Author: Rhys Gregory

The Welsh Government is progressing with plans to expand the compound semiconductor cluster in Newport following a successful trade mission to California’s Silicon Valley, Economy Minister, Vaughan Gething has announced today. The Welsh Government is working with the SPTS division of KLA Corporation – a division that provides wafer processing solutions to semiconductor and microelectronic device manufacturers – to support its plans to expand operations in the city as part of an already announced $100M investment. The company, which currently employs a highly skilled workforce of over 550 people in the city, is developing its new base at Newport’s Celtic…

First Minster Mark Drakeford will visit the Basque Country this week to meet the Basque President, government Ministers and the President of the Basque Parliament. The First Minister will also meet with CAF and Gestamp – two Basque companies with strong links in Wales. CAF expanded into Wales in 2017 to manufacture rail stock for the UK network. It employs 220 people at its base on the former Llanwern steel site in Newport. Gestamp is a multi-national company, which employs 255 people in Llanelli. It specialises in the design and manufacture of components for vehicle manufacturers. The First Minister’s visit…

The Senedd has formally refused consent for the UK Government’s Retained EU Law Bill in a vote yesterday evening [Tuesday 28th March]. Mick Antoniw, the Welsh Government’s Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution, said the proposed legislation threatens food standards, environmental protections, workers’ rights, and business and consumer certainty. The Retained EU Law Bill seeks to repeal or replace more than 2,400 pieces of former EU law that were converted into domestic legislation as part of the EU exit process. The plans in the Bill would lead to most of these laws dropping off the UK statute book by…

People who take a holiday in Wales say they’re very satisfied with their experiences in the country, new research published by Visit Wales today shows. The reports from the Visit Wales consumer re-contact survey provides information on the trip-taking behaviours and intentions of Visit Wales’ consumer contacts. Consumer contacts are people who engaged with and provided their contact details to Visit Wales in 2022 – they are also referred to as ‘enquirers’. Some findings on enquirers from the UK and Ireland include: 61% of Visit Wales enquirers from the UK and Ireland took a holiday or short break in Wales…

Police have found a body in the search for missing local man, David Evans, from Llantrisant. Mr Evans, aged 77, is from Llantrisant in Rhondda Cynon Taff and was last seen in Ynysangharad Park, Pontypridd and 10.15 on Thursday. Known locally as Russell, he was last seen wearing a full-length green raincoat, blue jeans, black shoes, glasses and possibly a scarf. Detective Inspector Dan Michel said: “A body of a man was found near the River Taff in Taff’s Well at around 3.20pm on Monday. “Although formal identification has not yet taken place, the family of missing man David Evans,…

South Wales Police are currently dealing with a incident, which has shut a major Cardiff Road near to Cathays High School. At 12.49pm today, South Wales Police were called to a report of road collision on North Road. North Road is closed due to an accident and Cardiff Bus services have been diverted. Bus services travelling inbound will come off at Gabalfa interchange and divert via Whitchurch Road until further notice, this will affect services 21, 23, 25, 27 and 35. Outbound services are not affected by this diversion. Welsh Ambulance Service have multiple units on scene, in addition to…

A new £9.5m outpatient and diagnostic centre has been unveiled at Wrexham’s Spire Yale Hospital by Spire Healthcare CEO, Justin Ash. For people in North & Mid Wales, Shropshire and Cheshire, the opening of the new Chesney Court Imaging, Orthopaedic and Outpatient Centre will increase the number of patients the hospital can treat, expand the range of patient services available, and provide faster care for day-case patients. In addition to private GP services, Chesney Court’s outpatient and diagnostic centre offers state-of-the-art MRI, x-ray and ultrasound facilities, as well as orthopaedic and physiotherapy rooms. The Centre also includes nine consulting and…

British Council Wales has announced the appointment of Ruth Cocks as its new Director. Ruth will lead global education and arts programmes and will sustain and grow the British Council’s current network of relationships across Wales. She will support engagement around culture, education, and sporting diplomacy with a network of over 100 international offices, taking the best of Wales to the world and vice versa. Ruth will join the team in Cardiff. moving from Cairo where she has been Deputy Country Director for the past two-and-a-half years. In Egypt, Ruth led the British Council’s work across the Arts, English and…

Following unprecedented demand, legendary music icon Tom Jones has confirmed a third and final date at Cardiff Castle as part of his ‘Ages and Stages’ tour. Today, promoters at DEPOT Live confirmed that the star will take to the stage on Saturday 5th August – which is just a few weeks after his first two sell-out dates in the capital (Friday 21st July & Monday 24th July). Starting at £65, tickets for the newly-announced August date will go on sale Friday 31st March at 10am via Ticketmaster. Sir Tom’s remarkable music career spans more than six decades in the business, and at the age of…

Smokers are to pay nearly £1 more for cigarettes as the UK Government rises tobacco duty tax in the UK. According to the health charity ASH Wales, the rise is likely to price cigarettes out of the reach of young people in Wales. Earlier this month the UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt released the Spring Budget which raised tobacco tax to 2% above inflation (RPI). The rise will mean a packet of 20 cigarettes will increase by 95 pence, taking average prices to more than £14 a packet. The move has been welcomed by the tobacco control charity ASH Wales, who…