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TOTALLY CONFUSING AND TOTALLY CLUELESS

On one of my favourite blogs, Mike Smithson of 'political betting' posed the question whether "officially moving out of recession would turn the tide for Labour".

Unfortunately for Labour and for the UK as a whole, our economy contracted by 0.4% between July and September and it is the first time UK gross domestic product (GDP) has contracted for six consecutive quarters, since quarterly figures were first recorded in 1955.

And what is the Assembly Government doing?

Well apart from the usual mantra about how ProAct is saving the Welsh economy, it would seem that there is total confusion about economic policy in Wales?

For example, when 900 jobs are threatened at Bosch, what does Ieuan Wyn Jones do?

All well and good but if that is the case, why did we then get the statement yesterday that "The First Minister and Deputy First Minister met Bosch senior management today to discuss the way forward. The company was offered support and assistance to come to a decision on potential new business".
Totally confusing and totally clueless.
If I was one of the senior management of Bosch, I wouldn't even bother to meet with this bunch of clowns who can't even agree their policy on how to support business in Wales.

So much for having a Welsh Assembly Government with any strategy at all for getting this nation out of recession. No wonder we have 130,000 people unemployed in this country when we have such people in charge of our economy.
Is it any wonder that the numerous plaid cymru blogs we have in Wales have nothing whatsoever to say about the state of the Welsh economy.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Considering the scale of potential redundancies at Bosch it's entirely reasonable to expect them to "offer support and assistance" just like their (ultimately futile) attempts with Anglesey Aluminium.

Presumably this is discussing what options there are for the plant and its products, nothing mentioned about grants.

I don't think they've contradicted themselves, in this case, to be fair.
October 23, 2009 8:25 pm
Professor Dylan Jones-Evans said…
The only options to keep Bosch here would be to offer them some sort of financial incentive i.e a grant.

I can see no other way of ensuring that the company stays here at this late stage.

The real question is why WAG hasn't been working with large companies such as Bosch to assist them in adding value to their products, thus embedding the company into the Welsh economy.

For some reason, WAG only acts after the strategic decision has been made to close plants by head office hundreds if not thousands of miles away.

I wonder when the last time anyone from WAG actually spoke to any of the senior managers of the top employers in Wales and asked them one simple question "How can we help?"
October 25, 2009 6:17 pm
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