Parliament and Politics: Protest at Valleys Initiative 'failure'

NEIL KINNOCK and Labour MPs gathering at the threatened Taff Merthyr pit in Mid Glamorgan yesterday to protest at the alleged failure of Lord Walker and his Valleys Initiative to replace the jobs lost in earlier mining closures.

Lord Walker has been given the task of co-ordinating the efforts to replace jobs lost in the next wave of pit closures. Ministers believe his initiative was a shining success in winning investment from Japan and other countries.

But the Labour MPs, including Peter Hain and Ron Davies, the shadow Secretary of State for Wales, attacked the initiative as 'superficial, simply repackaging existing aid'. They said it undermined the role of local authorities in regeneration, and argued that the former Secretary of State for Wales had failed to fulfil his promise that the Welsh Valleys Initiative would 'significantly improve the economy and the quality of life'.

(Photograph omitted)