Starmer praises Welsh Labour commitment to jobs first recovery

LABOUR Leader Keir Starmer has praised Welsh Labour’s plan for a jobs first recovery after Covid that will move Wales forward.

A re-elected Welsh Labour Government led by Mark Drakeford will deliver a £15bn capital investment programme over the next Senedd term.

Action will include building the housing of the future – creating thousands of new jobs and new training opportunities in construction and the supply chain, including through building 20,000 new, low-carbon social homes for rent and through our extensive Housing Retrofit Programme.

We will use our investment in transport to create jobs and new futures for communities, including by developing the new Global Centre of Rail Excellence in the Dulais Valley to promote rail innovation which will help to create 300 jobs over the next few years and complete our £750m investment in electrification of the South Wales valleys.

Welsh Labour will breathe new life into our high streets through its new ‘Town Centre First’ approach to ensure that we relocate and build new infrastructure in Town Centre and High Street locations and support new Remote Working Hubs in our communities.

Welsh Labour has a strong record in Government for creating and sustaining jobs. During the pandemic, Welsh Labour’s Economic Resilience Fund support for businesses, the best in the UK, has helped protect more than 165,000 jobs across Wales. Welsh Labour are bringing new jobs to Wales through investments such as the new CAF factory in Newport, building new trains for the South Wales Metro and creating more than 300 jobs.

Welsh Labour has crucially supported skills that help people get into jobs – over the last term they created 100,000 all age apprenticeships and over the last decade helped 19,000 young people into work through our Jobs Growth Wales programme.

Starmer made his first physical visit to South Wales as Labour leader. He previously visited businesses across North Wales last Summer, during the easing of restrictions. He is expected to visit the nation a number of times ahead of polling day on May 6.

Keir Starmer, Leader of the Labour Party said:

“Mark Drakeford and Welsh Labour have had the right economic plan to get Wales through the pandemic and have the right plan to power the economy with a jobs first recovery. This election is the opportunity to give them the tools to finish that work.

“Wales is a brilliant, bold and optimistic country, and Welsh Labour’s guarantee of a good quality job or training for every young person underscores the determination to make Wales the best place in the UK – and Europe – to be young and to have a family.

“Welsh Labour is also building the green economy of tomorrow. Wales is already a world leader in recycling, and I’m determined to work with Mark Drakeford and his team to create green jobs and ensure Wales is a world leader in the green industries of the future.”