Tuesday 4 October 2016

Tories preparing the way to cut extra funding for Wales?

Today's Wale's online claims that  Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns will today signal a major post-Brexit shake-up in regional support for Wales when he takes the Conservative conference stage.
The Vale of Glamorgan MP will say that the “old way” of distributing structural funds will come to an end – and claim that communities that received past support have been “let down”.
Making the case for change, he will say: 
“Simply carrying on with the same spending plans in the same old way after two decades is not an option. But a new structure will give us the opportunity to follow UK priorities, investing in a way that is completely tailored to the Welsh economy.”
Let's face its an argument many would make, as despite decades of being in receipt of European Funding because we are one of the poorest "regions",  it sometimes appears that is only temporarily, easing the situation rather than curing  it


He will say:
 “The outcome of the referendum has naturally raised concerns over the future of what is currently considered EU funding... But again, we must see this moment as an opportunity to do better for these communities.
“After all, European structural funds are supposed to be a temporary fix, a stimulus for the most deprived parts of Europe. In Wales it was described as a ‘once-in-a-generation opportunity’.
“Sixteen years on and £4bn later, Labour’s mismanagement of the funds in Wales let those communities down. So much was their frustration that those areas which received the most EU funds were the areas which voted strongest to leave.
“And when we consider some of the projects they funded there is little wonder of their anger – if only outcomes had been as important as the money spent.”

The problem is that  as any one who knows the Tories this a code for cutting that amount of Money we are currently receiving from the EU, and will now have to reply on from Westminster .

Wales received £3.3bn in European structural funds between 2000 and 2013 and I can't see  us getting anything like that fro the Tories at Westminster.


Plaid Cymru Treasury spokesman Jonathan Edwards said: 
“Parts of Wales have qualified for the highest form of European regional support as a result of the disastrous economic policies pursued by successive Tory and Labour Westminster Governments which have deliberately driven policies which geographically polarises wealth. This fundamental failure in Westminster government explains the strong feelings of disillusionment which drove many people to vote against what they perceived to be the establishment in the referendum...
“If the Secretary of State was serious about doing things differently he would empower the Welsh Government with the necessary job creation levers so that we can solve our own problems. Instead Wales is offered far fewer fiscal powers than Scotland and Northern Ireland.
“A hard Brexit will hit the Welsh economy harder than other parts of the British State. With that in mind, it is vital the Secretary of State delivers a full range of job creating powers to Wales. In a hard brexit scenario there is no reason why leavers such as VAT and Corporation Tax be reserved to Westminster.
“As the months proceed we will see if the Secretary of State is a man of vision or just another Westminster Governor General.”

 After over seventeen   years of the Assembly Government,we still have to go Cap in Hand to the EU for funding and now we will have to this to Westminster,  who are going to tell us there will be no more and that it ids a form of "Tough Love" encouraging us to fend for ourselves.
Carwyn was told there was no more money for him and he would have to fend for himself.
Without of course having the powers to do so .

Whether you are on the left or the right  its time to realise we will always be poor "West Britain"  treated as poor cousins with contempt and reliant on handouts from London.

Only an Independent Wales that has Men and Women with vision for our Nation can end our decades of being one of the poorest regions of Europe.

Those in the Labour Party who think that we are simple voting fodder giving them most of the Welsh Mps, AMs and Councillors  must realise their hegemony with its opposition to even parity with Scotland must end their opposition not only parity with Scotland  must realise that we will get nothing more from Westminster Labour or Tory and its time for a diffrent party to ave a go at government here who will follow the same path as our friends in Scotland.

It is not EU funding that has failed, nor the Welsh Assembly It is ur own reluctance to take the powers and responsibilities of an Independent Nation.

Only then can we flourish .

3 comments:

Lol.Essb said...

Take a look on You Tube at "Cap in Hand" by the Proclaimers, may stimulate some more passion in your message

Leigh Richards said...

So promises made to wales during the referendum that EU funds would be replaced by funds from westminister arent going to be fullfilled - surprise surprise.Frankly the only surprise about this is that anyone in wales was stupid enough to believe this promise in the first place. That said questions do need to be asked how is that two decades after areas of wales like west wales and the valleys started receiving eu funds they are poorer now than before? So i dont think it's wrong of any of us to ask have successive welsh government's managed this money as well as they could have?

A good recent example of the mismanagement of eu funds by welsh labour governments can be seen in the example of money pilfered from eu funds intended for west wales and the valleys used to help finance the cardiff metro scheme. Now im not against the proposed metro at all but is it right that money intended for the poorest parts of wales should be diverted to help finance a brand spanking new transport scheme for the welsh capital? And this at a time when public transport is collapsing in the rest of wales. And it's certainly to the shame of the opposition parties in the senedd that this abuse of of eu funds went through without a murmur of opposition in the siambr.

Today's announcement by Alan Cairns isnt the end of the world however. Wales is set to receive income tax varying powers, and we shouldnt be afraid to use them to start generating some extra much needed revenue for wales. So for example i believe a 1p increase in the basic rate of income tax would generate £800 million for wales. In fact the more we in wales begin to generate our own resources the better we'll be in the long run. Certainly if we want self government for wales we are going to have to learn how to be economically self sustaining. And beginning to raise our own revenues - instead of relying on westminister all the time - would be a great way to start.

Anonymous said...

Why is this a surprise to anyone, the Tories don’t give a stuff about Wales and Labour’s mismanagement of EU funds to their mates and pet projects is well documented, yet without those EU funds the welsh economy is going to tank, but I still can’t see the welsh public voting anything but Labour.

It’s hard to be sympathetic to people who won’t fight back against their deliberate poverty, subjugation and enforced powerlessness.