Labour Party Conference 2006 Speech

When Labour was elected in 1997 we promised to bring economic opportunity to every part of the UK.

We’ve delivered on that promise in Wales.

Thanks to the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, Britain has enjoyed a truly remarkable- and unprecedented- period of economic stability- providing the foundation to personal opportunity.

Nowhere is this clearer than in Wales.

The Labour Assembly Government has delivered in Wales. We’ve delivered jobs- and significantly more than across the UK – with more than 1.3 million people in employment. That’s an increase of 126,000- or an extra 10 per cent of our people who are able to earn a living since the Assembly breathed new life into our communities.

We’re creating new opportunities, a new confidence so that our talented and ambitious young people don’t have to get out to get on.

This progress is no accident. It is testament to the Labour Government’s determination to support enterprise in EVERY part of Britain.

Could the Tories have done that?

We all remember the Tories’ divisive destruction of our industries when the heart was torn out of so many of our communities. The Tories wouldn’t know where to start to create the sort of UK-wide, low-inflation, enterprising economy that we have created in the UK and- I am very pleased to say- in a resurgent Wales.

The targeted investment of Labour in the Assembly has brought major economic dividends. We have abolished the quangos, bringing government closer to the people and delivered better and more efficient services for the citizen.

And last week the European Commission said that Wales’ management of European funding was the best in Europe.

In 1999, when the Assembly was established, Wales had an unemployment rate 30 per cent above the UK level. It has now fallen to match the UK rate. And today, there are more people in work in Wales than at any time in past.

The economy of Wales is the engine for all of our ambitions to achieve social justice. That’s why in our third Assembly term- equipped with our new enhanced powers- we will continue to support profitable, socially responsible companies which provide value for their workers and communities.

We have the right policies to succeed in the global knowledge economy. Maintaining stability, promoting investment, supporting science. We will not stop until we overcome the scourge of poverty and inequality which blights so many people’s lives and limits their potential.

We are creating a dynamic economy through sustainable growth that provides good, long-term, rewarding jobs for people in all parts of Wales.

Under Labour, Wales can do it. Under Labour, Wales is doing it.

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