:00:00. > :00:14.Tonight. We are at Westminster for a special programme on the budget. We
:00:15. > :00:24.will be looking at the Chancellor's measures and considering what they
:00:25. > :00:35.mean for the people of Wales. Stay with us on The Wales Report.
:00:36. > :00:45.We are at Westminster on a busy bars -- budget day. Tonight we have the
:00:46. > :00:57.Wales Office minister and a Conservative MP, we have the shadow
:00:58. > :01:03.secretary for Wales and a Lib Dem MP as well as the leader of Plaid
:01:04. > :01:09.Cymru. It has been a long day so thank you for coming in. What has
:01:10. > :01:14.today done for Wales? This budget was never about as silly giveaway
:01:15. > :01:17.budget, it is solid measures that are good for the United Kingdom and
:01:18. > :01:21.builds on the progress the government have made and ensures the
:01:22. > :01:27.recovery continues to spread throughout the United Kingdom. In
:01:28. > :01:32.Wales practical help for industry and help for savers. In Wales are
:01:33. > :01:37.greater proportion of pensioners and retired people than anywhere else in
:01:38. > :01:43.the country. Taking more people out of paying in punk -- income tax and
:01:44. > :01:48.showing that hard work can pay. That is something you would applaud,
:01:49. > :01:52.isn't it? Lots of measures we would applaud but I do not think it has
:01:53. > :01:57.overall done much for Wales. It has not dealt with the crisis people are
:01:58. > :02:01.facing in Britain and in Wales in particular because of the gap
:02:02. > :02:05.between prices and earnings. There is a cost of living crisis that
:02:06. > :02:09.means ordinary people in every street in Wales are finding it
:02:10. > :02:14.harder to pay for basic bills and this budget did nothing of
:02:15. > :02:20.consequence for those people. Would you give it any credit? I would give
:02:21. > :02:26.it some credit. The amount of capital investment was very good but
:02:27. > :02:30.the biggest mistake in my view is that there is hardly anything for
:02:31. > :02:34.the SME sector which accounts for 90% of the employment in Wales. We
:02:35. > :02:41.should target that sector and it should be so # targeted from here.
:02:42. > :02:44.If the Prime Minister is serious about rolling out the improvements
:02:45. > :02:50.in the UK then he should have targeted that sector. There is talk
:02:51. > :02:53.about energy which is welcome but there was nothing else for that
:02:54. > :03:01.sector and therefore not a great deal for Wales. People are not going
:03:02. > :03:06.to feel very much better off. Where is the Lib Dem stake in this
:03:07. > :03:10.budget? The main thing that Liberal Democrats have been pushing is to
:03:11. > :03:15.raise the personal allowance, the tax threshold, and take people out
:03:16. > :03:19.of paying income tax. It makes a significant difference to people. It
:03:20. > :03:27.means that everyone who is paying the basic rate of tax will be saving
:03:28. > :03:29.?800. They will have ?800 more in their pocket more than they would
:03:30. > :03:38.have done at the beginning of this Parliament than they would have had.
:03:39. > :03:44.That makes a big difference. There is a lot of work in the Department
:03:45. > :03:54.for the to support the SME sector. They are such an fundamental part of
:03:55. > :03:59.the financial world and Wales could be doing far more. We have fantastic
:04:00. > :04:03.small businesses that could benefit from exporting services and goods
:04:04. > :04:07.that they produce. The government is doing a lot to help that and
:04:08. > :04:12.encourage that at because it is a way to rebuild the economy. We have
:04:13. > :04:19.got a thought from all of you, headline thought from all of you. I
:04:20. > :04:23.wanted to set it in context. We have asked an economist from South Wales
:04:24. > :04:26.of the University of South Wales for her take on the challenges facing
:04:27. > :04:36.the Welsh economy and this is what she said.
:04:37. > :04:42.For those in charge of rebuilding the Welsh economy it must sometimes
:04:43. > :04:47.feel as though they are hitting their heads against a brick wall. It
:04:48. > :04:51.is not all doom and gloom. The construction industry is growing
:04:52. > :04:59.which brings vital jobs to the economy. There are more on the
:05:00. > :05:05.horizon. A new nuclear plant is to be built on Anglesey with thousands
:05:06. > :05:09.of jobs promised for local people. These steps are positive but they
:05:10. > :05:15.are not quite enough to overshadow the problems plaguing the Welsh
:05:16. > :05:18.economy. Youth unemployment is falling but it is still very
:05:19. > :05:26.difficult for young people in Wales to get a foot on the career ladder.
:05:27. > :05:30.The measure by which we judge the value of goods and services in an
:05:31. > :05:36.area indicates that we are one of the poorer parts of the UK. Since
:05:37. > :05:41.2011 we have been getting progressively poorer in Wales in
:05:42. > :05:45.relation to the rest of the UK. Although the economy in Wales is
:05:46. > :05:51.growing by 1.6% per year it is still playing catch up with the rest of
:05:52. > :05:56.the country. A tell-tale sign of a weak economy is low productivity
:05:57. > :06:00.which is happening across Wales. Output per worker is lower than in
:06:01. > :06:06.the rest of the UK and businesses are suffering. Recent job losses in
:06:07. > :06:14.manufacturing have hit an already struggling economy. Several
:06:15. > :06:19.companies have already announced that hundreds of jobs are under
:06:20. > :06:24.threat. When there is not alternative and women for those who
:06:25. > :06:29.lose their jobs, more people end up claiming benefit. What about the
:06:30. > :06:33.public sector? There is bad news there as well. Councils across Wales
:06:34. > :06:40.are having their budgets slashed and jobs are being axed. Other
:06:41. > :06:47.organisations are not immune to the cuts and purse strings are likely to
:06:48. > :06:51.be tightened until 2018. Mother nature is not helping. Recent floods
:06:52. > :06:55.in Aberystwyth will have hit leisure and tourism and the muddy knees --
:06:56. > :07:00.and the money needed to fix things and it sure does not happen again is
:07:01. > :07:06.in short supply. Where do we go from here? To get Wales back on track we
:07:07. > :07:10.need more set -- more health -- more help for small businesses and
:07:11. > :07:13.measures to increase consumer confidence. That should stimulate
:07:14. > :07:24.the economy and put Wales back on track. The views there of an
:07:25. > :07:28.economist from the University of South Wales. A lot of encouraging
:07:29. > :07:33.signs and a lot of work to be done. There was a line in there, almost
:07:34. > :07:38.missed it, to do with projected spending cuts. It is a very
:07:39. > :07:42.difficult context. I looked at a figure early and half of the
:07:43. > :07:46.projected cuts have not come into affect yet. What will that do,
:07:47. > :07:52.especially in an area where they have been playing catch up anyway?
:07:53. > :07:57.The impact on Matt on growth levels is going to be pretty big we think,
:07:58. > :08:01.isn't it? What are you doing as the government to cushion the blow their
:08:02. > :08:05.in these Welsh areas, are you doing anything? It is absolutely the case
:08:06. > :08:09.that there are further spending cuts. Whichever party is in
:08:10. > :08:13.government after 2015 there will be fiscal restraint and everybody knows
:08:14. > :08:17.that and hopefully everyone is being honest about that. The arguments
:08:18. > :08:25.that public spending cuts will diminish growth in Wales, we have
:08:26. > :08:28.been hearing that for years. The Labour Party said you cannot have
:08:29. > :08:30.responsible lending in Wales because the private sector is not strong
:08:31. > :08:35.enough to create the jobs to replace the lost jobs in the public sector.
:08:36. > :08:40.That has been proved absolutely incorrect. The Welsh private sector
:08:41. > :08:44.has provided 100,000 jobs since 2010 more than replacing jobs lost in the
:08:45. > :08:48.public sector. As a result jobs growth in Wales is leading the
:08:49. > :08:52.country. The unemployment rate in Wales is less than the UK average
:08:53. > :08:57.and the growth is faster than in London and other parts of the United
:08:58. > :09:01.Kingdom. There is still a long way to go in overcoming the deep-seated
:09:02. > :09:04.structural problems in the Welsh economy but a feature of this
:09:05. > :09:08.economy that we did not see previously is that Wales is not
:09:09. > :09:16.being left behind and it is being included in the economic recovery.
:09:17. > :09:20.The government made the wrong choices in 2010 when they decided to
:09:21. > :09:23.impose austerity on the wider British economy and a drawdown
:09:24. > :09:32.public spending at the very point that private spending had ceased. In
:09:33. > :09:36.Germany and France and America, economies that have grown
:09:37. > :09:40.significantly faster than ours and remake the ground they lost you to
:09:41. > :09:44.the banking crisis, in contrast to those economies we had three years
:09:45. > :09:48.of no growth. We are now seeing some growth which is to be welcomed and
:09:49. > :09:53.encouraged and we are seeing jobs growth but the truth is that those
:09:54. > :09:59.jobs are, lots of them, part-time and many of them are zero hours and
:10:00. > :10:04.that explains the point about reducing productivity. We have got
:10:05. > :10:08.more people in work but less hours and less security and the jobs are
:10:09. > :10:11.poorer. We need a fundamental change. We need things like job
:10:12. > :10:16.guarantees that will try and give people a greater sense of security.
:10:17. > :10:19.We had that in the last Labour government and we have got it in
:10:20. > :10:25.Wales which is why we are seeing some growth in youth jobs in
:10:26. > :10:31.particular. There is a really big impact with this Labour government
:10:32. > :10:36.and hope -- with this Welsh government and hopefully a new
:10:37. > :10:40.Labour government will make that further. You question the assertion
:10:41. > :10:45.about the quality of these jobs, that that is something we need to
:10:46. > :10:48.improve? At the beginning it was certainly the case that when jobs
:10:49. > :10:51.were being created a couple of years ago a lot of people were finding
:10:52. > :10:55.they could not get the hours they wanted and so on and there were more
:10:56. > :11:00.part-time jobs being created that that is now not the case. Over the
:11:01. > :11:04.last quarter almost all of the new jobs that were created were
:11:05. > :11:15.full-time jobs. There has been a huge increase in the number of both
:11:16. > :11:17.men and women finding full-time permanent jobs. It has really
:11:18. > :11:26.started to shift around and the figures are very positive in terms
:11:27. > :11:30.of job creation. 30% of jobs are not full-time. Not everyone wants to
:11:31. > :11:35.work full-time. The jobs created in the last quarter were virtually all
:11:36. > :11:39.full-time. People are finding that they can take more hours than they
:11:40. > :11:43.were originally being able to get. The other thing that is really
:11:44. > :11:47.important to bear in mind is the investment the government has put
:11:48. > :11:50.into apprenticeships which has made an enormous difference to the
:11:51. > :11:55.prospects of a lot of young people. There have been over one quarter of
:11:56. > :11:59.a million new apprenticeships created and the government in the
:12:00. > :12:02.budget today has announced they will extend the grant that goes to
:12:03. > :12:06.employers to encourage them to take on young people I give them
:12:07. > :12:09.apprenticeships and that is an enormous success story of this
:12:10. > :12:13.government that is really making a difference. By putting in resources
:12:14. > :12:18.to encourage employers to take on young people we cannot just
:12:19. > :12:22.guarantee temporary jobs but instead actually create permanent employment
:12:23. > :12:25.opportunities for people and upscale the young people who do not have the
:12:26. > :12:31.skills they need to get into permanent and successful work. What
:12:32. > :12:36.are your concerns about the quality of the jobs on offer? What kind of
:12:37. > :12:40.jobs are being created in your area? Low wage jobs unfortunately
:12:41. > :12:45.Matt is one of the biggest problems we have in Wales, to raise the game.
:12:46. > :12:50.We need to be thinking about a living wage. If you look at the
:12:51. > :12:54.statistics for the Conwy Valley, they are amongst the lowest in the
:12:55. > :12:59.whole of the UK. There are parts of London where people are 13 times
:13:00. > :13:16.more wealthy than the average person here. We need to even rent, let
:13:17. > :13:19.alone think about purchasing a property and so on. It is a dire
:13:20. > :13:22.situation. It may be that we are creating jobs right now but they are
:13:23. > :13:24.low wage jobs and there is not a great deal of celebration going on
:13:25. > :13:27.in the streets of Wales. I do not say it with any degree of pride. I
:13:28. > :13:33.want to see us doing well as well but there is a long way to go.
:13:34. > :13:38.It is true there is a long way to go but if you look at the data in the
:13:39. > :13:41.last 12 months average wages are growing above the rate of inflation
:13:42. > :13:46.and we are seeing some of the strongest growth in the UK, albeit
:13:47. > :13:49.from a low base. To be fair from you, that is right, it is from a low
:13:50. > :13:54.base. There was a lot of work to do yet
:13:55. > :13:58.and if the trend continues we may not be saying this in two years
:13:59. > :14:08.time. There are really positive things in the labour market in Wales
:14:09. > :14:11.and the economy in Wales and we want to foster and encourage that.
:14:12. > :14:14.The Labour Party seem to be in denial that the good things are
:14:15. > :14:19.happening. They are three years too late. My constituency offices
:14:20. > :14:25.opposite a hall where only 18 months ago the best part of 800 people
:14:26. > :14:32.queued for 200 jobs in a local supermarket. 2500 people applied for
:14:33. > :14:37.jobs that are 16 hours a week, effectively zero-hours contracts,
:14:38. > :14:41.low-wage, low paid. Often graduates and people who are returning to work
:14:42. > :14:46.are forced into these jobs. People are holding down two or three jobs
:14:47. > :14:50.and trying to make ends meet. We have the highest energy costs in
:14:51. > :15:02.Wales and the lowest job security. We have the greatest problem in
:15:03. > :15:04.terms of reduction in wages. Neither of the government ministers here
:15:05. > :15:07.today can contradict the fact that at the end of your period in office
:15:08. > :15:11.people will be in this country and Wales worst off than they were at
:15:12. > :15:20.the beginning of the Parliament. How do you define it in Welsh terms?
:15:21. > :15:25.Both the IFS and OBR have said for the first time since records began,
:15:26. > :15:28.since 1870s, we will have a parliament, at the end of it, on
:15:29. > :15:31.average people will be worse off than they were at the beginning of
:15:32. > :15:34.it. The truth, is unfortunately things like the personal allowance,
:15:35. > :15:38.which is a good thing, that people are being taken out of tax, nobody
:15:39. > :15:44.would deny that. The they are more than offset by the other changes
:15:45. > :15:47.that your Government introduced, VAT changes, changes to benefits,
:15:48. > :15:54.changes that have hit Wales harder because we have an older, sicker,
:15:55. > :15:58.less - population that is less easily placed into work. That is the
:15:59. > :16:04.truth of Wales. We need meaningful change. We are not seeing it from
:16:05. > :16:08.this Government. Let's pause for a second. You mentioned London, of
:16:09. > :16:13.course, the overwhelming power of the London regional economy, if you
:16:14. > :16:16.like, is often cited in a less than positive way when it comes to the
:16:17. > :16:19.nations and regions of the rest of the UK. David Smith, the economics
:16:20. > :16:22.editor of the Sunday Timeses believes Wales could boost its
:16:23. > :16:28.fortunes by learning lessons from London. This is what he had to say.
:16:29. > :16:44.-- Times. # London calling... #
:16:45. > :16:49.Canary Wharf. This is one of the most successful, perhaps the most
:16:50. > :16:50.economically successful parts of Europe, even in the wake of a
:16:51. > :17:06.financial crisis. Just a few decades ago, this area
:17:07. > :17:10.was in decline. The docks had mostly been closed and this was a
:17:11. > :17:15.wasteland. It was popular with film directors looking for images of
:17:16. > :17:20.urban decay, but not much else. Like Cardiff Bay it was reclaimed from a
:17:21. > :17:25.defining industrial and commercial past. When the docks were in
:17:26. > :17:28.decline, so was London. It's populations fell in the 1970s
:17:29. > :17:32.because people wanted to move out. This was a time when big cities were
:17:33. > :17:37.in trouble. New York technically went bankrupt. London made a
:17:38. > :17:42.comeback, the question is, what Wales can learn from it? For
:17:43. > :17:48.centuries the Welsh have come to London to make their fortunes in
:17:49. > :17:52.commerce, manufacturing, retailing and the city. Mostly, however, they
:17:53. > :17:57.left behind a country that had its own powerful role in the British
:17:58. > :18:03.economy. Even half a century ago, there was little doubt about the
:18:04. > :18:07.prosperity of Wales. Gross domestic product per head stood than more
:18:08. > :18:12.than 95% of the national average. It was only 10% or so below London and
:18:13. > :18:17.the south-east. There was gold in the Welsh hills.
:18:18. > :18:25.Now, the picture is very different. The London economy is nearly seven
:18:26. > :18:30.times the size of the Welsh economy. London has a bigger population of
:18:31. > :18:33.course, but that doesn't explain it. London's population is
:18:34. > :18:38.two-and-a-half times that of Wales, not seven times. The result, Welsh
:18:39. > :18:46.income per head is now the lowest in the UK. That's enough depressing
:18:47. > :18:51.statistics. What can Wales learn from London? What can it do to stop
:18:52. > :18:56.the brain drain from Wales to London and its hinterland? The solution
:18:57. > :18:59.does not lie in more Government spending. Wales and some other parts
:19:00. > :19:04.of the UK are suffering for having built up too large a public sector
:19:05. > :19:16.in the past. To me, the solution lies with what Iowa call "the three
:19:17. > :19:19.is 's." More investment by new existing and growing businesses to
:19:20. > :19:25.help create the wealth and jobs that will restore some of its pass
:19:26. > :19:29.prosperity. To get more investment, you need more businesses. Wales has
:19:30. > :19:34.the lowest number of active businesses per head of population in
:19:35. > :19:38.the UK. Unless you successfully create and renew the number of
:19:39. > :19:43.enterprises, starting with the very small, Wales will suffer. The second
:19:44. > :19:48.i is invasion. It is no use having lots of new businesses unless they
:19:49. > :19:51.do something special. What a successful business sector means is
:19:52. > :19:58.not just start-ups, but businesses that last. The London economy is not
:19:59. > :20:02.perfect, but it works because it has clusters of successful businesses
:20:03. > :20:06.feeding off each other and innovating, creating new and
:20:07. > :20:12.exciting ways of doing things. Wales needs some of that. The third i is
:20:13. > :20:16.infrastructure. One of the keys to attracting more inward investment.
:20:17. > :20:21.Wales needs better transport links and it needs them now. We should not
:20:22. > :20:26.be too down hearted. It is possible to stage a comeback and London
:20:27. > :20:32.proves that. Nobody pretends it will be easy.
:20:33. > :20:42.Some pointers, if you like, from David Smith the Economics editor of
:20:43. > :20:44.the Sunday Times. I will pick up o the infrastructure. Today the
:20:45. > :20:48.Chancellor in the Budget statement mentioned the M4. Mentioned the fact
:20:49. > :20:52.there was money there for the Welsh Government to be using to improve
:20:53. > :20:57.that very important bit of Welsh infrastructure. Why is that proving
:20:58. > :21:01.so slow? Well for 13 years under the previous Labour government nothing
:21:02. > :21:05.happened to improve that section of the M4. Everybody knows that portion
:21:06. > :21:08.of the M4 is the single most important piece of transport struck
:21:09. > :21:13.for the Welsh economy. We are getting it moving. Powers to Welsh
:21:14. > :21:17.Government to borrow and start making the investment. Are they
:21:18. > :21:23.taking advantage of the powers? They are. One of my roles is to meet with
:21:24. > :21:26.Welsh ministers in Cardiff. I'm encouraged. They want to get
:21:27. > :21:31.cracking with this important project. It's a vital project for
:21:32. > :21:34.the Welsh economy generally. David's point about investment and
:21:35. > :21:38.infrastructure is critical. It's not just about roads, the unprecedented
:21:39. > :21:45.level we are putting into railways, not just across the UK with HS2 and
:21:46. > :21:49.Crossrail projects which will link Canary Wharf with Cardiff. Two hours
:21:50. > :21:54.of travelling. Extending that rail infrastructure investment to Wales
:21:55. > :22:01.as well. Before I come to Jenny and talk about the M4 line today, which
:22:02. > :22:04.is interesting. When you look at the ambition for the infrastructure in
:22:05. > :22:08.Wales. Does it depress you that we are talking about a bit of the M4 in
:22:09. > :22:12.the south-east. We are not looking at much more ambitious schemes to
:22:13. > :22:16.link north and south rather than looking east to west. Our train
:22:17. > :22:21.structure is something we need to look at too. The amount of money
:22:22. > :22:24.needed is astronomical, there is no sign of us being able to spend that
:22:25. > :22:28.money. What does that mean in terms of our ability to expand the economy
:22:29. > :22:33.in the next, let us say the next 10 years? Partly, it's the fault of
:22:34. > :22:38.various governments who have been far too London sent Rick. I tell you
:22:39. > :22:41.why London improved, there was a concentration on London and the
:22:42. > :22:44.south-east. Good luck to them, you might say, I would say that as well.
:22:45. > :22:50.To roll out any form of assistance to the rest of the UK you need to
:22:51. > :22:57.look in a very constructive way, the Barnett Formula goes under funding,
:22:58. > :23:01.it is still going on, that would have dealt with the infrastructure,
:23:02. > :23:05.in my view. We can do it, we have ambitious people in Wales. People
:23:06. > :23:09.who are able to, who are entrepreneurs who can do a job. I
:23:10. > :23:12.just fear for the way we are looking at these things. We have this
:23:13. > :23:16.begging bowl mentality at this moment in time. Where we just hoping
:23:17. > :23:20.for some crumbs to come our way from London. With those crumbs somehow we
:23:21. > :23:24.will build up the infrastructure. Currently, under this current
:23:25. > :23:30.system, it ain't going to happen, I'm afraid, whoever is in power in
:23:31. > :23:34.Cardiff, it seems to me. The M4, Jenny, how soon should that work
:23:35. > :23:38.start, how soon should we see results in terms of solving what, in
:23:39. > :23:42.many parts of the UK, would be seen to be just one more transport
:23:43. > :23:46.problem? In Welsh terms it has been a major problem to get around. How
:23:47. > :23:50.soon can people see results there? Well, we need to get the project
:23:51. > :23:58.right to make sure that we are doinglet right thing with the money.
:23:59. > :24:01.-- right thing with the money. Also electrify education of the rail line
:24:02. > :24:04.from south Wales to London, that will be really important. It has to
:24:05. > :24:11.be able to drive investment in our region, in the south. Clearly HS2
:24:12. > :24:17.will benefit North Wales as well - It will not benefit. We would like
:24:18. > :24:21.to electrify the North Wales line. HS2 will be a waste of time and
:24:22. > :24:26.money for Wales. I think it will drive investment into the North as
:24:27. > :24:30.well. I think that Lek arify case of the line from Cardiff through to
:24:31. > :24:34.Swansea and the Valleys lines will make us an attractive prospect in
:24:35. > :24:37.south Wales to bring investment in. We have the people. We have the
:24:38. > :24:41.universities, we have the able to develop skills am we have small
:24:42. > :24:44.businesses and fantastic resources in south Wales that if we can make
:24:45. > :24:48.those connections much more effectively we can really build the
:24:49. > :24:50.economy. Owen, how soon do you want the Welsh Government, your
:24:51. > :24:55.colleagues in the Welsh Government to be getting on with that M4 work?
:24:56. > :25:01.As soon as they can. They could be getting on with preparation for it.
:25:02. > :25:04.They have done. They have published potential routes. The key thing is
:25:05. > :25:09.not blow out of proportion the importance of M4 redevelopment
:25:10. > :25:14.verses everything else. What you saw in that fillsome the reality of deep
:25:15. > :25:19.seated problems in the Welsh economy, the analogy of London is
:25:20. > :25:22.imperfect, London has always pushed out of every recession. London is
:25:23. > :25:26.enormously important, global financial centre. Wales isn't going
:25:27. > :25:31.to become that. However, we can learn if you do invest. The one
:25:32. > :25:36.thing that did, you know, jar with me was David's suggestion it isn't
:25:37. > :25:40.about state spending, it isn't about public spending. Lots of the reality
:25:41. > :25:45.of the underpinning structures, Crossrail, and lots of other things,
:25:46. > :25:49.state funding is required. The M4 development is ultimately state
:25:50. > :25:53.funding. His point was more to do - Partnership is what we need. Over
:25:54. > :25:57.dependance on the public sector was the point he was making? The point
:25:58. > :25:59.he was making invasion was required. That is absolutely right. The
:26:00. > :26:03.suggestion was that investment needs to be drawn in. The crucial thing
:26:04. > :26:07.that I think we understand in Labour, the current government
:26:08. > :26:11.doesn't get, you need a partnership between public and private, both in
:26:12. > :26:14.terms of individual firm sectors and crucially the investment in the
:26:15. > :26:18.underpinning strengths of the economy and infrastructure is part
:26:19. > :26:23.of that. That's why I think it's positive that we are seeing - Over
:26:24. > :26:28.the next five years you will see the M4, that section built, you will see
:26:29. > :26:32.the rail infrastructure investment. Lek arify case, you can do the
:26:33. > :26:36.things at the same time. Where I disagree with David's video piece,
:26:37. > :26:43.there is a suggestion that we don't have the dynamic businesses hubs in
:26:44. > :26:48.Wales that London has. We need to enhance them. We need
:26:49. > :26:51.private-sector-led organisation, assisting businesses to make the
:26:52. > :26:55.most of whatever funding there is. To mentor them and get them through.
:26:56. > :26:58.We have been arguing it for a long time. I think the time has come if
:26:59. > :27:07.we are going to make a difference to Wales. There is a fantastic Airbus
:27:08. > :27:10.and hi-tech developments going on. The challenge is to spread is it out
:27:11. > :27:14.into more rural parts of Wales and put in the that infrastructure to
:27:15. > :27:18.get people in constituency like Owens, who are unemployed to get
:27:19. > :27:30.them to places where jobs are being created. When I feel sick in nigh
:27:31. > :27:35.stomach to see that Wales is being held up as a negative example. He is
:27:36. > :27:42.doing it because public services in Wales are failing under the Labour
:27:43. > :27:46.government. He is doing it because as conceded in the papers last week
:27:47. > :27:52.you are targeting Wales to smear Labour. Politicalcle strategy. One
:27:53. > :28:00.of the routes why Wales lacks behind is the fundamentally lack of
:28:01. > :28:03.ambition. The lack of ambition is a you pokerful one which will be
:28:04. > :28:06.controversial. A last word to Jenny. We are nearly out of time. In a
:28:07. > :28:11.sentence today as Lib Dems what did you not get in the Budget you would
:28:12. > :28:15.have liked? I'm pleased. Our main property was to make sure that
:28:16. > :28:18.hard-working people got more of their tax in their pockets. They
:28:19. > :28:24.have more money to spend in their communities and we achieved that.
:28:25. > :28:28.Jenny, Owen and Steven and Elvin, good to see you both. Good to see
:28:29. > :28:35.you all. Thank you for coming in on Budget Day. That is all we have time
:28:36. > :28:38.for tonight. My thanks to my guest guest today. We will be back next
:28:39. > :28:43.week in our usual home and at the usual time. In the meantime you can
:28:44. > :28:51.get in touch via our email address: We are on Twitter too: From
:28:52. > :28:58.Westminster on Budget Day, thanks for watching. Good night.