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EDWINA – THE CHAMPION OF THE VALLEYS
As the AM for a constituency which includes the Lliw Valley I have the interests of valley communities very much at heart. Economic progress in the South Wales valleys has always been one of the most difficult challenges facing successive governments. But I feel that the Welsh Assembly Government, of which I have been a member since 1999, has always tackled the inherent problems with vigour and imagination.
When I decided to stand for the leadership of the Welsh Labour Party I received the enthusiastic backing of leading valley politicians such as former Welsh Secretary Paul Murphy, Kim Howells, Don Touhig, Martin Caton, Jeff Cuthbert and Christine Chapman.
I was particularly delighted when Tyrone O’Sullivan of Tower Colliery, a working class legend in his own lifetime, threw his support behind me in such a supportive way. He and I talk the same language when it comes to social partnership and the creation of jobs. He wants Wales to be led by somebody who understands the way co-operation between workers, managers and local communities can win victories for the Welsh people in the way that he scored a victory at Tower Colliery.
I belong to a cabinet which has in fact scored many victories in Valley communities, but as First Minister I would take on the role of Champion of the Valleys, ensuring .
that we continue to do everything we can to restore economic prosperity to the Valleys.
As you would expect, as Health Minister I am particularly proud of the way new hospitals are now being built at Ebbw Vale and Ystrad Fawr in Caerphilly County, with further hospitals in the pipeline for Mountain Ash and Llwynypia. The valleys will also benefit from capital funding at the Prince Charles Hospital Emergency Care Unit at Merthyr Tydfil (£8.5m) and the Children’s Hospital for Wales in Cardiff (£8M).
As a Cabinet Minister I am also proud of other valleys initiatives we've brought forward. Last week we heard that Education Minister Jane Hutt is launching a new £34m project to improve skills in West Wales and the Valleys at NVQ4 level and above. Help for Corus under the Proact retraining scheme amounting to £1.3m will benefit many smaller companies in the valleys who supply Corus. We also recently announced an affordable housing and housing support package which will help the valleys, and I want to develop ideas which will enable local authorities to do much more than they can at the moment to build and improve social housing.We are planning a low carbon region in the Heads of the Valleys
We have made huge investments in the valleys through programmes such as the Heads of the Valleys programme; the Ebbw Vale investments following the closure of the Corus steelworks; the Porth relief road; the Ebbw Vale to Cardiff railway line, and the valleys lines in general.We are going ahead with the pre-construction stage of dualing of the A465 between Tredegar and Brynmawr and an education and community campus in Blaenavon.
But we mustn’t be complacent. Over the next 18 months I believe the most urgent task of social reconstruction will be to provide new positive experiences for those young people in the valleys and in other parts of Wales who have been left without work, training or a place in education. Wales cannot afford a second ‘lost generation’.
Much of what we want to achieve through our social policies depends on how we manage the future of the Welsh economy. That’s why it is so important to get it right, and if I become First Minister I will do everything in my power through the public sector, the private sector and voluntary bodies alike to provide new and exciting opportunities for the people of our valleys, young and old alike. That’s why I intend to become the Champion of the Valleys.
4 November 2009
