Nick Smith MP has welcomed a new TUC campaign that aims to put good jobs in the communities that need them most.

The Wales TUC has launched a major campaign demanding “Better Jobs, Closer to Home” for valleys communities which it says are caught in a “perfect storm of deindustrialisation, recession and austerity”. 

Alongside launching the campaign with a Better Jobs, Closer to Home shop in Market Street, Ebbw Vale, Wales TUC have presented its detailed case for action to the First Minister Carwyn Jones, Finance Minister Jane Hutt and senior business and industry representatives at the Wales Council for Economic Renewal.

Speaking after the announcement, the Blaenau Gwent MP said it was good to see the leading trade union body recognise that people want good employment on their doorstep.

“I’m glad the TUC have conducted this exercise and it mirrors many of the comments my constituents make about the job market”, he said.

“People are proud of Blaenau Gwent and that means they want to be able to work in the place they call home.

“While I will be continuing to campaign for the best transport links possible between the valleys and the cities, it shows that concentrating jobs south of the M4 has an impact.”

The level of poverty and lack of economic opportunity in the valleys has led the body which speaks for Welsh trade unions to call for a new approach.

Further information about the campaign is available at www.betterjobswales.org