Plaid's finger of blame takes Welsh voters for fools

5.00.00pm GMT Fri 12th Sep 2008

Kirsty Williams AM, Welsh Liberal Democrat spokesperson for the Economy, has responded to Plaid's attempts to distance themselves from the One Wales Government's failure to lift the Welsh economy as outrageously deceptive.

Plaid leader, Ieuan Wyn Jones, has repeatedly spoken out against the Labour Government's action on the wavering economy but has tried to escape the fact that as Deputy First Minister, and indeed Minister for the Economy, he shares responsibility.

Kirsty Williams said: "I am shocked that Plaid is so blatantly and cynically attempting to pull the wool over the eyes of the people of Wales. Yes, Gordon Brown's Government is leading us blindly into difficult economic times but the question is what are Plaid and its One Wales Government doing to invest in business, training and the most vulnerable in Wales to support us through these difficult times? On this front Plaid has been very quiet.

"The most recent Labour Market statistics put Wales' economic inactivity higher than the UK average. Wales has seen a fall in economic activity in the last year of 1.4%, compared to increases in the rest of the Union. How can The Welsh Minister blame Westminster for this?

"Not only are they part of a Government that is failing the nation, they hold the Ministerial position. This is politics at its worst; this is an obvious and misleading attempt to grab votes from the very people they have failed, despite over a year in power.

"Since becoming Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones has been nothing but complacent about moving Wales' economy forward and he is now trying to talk his way out of his shortfall by pointing the finger of blame elsewhere.The Government has not even began to implement a skills strategy to address the skills shortage, which it has itself recognised as a major contribution to economic inactivity.

"Not only is One Wales OneWales Government putting us behind the rest of the UK they are also pushing us down to the bottom of the EU table, with Eastern European Countries having a higher percentage of growth than Wales and only Romania having a larger decrease than us since last year.

"A skilled and active workforce is essential to the Welsh economy. It is estimated that poorly educated staff are costing the UK economy up to £10 billion a year. We not only need more people in work we also need to upskill our current workforce to seriously compete in the world economy.

"The Plaid - Labour Government must commit to increasing the skills of the workforce and ensuring that Wales is a place to do business - by investing in our infrastructure. The One Wales Government and Plaid may indeed not be solely responsible for the Welsh economy but they certainly have the ability to make an impact and by blaming Gordon Brown's Government fully for failing Welsh citizens they are either admitting their own failure to set an effective Welsh Agenda or showing a worrying lack of understanding of the economy."