SENIOR Conserv- atives have accused Labour of "failing Wales" during an election visit to Swansea.

Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Theresa May and Shadow Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan were in the city yesterday to promote Tory plans to get more people into work.

In an interview with the Post they said time had run out for Labour in Wales.

Ms Gillan said: "They have had their chance and they have blown it. Ms May added: "They have failed in Wales."

Responding to Labour claims that Conservative plans to cut to bring down the deficit will cost public sector jobs, Ms May said: "Whoever gets into government after the election, there will need to be cuts in public spending."

"To get the Welsh economy moving and to get the Welsh economy moving we need to stimulate growth in the private sector.

"We need to get those private sector jobs created."

The pair were in Wales to promote the Conservatives' Get Wales Working programme, which they say will create one single back-to-work scheme and will provide support for young people, to tackle youth unemployment and those not in work, education or training.

Ms May promised a tax break to any new company set up, and said that they would not have to pay National Insurance on the first 10 jobs created, which she said would provide a "real stimulus to set the company up and get people employed''.

Ms May said that the Conservatives would also reverse Labour's National Insurance rise — "we would stop the jobs tax," she said — adding there were more than 1,000 companies across the country who say the National Insurance rise will damage the recovery.

Ms May also said people on Incapacity Benefit had been failed by Labour, adding they had been "effectively abandoned by the government."

With one in four working age adults economically inactive and the unemp- loyment rate highest of any UK nation, Wales is in the grip of a jobs crisis.

Ms Gillan spoke about her party's belief that Gower had become a winnable seat for the Tories, despite Labour winning it in every election since the 1900s.

She said the Conservatives now run as many councils in Wales as Labour does, and topped the polls at the European election last year, adding that "we have proved there are no no go areas at all for the Conservatives in Wales. We want to give Wales a loud voice at the table and a firm voice at the table."

Ms Gillan: "There's no doubt about it, Labour has always thought it owned Wales.

"It has now had the opportunity at both ends of the M4 and look where we are in Wales.

"we don't take it for granted and we have been working hard for a long time."

Responding to the Conservatives' jobs policy announcement, Welsh Secretary Peter Hain said: "It is rank hypocrisy for Welsh Tories to say they want to get Wales working. Despite tough times there are still more than 100,000 more jobs in Wales than the last time the Tories were in power.

"Savage Tory cuts would wreck the fragile recovery in the Welsh economy. This would cause higher unemployment and may plunge us into a double-dip recession. The Conservatives have been wrong on the recession, wrong on our measures to help Welsh workers, and now they are wrong on the recovery."