Selling Wales to English Cities 2

I'm not usually a Conspiracy theorist  but after  the Mule suggestion that  North and South Wales should become regions of Liverpool and Bristol. BBC Wales has come up with similar news.

They report Claims that...

..." Wales will lose out if Cardiff does not become part of a bigger economic region to bid for UK government investment, researchers have claimed.
Chancellor George Osborne is expected to give extra help to Leeds and Sheffield in his Autumn Statement on Wednesday.
It follows support for Greater Manchester and Greater Glasgow.
Centre for Cities called on Cardiff to work more closely with its south Wales neighbours and with Bristol.

 The Beeb at leadt admit  that the UK government's support of big cities is both political - after the independence campaign in Scotland - and economic, to try to address the imbalance between the London economy and the rest of the UK.

Andrew Carter, acting chief executive of Centre for Cities, said Cardiff and Bristol needed to respond to the prospect of competition from other regions...

.."There is a real fear that Cardiff and Wales will miss out from not being able to organise to make a coherent argument to the UK government,
The first step was for Cardiff and its neighbouring local authorities to work together more closely so that they would be on a stronger footing.
Cardiff could then reach out to Bristol to look at areas where they could collaborate, er.
These could include rail electrification, creative and digital industries andthe development of a new nuclear reactor at Hinkley Point on the Somerset coast,

Mr Carter  the Beeb and  the Mule do not seem to realise that we now have our own legislature . Who you may ask will be ultimately responsible for the these cities . Or could this collaboration have no democratic input at all?

Dylan Jones-Evans, professor of entrepreneurship at University of the West of England in Bristol, and of course former Tory candidate for the Welsh assembly agreed, and said Wales should make the most of electrification of the main railway line from London.

He said

.."If we don't work more closely together, Bristol will be the stop for major investment coming from London during that period,"

OK so this is just talk of collaboration  but I can only wonder in whose best interest wiil be served here.

The so called M4 corridor has already been to the detriment of the Valleys  as jobs concentrate there.

Plaid MP has recently  claimed that The Welsh Government  have treated  West Wales as an “afterthought” after it emerged the government has not budgeted for any transport investment in Carmarthenshire or Ceredigion.

It comes as the Government presses ahead with plans for the controversial £1bn M4 relief road in Newport, which Plaid Cymru claims will be built at the expense of other projects in West Wales.

Information presented to the Enterprise and Business Committee by the Welsh Government shows no money has been budgeted for transport projects in Ceredigion or Carmarthenshire, while Pembrokeshire will see a £57m investment in a A40 Llanddewi Velfrey to Penblewin trunk road.

MP Jonathan Edwards said lack of infrastructure investment dampens all efforts to boost the local economy.

Indeed the £1bn M4 relief road may well benefit Bristol more than it does West Wales .

If not become part of a bigger economic region then treat Wales as a whole not divide it and make them part of English cities.

But then even among some of Assembly members there is no desire to unite Wales economical.

I have no objection collaboration between Cardif and Bristol to see what can benefit both but not if it further drains the economic future  Valleys and West Wales which I suspect will happen.

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