Ken Skates says it is a ‘huge honour’ to have new role as Minister for North Wales

The new First Minister and new Minister for North Wales have acknowledged that more work is to be done to stop the perception of a north and south divide in Wales.

Ken Skates AM – who is a familiar face as he also represents the Clwyd South constituency – was appointed to the role by the new First Minister, Mark Drakeford, before Christmas.

Speaking to the media at a visit to Wrexham’s Salvation Army on Friday, Mr Drakeford explained why he felt it was important to appoint a minister for the region – the first of its kind to have been created.

Mr Drakeford said the person is someone people can ‘go to’ if they feel the Welsh Government are not meeting their expectations up here, adding “It is not just an individual, as important as that is, it is an individual with the backing of the machinery of government. We have set up a Standing Committee which is cutting across a series of government departments, and Ken has the authority to pull those people together.”

Mr Skates described his new role, which he will carry out alongside his ministerial position for economy and transport, as a ‘huge honour’.

Mr Skates said: “What I’m going to do in the coming weeks within the role of Minister for North Wales is meet with as many key partners as possible across the region, particularly local authority leaders, leaders in education and skills institutions.

“We’re also going to be looking to meet with social partners including obviously businesses that are large and also businesses small to medium sized.

“I’ll be meeting with trade union representatives as well, making sure the priorities that I’ll be focusing on are priorities shared by many others across the region.”

When asked if creating and then appointing a North Wales minister was an acknowledgement of a reality of the ‘north and south divide’, Mr Drakeford said that ‘Cardiff can often seem remote’; but noted it was more of a ‘perception of a divide’ rather than a reality.

Mr Drakeford said: “In reality the Assembly spend a lot of time talking about things that matter to North Wales.

“The other thing that always strikes me is the things that matter to people in North Wales are the same things that matter to people in Southwest Wales where I come from. Cardiff can seem quite remote from Carmarthen or Pembrokeshire as well.

“But the things that matter in people’s lives there, such as having a job to do, a place to live, having a sense that the future can be better for your children than it was for you, are the things that people in North Wales talk about as well.”

Mr Skates added: “The referendum also shows that whether it’s real or perceived, if there’s a problem it has to be dealt with.

“Often as a need to implement a greater degree of co-production in terms of what we’re trying to do for and crucially with communities and having a minister for North Wales its able to work closely with local authorities, health boards; with universities, colleges, businesses, trade unions will enable us to co-produce far better way than perhaps we have done in the past.”

Later Ken Skates explained he would be looking to adjust his work to include an extra day up north rather than elsewhere as part of his new job.

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