Job Creation: Wales

Announcements made over the past month demonstrate that our industrial strategy is working. In November alone, the Government announced investments to create more than 11,000 jobs in Wales, and just this week, the Wales investment summit showcased investments totalling £16 billion, which are expected to bring tens of thousands of jobs to Wales.

Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr is home to the largest one-day livestock market in Europe, just off the Buttington roundabout in Welshpool. Will my right hon. Friend join me in welcoming the 55 jobs that have been created on the roundabout in the last month alone, and would she consider joining me for a milkshake in one of the numerous places in Buttington where we could now obtain one together?

I am very pleased to hear about the new jobs created at Buttington Cross, and I should be delighted to join my hon. Friend for a milkshake—strawberry, please. Our landmark May deal with the European Union included a commitment to a comprehensive sanitary and phytosanitary agreement, which we are now actively negotiating, and which will reduce paperwork, delay and costs for Welsh farmers exporting their animals and produce to the EU. This Government are backing our farmers and food manufacturers.

We have heard about the benefits that small modular reactors can bring to Wales and, indeed, to England. Does the Secretary of State agree that it would be a very good idea if she and I invited Mr John Swinney to come to Dounreay to hear from the workforce how badly they want one up there?

I absolutely do not understand why the SNP Government are not willing to see the creation of jobs and opportunities for people in Scotland because of their ideology around new nuclear.

I call the shadow Secretary of State.

The Office for National Statistics has revealed that a scandalous 1,000 jobs are being lost every single day across the country, meaning that Aston Martin is not immune to this Government’s economic recklessness and could soon be forced to make over 100 job losses because of the poor trade deal that Labour struck with the US. The deal includes absolutely no guarantee that small-volume car makers, like Aston Martin, will get fair access to the 10% tariff rate from 2026, meaning that they could face the imposition of an eye-watering tariff of 27.5% if they are squeezed out of the 100,000 car quota to the US. What will the Secretary of State do? Will she turn up to ensure that iconic Welsh car makers get fair access to US trade?

I have been in discussions with Aston Martin, as have Cabinet colleagues. We are doing everything we can to protect the car industry in this country. One of the biggest problems in the car industry arises from the Conservatives’ botched Brexit deal, for which the hon. Lady and her Government were responsible.