When David Cameron introduced English Votes for English laws he may have unwittingly set a precedent that may in future lead to there being to Budgets in the House of Commons
A UK budget followed by a Budget for England only.
When the BBC announces a
Budget gives extra £1.2bn to Wales and promises growth deals
Its only after further readin that Chancellor Phillip Hammond has said the Welsh Government will get an extra £1.2bn over four years as a result of his Budget.
The money will come to Wales because of extra spending on projects in England - under the so-called Barnett formula.The cash amounts to a rise of around 2% in the Welsh Government's budget.
Welsh ministers said the additional cash would "do little to ease the pressure" on public services struggling after "successive cuts to our budget".
It has long been said that Wales benefits from the Barnet t formula and is being subsidised by England .
But is this really true.
As Mabon ap Gwynfor points out
But is that also not indicative of the whole UK budget?Hammond boasts that they have the two largest infrastructure projects in Europe: Crossrail and HS2, neither of which benefits Wales, both of which benefits London, yet we pay for them.
If Hammond or any English Chancellor wishes to spend more money on the NHS he can raise money by raising taxes or national insurance payments , but he can also cut other services .
Unlike Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland this includes such thingd in the defence budget but also in many more areas that are not devolved,
Even if Wales receives an increase in its Barnett formula allocation as a result of the Chancellor increasing NHS spending in England they may have to spend it elsewhere in areas like Education.
If there was an English Budget we would get a clear indication on how infrastructure projects are being allocated and how this is going to be paid for for?
Even when it is clear that Crossrail and HS2,are of no intermediate benefit to Wales t is part of UK spending and we have little say in it.
If we had a clear separation of a UK budget from one that is solely for the benefit of English voters we may have more of an idea whether Wales is really being subsidised s by England or starved of investment.
Of course we will still have the argument that what benefits the City of London benefits the rest of the UK.
But an "English" budget would not only allow the devolved governments to see where the money is going, but also those in England in areas outside London and the South East a chance to note how they are also being left out.
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