Thursday, March 25, 2021
Broken Brexit promises
Amongst the many promises that were made during the 2016 referendum campaign was that Wales would not lose a single penny as a result of leaving the EU, a pledge that was especially important given the millions of pounds we have received and are due under schemes run by the European Union to help revitalise deprived areas.
However, like many of the other statements made at the time this particular promise has proved to be a lie, for not only is the UK government ensuring that a number of areas are no longer going to receive this money, but they are taking the opportunity to roll back devolution at the same time.
Wales on line reports that the UK Government has been accused of discriminating against two Welsh local authority areas by excluding them from a list of “priority areas” earmarked for regional aid spending meant to replace EU funds. They say Caerphilly and Bridgend county boroughs contain some of the poorest communities in Europe, yet don’t appear in the list of 100 priority areas published by Westminster.
When the UK was in the EU, West Wales and the Valleys benefited from billions of pounds of European aid because the earnings per head were less than 75% of the EU average. That region included both the boroughs that have now been excluded from the priority list of places that will benefit from Westminster’s Community Renewal Fund.
Effectively then, this Conservative government in Westminster is giving resources to well-off areas like Richmond in Yorkshire, where Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, just happens to be the MP, and deliberately excluding needy areas like the Caerphilly borough and the Llynfi Valley:
A Welsh Government spokesman said: “Based on repeated UK Government commitments that leaving the EU would mean not a penny less and no devolved powers lost to Wales, over the past three years we’ve been working collaboratively with organisations across all sectors to design a new framework for future investment that supports regional ways of working and will create jobs and prosperity across Wales in a way which is fairer, more inclusive and sustainable.
“As well as disregarding all this hard work, and unnecessarily duplicating effort and capacity across 22 local authorities in Wales, the UK Government’s recently published proposals also completely undermine the devolution settlement, as well as failing to give Wales its fair share of investment.
“Our analysis of the selection methodologies for the fund has highlighted concerns over the choice of indicators, particularly the omission of some indicators we would expect to see - for example indices of deprivation and transport data - to help prioritise funding to areas where it is needed most.
“We have requested access to the data used so we can better understand the UK Government’s priorities for levelling up and sharing prosperity across the UK.
“What is most concerning however is the UK Government taking decisions on devolved matters in Wales without being answerable to the Senedd on behalf of the people of Wales.
“We have also received no guarantee that Wales will receive its fair share of funding, with decisions being made in Whitehall departments with no history of delivering projects within Wales, no record of working with communities in Wales and no understanding of the priorities of those communities.”
Somehow all this was very predictable.
However, like many of the other statements made at the time this particular promise has proved to be a lie, for not only is the UK government ensuring that a number of areas are no longer going to receive this money, but they are taking the opportunity to roll back devolution at the same time.
Wales on line reports that the UK Government has been accused of discriminating against two Welsh local authority areas by excluding them from a list of “priority areas” earmarked for regional aid spending meant to replace EU funds. They say Caerphilly and Bridgend county boroughs contain some of the poorest communities in Europe, yet don’t appear in the list of 100 priority areas published by Westminster.
When the UK was in the EU, West Wales and the Valleys benefited from billions of pounds of European aid because the earnings per head were less than 75% of the EU average. That region included both the boroughs that have now been excluded from the priority list of places that will benefit from Westminster’s Community Renewal Fund.
Effectively then, this Conservative government in Westminster is giving resources to well-off areas like Richmond in Yorkshire, where Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, just happens to be the MP, and deliberately excluding needy areas like the Caerphilly borough and the Llynfi Valley:
A Welsh Government spokesman said: “Based on repeated UK Government commitments that leaving the EU would mean not a penny less and no devolved powers lost to Wales, over the past three years we’ve been working collaboratively with organisations across all sectors to design a new framework for future investment that supports regional ways of working and will create jobs and prosperity across Wales in a way which is fairer, more inclusive and sustainable.
“As well as disregarding all this hard work, and unnecessarily duplicating effort and capacity across 22 local authorities in Wales, the UK Government’s recently published proposals also completely undermine the devolution settlement, as well as failing to give Wales its fair share of investment.
“Our analysis of the selection methodologies for the fund has highlighted concerns over the choice of indicators, particularly the omission of some indicators we would expect to see - for example indices of deprivation and transport data - to help prioritise funding to areas where it is needed most.
“We have requested access to the data used so we can better understand the UK Government’s priorities for levelling up and sharing prosperity across the UK.
“What is most concerning however is the UK Government taking decisions on devolved matters in Wales without being answerable to the Senedd on behalf of the people of Wales.
“We have also received no guarantee that Wales will receive its fair share of funding, with decisions being made in Whitehall departments with no history of delivering projects within Wales, no record of working with communities in Wales and no understanding of the priorities of those communities.”
Somehow all this was very predictable.
