pulling those on lower incomes into higher council tax bands and subsequently raising the rates of those bands further.

Their decision to pursue a tourism tax is another example of their backward thinking as regards to supporting the Welsh economy. They have their fingers in their ears, ignoring the will of the tourism industry and are pressing ahead with this deeply unpopular tax, despite one in seven Welsh jobs relying on the sector.

Many in Wales might be convinced of these changes, if their revenues were to be ringfenced for the people’s priorities such as the NHS. However, Labour’s spending priorities centre around spending £100 million on more politicians in Cardiff Bay and millions more on a universal basic income fantasy project.

Labour, in Wales are in fact the only government in the UK to have cut funding for the NHS.

Their failure to tackle business rates, that have damaged the Welsh high street beyond recognition, is lamentable. The Welsh Conservatives have long called for reform of the tax on growth, but Labour have ignored the concerns of small businesses at every turn.

We would also scrap the plans for a tourism tax, which could discourage visitors to Wales at a time where their input into the Welsh economy will be crucial in rejuvenating our high streets.

The insistence of Labour on wanting to micromanage so many areas of Welsh life, spewing an endless stream of top-down diktats to that end, is unjustified.

Their blanket rollout of 20mph zones across the country will slow Wales down and is emblematic of a Labour Government bent on denying local communities decision making powers over the issues they know how best to deal with.

This is not to mention Labour’s penchant for waste. The 20mph rollout will cost over £32m and the sudden cancellation of all road building, as well as hindering Wales’ economic development, wasted a further £24m on unfinished projects.

The Welsh Conservatives believe in keeping taxes low, oppose Labour’s lust for tax rises and their yearning for expanding the size and remit of the Welsh Government.

To put this into perspective, the £100m Senedd expansion price-tag could fund over 300 new, fully qualified GPs – or could have gone some way to delivering much-needed infrastructure improvements, thereby making Wales a much richer business environment.

On employment, Labour’s record speaks for itself. Wales has perpetually sinking job numbers despite a relatively strong performance from the UK as a whole.

Labour have proven time and time again that they are incapable of attracting jobs and investment into Wales.

Welsh workers have consistently had the smallest pay packets in the UK. At over £3,000 a year less than our UK counterparts, this is Labour’s hidden tax on hard working people.

The fact that nearly a third of Welsh people, in employment, are earning less than the real living wage is a shocking indictment of Labour’s failure here in Wales.

The Labour Government should shift focus away from creating more high paying jobs for politicians and instead deliver high paying jobs for the Welsh people.

Wales is a nation with so much to offer, packed full of innovators with a wealth of entrepreneurial spirit. We do not need to be at such a competitive disadvantage, there is another path, a pro-growth path to strengthen Wales’ position as a dynamic economy.

The Welsh Conservatives believe that Wales deserves so much better than this. We say no to new taxes, no to never-ending diktats, no to Labour’s serial mismanagement of the Welsh economy.