Amongst all the gloom and doom, it was very heartening last week to have the announcement from the Labour-led Welsh Assembly Government of £7.5 million funding for Llanelli Town Centre.
This funding will bring the total investment in the town centre to an estimated £60million over the next few years, including the money from the Assembly, the County Council, the European Union and private investment that is to be spent on the East Gate development, the library refurbishment, the theatre project and Llanelly House.
This latest announcement shows what a difference a strong Labour Assembly can make, both with large-scale investment like this, and with other practical measures like the small business rate relief, in spite of the Tory- LibDem Government in Westminster. But my real fear is that the Tories and LibDems have no proper plans for economic growth and new jobs. That means that the threat of widespread job losses, a hike in VAT to 20% and various stealth cuts that will leave people with less money to spend, will have a severe effect on consumer confidence. This in turn could leave our town centre businesses struggling to make ends meet. I will be lobbying the government hard to develop a proper growth strategy to encourage investment in industry and jobs, especially in new technologies, including green technologies to ensure that UK manufacturing succeeds in the future. Then, the economy will pick up, and people will have money to spend in our town centre.