Newport’s Future Will be Powered by Skills

While the heat of summer may now be a fading memory, the conversations I had with businesses across Newport East continue to resonate as Parliament resumes for the autumn term.

From Tata Steel in Llanwern to energy tech firms like Field, semiconductor start-ups, and the many other businesses that make up Newport’s vibrant economic patchwork, it became abundantly clear through conversations with businesses, councillors and Senedd Members over the summer that we are looking at a city ready and eager to embrace its future – a future of quality jobs, tech giants, and new industries.

Earlier this year, I wrote about how Newport is truly at the forefront of the next industrial revolution in technology, advanced manufacturing, and renewables – and those visions are now starting to become a reality.

Already this month I’ve spoken with businesses across the city to hear and understand their future visions and goals for Newport. I look forward to sharing further updates in the not-too-distant future.

In the coming days, I’m looking forward to hearing more from ABP about their evolving transformation plans for Newport Docks, which are already bringing jobs and investment to the city, and I’ll be joining Ampeak Energy for the groundbreaking at Uskmouth, which is set to become one of the largest battery energy storage sites in the UK – transforming an old coal-fired power station into the power station of tomorrow, and yes… creating more jobs for the area.

These are major projects of national and global significance, bringing well-paid, high-quality jobs to Newport.

And we’re already seeing the first signs of how these new industries – and reimagined long-established ones – are improving the lives of workers in and around the city. Sky News recently published data showing that wages in Newport rose by 26.4% between 2021 and 2024 – around 5% higher than the UK average.

After a summer of speaking to businesses right across the economic spectrum in Newport, one of my priorities as I returned to Parliament earlier this month was to ensure that the country’s traditional industries remained at the top of the agenda. After all, plans for data centres and advanced manufacturing sites are exciting, but we need to make sure we can build them.

To make that happen, we must protect steel plants like Llanwern to ensure the UK can continue to produce and finish high-quality steel.

We also need to make it easier for young people to enter skilled trades. Without a workforce and steel it will be impossible to build buildings, homes and develop the infrastructure required.

It’s a message I’ve heard time and again from construction firms and businesses involved in industrial processes: they need more accessible training for young people so that they bring through the next generation of builders, concrete engineers, plant operators – you get the picture.

At a recent business breakfast I hosted with Barclays, one highly successful construction business leader shared with me that there are no training courses available in their field for young workers in South Wales. Their only option was to send trainees to Somerset every day – a big ask when you’re trying to introduce 16- and 17-year-olds to the industry as their first job.

This wasn’t the first time I’d heard concerns similar to this – both in terms of training and recruitment. So I was pleased to see the UK Government’s summer announcement of plans to establish 40,000 additional training places for the construction industry.

With those summer conversations still ringing in my ears, it was one of the first issues I raised with ministers upon my return to Parliament, urging them to work closely with Welsh Government colleagues to ensure these training opportunities are delivered in Wales.

The commitment of funding 40,000 training places across the UK for construction workers represents an investment of £100 million, aimed at helping to fill more than 35,000 current job vacancies in the sector over the next four years. This builds on the £625 million investment announced in March, which will separately be used to train up to 60,000 more skilled construction workers by 2029.

Together, these investments – nearly £725 million in total – should enable almost 100,000 new construction workers to enter industries that desperately need them before the end of the decade. And let’s not forget, these are well-paid jobs, often attracting salaries above the national average.

But we must ensure that these opportunities reach every corner of the UK, including South Wales. That means working with the council, the Senedd, with colleges, employers and industry bodies to make training accessible and relevant to the needs of our local economy.

Newport East is ready for the future. From steel and semiconductors to AI and energy storage, the potential is enormous. But we must build that future together by investing in people, protecting and growing our traditional industries, and ensuring that no young person is left behind.

I’ll keep pushing in Parliament to make sure Newport gets its fair share of these opportunities. Because when we invest in skills, we invest in our communities, and in the future we all want to see.