Labour’s latest mismanagement of the economy has cost Wales some 7,000 jobs and billions of pounds in investment, the Welsh Conservatives have said.
First Minister Mark Drakeford was grilled in the Senedd today (Feb 15) over the project to create a Britishvolt gigafactory in the Vale of Glamorgan, which collapsed on Labour’s watch.
The battery cell gigafactory, originally earmarked for St Athan, would’ve created around 7,000 jobs and seen billions of pounds in investment.
However, Britishvolt has now secured financial backing and opened the gigafactory in Northumberland – a huge loss to the Welsh economy.
Welsh Conservative leader, Andrew RT Davies MS, quizzed Mark Drakeford over the failed Britishvolt project during today’s First Minister’s Questions.
He told Drakeford the scheme had “slipped through your fingers” and called on him to reveal what went wrong with the project.
Drakeford took no responsibility for the project’s collapse, insisting Britishvolt decided it would invest somewhere else rather than St Athan.
Davies also called on the First Minister to publish the conclusions of a report into how the Britishvolt project was handled, which is being carried out by Chris Sutton, a leading adviser in the Welsh industrial property sector. Drakeford said he would make sure it is “properly reported to other Senedd members.”
Speaking after the exchange, Andrew RT Davies MS, who is also the MS for South Wales Central, said:
“Britishvolt opening a gigafactory in Wales would’ve been a real shot in the arm for our economy with 7,000 jobs created and billions of pounds in investment.
“But sadly, Labour let this major deal fall through with some insiders saying the scheme was ‘never a top priority’ for the government in Cardiff Bay.
“Thanks to Labour’s mismanagement, Wales has lost out on high quality, well-paid and environmentally friendly jobs – something they should be working tirelessly to attract.
“Two decades of Labour running the economy in Wales was quite accurately summed by a member of the Labour government who said ‘we don’t really know what we’re doing on the economy.’ They simply can’t be trusted with the Welsh economy.”
