MADE IN WALES

Many people are concerned about the state of the economy as the latest GDP figures show a deepening of the double-dip recession, with a 0.7% drop in output during the second quarter. This is not good and the UK Westminster Government has not helped matters with cuts on capital spending projects as the crisis in the construction industry (whose output has slumped dramatically with quarter-on-quarter falls of 5.2% and 4.9% in the last two quarters) threatens to get worse.

The UK Westminster Government spending plans will do lasting damage to our long-term economic prospects. It’s time for job-creating taxation powers to be transferred to the Welsh Government so that we can create ‘made in Wales’ economic solutions, as by now it’s pretty clear that those from London are clearly not working.

Plaid Cymru Treasury spokesperson Jonathan Edwards MP (on Wednesday 25th July) said:

“These are truly disastrous figures showing that the economy is in a downward spiral, with the worst double-dip recession since the 1950s.

“They show weakness across the economy, with the construction industry quite clearly in crisis.

“We are paying the price for failing to invest in infrastructure spending when the financial crisis began. If the London parties had introduced our infrastructure policies when we first proposed them then the construction industry would be booming and we would be looking forward to new roads, hospitals and schools.

“Instead, cuts to capital budgets mean that very little construction is now being undertaken by either the public or private sector.

“The concern is that these cuts are doing not just short-term, but very long-term, lasting damage to the productivity of the economy.

“We are in a lost decade with a stagnant economy contracting once again and the current direction of travel shows no indication of improvement, and the Tories still refusing to recognise that their financial plans have failed.

“It is now more urgent than ever that job-creating levers, such as control over income and corporation tax, are given to the Welsh Government so that we can have ‘made in Wales’ solutions to these economic problems – because it is clear that the Tory government in London don’t have a clue.”