ENTERPRISE, unfettered by taxes and regulations, is vital to create new jobs in areas such as North Wales.


And that is why Conservatives will scrap the next planned rise in National Insurance if they win the General Election, according to William Hague.

The Shadow Foreign Secretary repeated the pledge first made by his party last week as he visited Trevor canal basin and the nearby Froncsyllte aqueduct as part of a campaign tour of the region yesterday afternoon.

He was there at the invitation of the Conservative candidate for Clwyd South, John Bell, to meet Robert Lawrence, boss of Anglo Welsh Narrow Boats which is based on the canalside.

Mr Hague recalled that he had last visited the tourism attraction – now a World Heritage site – back in the early 80s while a student at Oxford.

“At the time we hired a narrow boat and went along the canal here, and I am very glad to be back today,” he said.

The former Welsh Secretary in the last Tory government said the unifying theme of his visits earlier in the day to places including Rhyl had been jobs and allowing businesses to succeed.

“To do this we need to create a good environment. Next year’s planned National Insurance rise will hit everyone in a job.

“We will put a stop to that and make sure that businesses have less regulation so that they can get on with the job of creating jobs.

“There is a lot of support for enterprise in our manifesto and that is crucial to an area such as North Wales.”

Mr Hague said he was pleased with the way the campaign was going for the Conservatives and there was “nothing new” in the Labour manifesto unveiled yesterday.

He believed candidate John Bell stood a good chance of taking the Clwyd South seat from Labour.

“We are ahead in the opinion polls and we got more votes than Labour in this area at last year’s European elections,” he said. “Now we need to convert those votes into seats.