Mark Isherwood
North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has challenged the First Minister this week over lost inward investment opportunities for North Wales.
Mr Isherwood has been contacted by several investors who decided not to proceed following engagement with the Welsh Government.
One manufacturer told Mr Isherwood last summer that he had been totally disillusioned by the performance of the Welsh Government, having suffered both heavy costs in terms of time, money and loss of revenue, whilst another email received by Mr Isherwood stated:
“We approached the Welsh Government to alert them that the opportunity to establish the technology in Wales (Where the project began) could be lost to other interested parties. Unfortunately the response was not as positive or as swift as we had expected. In recent weeks the opportunity has been lost to Wales.”
Questioning the First Minister on the matter in the Assembly Chamber, Mr Isherwood said:
“Given that the latest gross value added figures show that Wales remains at the bottom among the 12 UK nations and regions in terms of wealth creation and the value of goods and services produced, and given the figures that show that the Welsh Government was only involved in five new companies that came to Wales last year, how do you respond to the several lost inward investors into north Wales who have written to me saying that, following engagement with the Welsh Government, they have taken the decision not to proceed?”
The First Minister replied:
“I have no idea who they are. Unless you are prepared to name them, I cannot answer your question. You will see from the inward investment figures – a 191% increase – what effect we, as a Welsh Government, have had on bringing investment into Wales.”
Mr Isherwood added:
“The First Minister’s response would be laughable if it wasn’t so serious. The particular case I referred to resulted in the loss of 126 jobs in North Wales and he knows full well that we must comply with commercial confidentiality when referring to these cases publicly, however his Government already has full details.
“The proof of the pudding is in the eating and when he takes the credit for a 191% increase in inward investment into Wales, he fails to say that this increase was from a base of just 23 projects, the lowest amongst the four UK nations, or that this involved just five new companies coming to Wales with Welsh Government involvement.”
