4. Statement by the Minister for Economy: Stronger Regional Economies

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:52 pm on 18 January 2022.

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Photo of Alun Davies Alun Davies Labour 3:52, 18 January 2022

I agree, Minister, that we don't want to be looking to and living in the past, but I hope we're going to learn from the past. I've been a Member of four Senedds, and I've seen four different Governments adopting four different approaches to these matters, and I'm yet to be convinced that any of them have succeeded. When I look at some of the corporate joint ventures that I'm hearing described in the conversation this afternoon, I'm listening to debates I heard a decade ago, if I'm quite honest with you, and still my constituents are waiting to see the benefits of those conversations. So, I would like to ask you, Minister: where does the Heads of the Valleys focus on this? Because we've had very little focus on the Valleys, the most deprived part of our country, 20 years after devolution, and we haven't seen the focus that I would have wanted to have seen since this Government was re-elected in May.

I want to know how you expect to deliver your policies. Where are the delivery mechanisms? Because if there's one thread of failure, frankly, that I have seen throughout my time as a Member here, it's been a lack of delivery. We have had strategies coming out of our ears, but what we haven't had is delivery on the ground. Why are you different? Why is your strategy different? And how will you know when you've achieved your objectives? What are your objectives for the Heads of the Valleys? What did you want to achieve? When I was one of this sad line of Ministers, some time ago, setting out my ambitions for the Valleys, I set out some very clear targets and objectives—