THE fight to save nearly 50 tax office jobs in Haverfordwest has been taken to Cardiff.

Preseli Pembrokeshire AM Paul Davies has told the Welsh Assembly that it would be disastrous on many levels if plans to downgrade the HMRC office in the town from nearly 50 staff to just three went ahead.

"It would be bad for employees and their families, bad for the public and bad for the environment," he told the Senedd on Wednesday (4 July).

The Government plans to centralise the service offered by the tax office which would mean severe cutbacks in the offices in Haverfordwest and Pembroke Dock. Those staff that do keep their jobs may be asked to work in Carmarthen.
"Relocating those jobs further east to Carmarthen would be totally unacceptable to people living in Pembrokeshire," he said.

"Especially to those who would have to travel from places such as Fishguard and Trefin on the Pembrokeshire coast. A rural area, such as my constituency, can ill afford to lose such high-quality public-service jobs."

Mr Davies has now joined the Public and Commercial Services Union's All Party Group in the Assembly which will put pressure on the Government to safeguard the jobs.

"What we are seeing is another example of the Labour Party's obsession with centralisation at the expense of an essential public service. To quote Oscar Wilde, it seems that the UK Government 'knows the price of everything but the value of nothing'.