....... on the streets of Neath

Employment in Wales has been rising since 2012. It has risen from 1.32 million to 1.46 million in the last seven years. There has been no dip or change in trend due to the referendum. When will remainers see the facts and stop imaging a non-existent slowdown and crisis? People trying to stop Brexit normally focus on the economic damage that it will bring. Project Fear, inspired by the Treasury, predicted a fall in employment and a massive rise in unemployment. The reverse has happened. The rising trend does not mean that all is well in Wales - or elsewhere in the UK. The problems include: many of the new jobs might be low paid, part time, low skilled or zero hours contracts. Immigration is still rising and the new arrivers are more successful at getting the jobs. There will be many ups and downs in the years ahead but the Brexit downturn has not happened. Regional labour market data comes from the ONS .

The traditional industrial heartlands of south Wales have been ruled by an increasingly distant Labour elite for ages. There's no incentive for the MPs to put in any effort as they have jobs for life – it’s not good and has to change. Fortunately, the Labour vote share has been slipping and this election is set to see Labour  - under the toxic leadership of Corbyn - further  lose their grip.   The Neath  constituency  like a good number of other parliamentary seats in south Wales has remained Labour ever since they got in a hundred years ago. Labour currently has 28/40 Welsh seats and has had a majority of the seats in all 19 general elections since 1945. For a welsh Labour MP, it's been a job for life - once they get in they don't have to do any work. In Neath the last four MPs together had a reign of 93 years - over 23 years each on average. And Neath has suffered. It's no wonder that many voters in "traditional" Labour seats feel let do