16:38 Nick Ainger (Carmarthen, West and South Pembrokeshire) (Lab)

I want to make a general point about the engineering and construction industry. I declare an interest: I am a member of Unite and my constituency receives support from the Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians. We have a huge opportunity, particularly in Wales, but throughout the UK as well, in the engineering and construction industry, with the decarbonisation of power generation over the next 10 or 20 years. People are talking about £20 billion—at least—in investment in new gas-fired power stations; in new coal-fired stations with carbon capture and storage; in nuclear power, such as that produced at Wylfa; in a massive increase in offshore wind and tidal energy; and even in the Severn barrage, if that comes off. There are massive opportunities that the engineering and construction industry should be able to benefit from and which should increase our work force.

However, I want to emphasise again how we come out of the recession and how we can build and develop on the basis that exists now, and move into sustainable recovery. Part of that will involve decarbonisation of power generation. There are huge investments to be made, and Wales can benefit hugely from those. RWE is the main developer for the massive wind farm on the Bristol channel. We have seen Wylfa being replaced, as well as the gas-fired power station in my constituency, and there is a new power station in that of my hon. Friend the Member for Newport, East (Jessica Morden). There is a range of opportunities for various forms of tidal power. That is the way to grow out of the recession; that is the way to recovery. I fear that the alternative posed by the Conservatives could see my constituency returning to the position that it was in during the early 1990s.

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17:02 Mark Williams (Ceredigion) (LD)

In the wake of the emergence of IBERS—the merger of IGER with Aberystwyth university, with significant funding from the Welsh Assembly Government, which has been greatly welcomed—we faced early concerns about the high expectations of the university’s capacity to compete in the global environment. I am sure that the university has the potential, the hope and the experience to compete from a global perspective, but there are great concerns among the work force. IBERS has chosen to focus its core research on the necessary areas of climate change, biofuels and food security—a narrowing of its research. They are major issues now and they will be major issues in the foreseeable future, but my concern is that we will lose the broad research base and that the new focus could be too prescriptive. I have no doubt that the expertise at IBERS will ensure that it remains competitive in the global market, but I worry that the agenda of the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, in pursuing a narrow set of objectives for universities, will expose further education and research to many commercial pressures.

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17:13 Albert Owen (Ynys Môn) (Lab)

I want to say something about the green economy and green tourism. My hon. Friend the Member for Carmarthen, West and South Pembrokeshire talked about decarbonisation, and I think that Wales has an excellent opportunity to pioneer the process. That would bring quality jobs to Wales, and to my constituency in particular.

Green energy has fantastic potential for the future. The low-carbon future will be good for the economy, the environment, and the energy security of our country. As other hon. Members have said, over previous decades we have been too reliant on the dash for gas, and we have not invested as much as we should have in other areas. That is changing, however. Since entering the House, I have been involved in the scrutiny of a number of energy Bills, and we have put in place mechanisms for growing both renewable and nuclear energy in the future. I believe in a rich, diverse energy mix that includes renewable energy, nuclear energy and clean coal, as well as energy efficiency measures.

I do not want to talk Wales down; I want to talk Wales up. It has a skills base; it has pioneered in many areas in the past, and it can pioneer in the future. I think that green energy and green tourism are two areas in which Wales can take the lead, and I want Anglesey to be central to that in the future. We need to invest a little more in that, and I hope that the Assembly and local government, as well as this House, can look at the green technologies and green economy and make them central.

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