Thursday, September 01, 2022
Tories deliberately misled the people of Wales
It shouldn't really be a surprise, but Wales on line reports that a Conservative ex-UK Government minister has admitted that the Welsh public were deliberately misled about how replacement money for former EU funds would be spent in Wales.
The site says that former Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns admitted in an interview for a new book, that the Conservative Government never intended for decisions on the spending of the replacement EU cash to remain in Wales:
As part of their 2019 general election campaign the Conservatives promised that Wales would receive "not a penny less" as a result of Brexit. Many people took this to mean that the Welsh Government would have a role in allocating this money (as they have done for 22 years as part of the EU). However, the UK Government has recently confirmed that it will allocate these funds directly through its new Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF).
This has been an incredibly controversial issue in Wales with many arguing that not keeping the decision making in Wales is a row back on a manifesto pledge. Though the Conservatives can rightly argue that the cash is still coming to Wales, Mr Cairns has admitted that they knew they were being deceptive.
Speaking in the book, Independent Nation, Mr Cairns said: "Boris was on board. When he came down to a hustings debate [before the 2019 election], we were briefing him and I said: ‘You will get the question, about European aid, [and] in the manifesto we have got to make the commitment that there won’t be a penny less.’ To quote, Boris said to me: ‘We want to control that, don’t we?’ and I said: ‘Yes, but you can’t say that… because it will really spark a political debate in Wales, because we haven’t yet explained the commitment that you get the same money but it will be localised to a greater degree than the centralised approach that you get for the Welsh government.’ I said to the Prime Minister: ‘The answer you’ve got to give’ – and he stuck to it absolutely – ‘is that we’ll be using good Conservative principles on how it should be spent.’ And if you look back to the quotes, that’s exactly what he said in his answer. You know, not once did we deny it, but we hadn’t laid the ground to explain."
Mr Cairns added with a laugh: ‘I’ve been very candid here’.
The comments demonstrate that the Conservative party knew full well what the reaction would be if people in Wales knew that the plan was for former EU funds to be allocated by Westminster as opposed to the Welsh Government (which had been central to deciding how European money would be spent since 1999).
He knew that the assumption would be, when they promised ‘not a penny less’, was that this money would be going to the devolved administrations, and he didn’t want people to know this was not the UK government’s intention. The reaction of Boris Johnson is also telling. ‘We want to control that, don’t we?’ he said.
Mr Cairns argued that the UK government having the money was in fact a way to ensure localisation. To use his words: ‘It will be localised to a greater degree than the centralised approach that you get for the Welsh government.’ But in his book, Will Hayward argues: "He had no idea how the Welsh Government planned to use this money, because the Welsh Government didn’t know themselves. He had no conversation, no engagement, no respect for devolution. It was the assumption that ‘Westminster knows best’, and what makes it all the worse is that they knew there would be push back, so they used sleight of hand and word play to avoid fronting up to their own plans and to try to gain in Welsh votes."
In fact being less than open about the way the money is to be administered was not the only sleight of hand on the part of the Tories during that campaign. Their promise that Wales would receive 'not a penny less' has turned out to be misleading as well.
The new funding formula for the prosperity fund has resulted in a reduction of £35 per head for every person in the South West Wales region. The money has been diverted to communities in mid Wales. This will mean communities in Swansea and the South West Wales region will lose £4.2m this year and £21m over the next 5 years.
The site says that former Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns admitted in an interview for a new book, that the Conservative Government never intended for decisions on the spending of the replacement EU cash to remain in Wales:
As part of their 2019 general election campaign the Conservatives promised that Wales would receive "not a penny less" as a result of Brexit. Many people took this to mean that the Welsh Government would have a role in allocating this money (as they have done for 22 years as part of the EU). However, the UK Government has recently confirmed that it will allocate these funds directly through its new Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF).
This has been an incredibly controversial issue in Wales with many arguing that not keeping the decision making in Wales is a row back on a manifesto pledge. Though the Conservatives can rightly argue that the cash is still coming to Wales, Mr Cairns has admitted that they knew they were being deceptive.
Speaking in the book, Independent Nation, Mr Cairns said: "Boris was on board. When he came down to a hustings debate [before the 2019 election], we were briefing him and I said: ‘You will get the question, about European aid, [and] in the manifesto we have got to make the commitment that there won’t be a penny less.’ To quote, Boris said to me: ‘We want to control that, don’t we?’ and I said: ‘Yes, but you can’t say that… because it will really spark a political debate in Wales, because we haven’t yet explained the commitment that you get the same money but it will be localised to a greater degree than the centralised approach that you get for the Welsh government.’ I said to the Prime Minister: ‘The answer you’ve got to give’ – and he stuck to it absolutely – ‘is that we’ll be using good Conservative principles on how it should be spent.’ And if you look back to the quotes, that’s exactly what he said in his answer. You know, not once did we deny it, but we hadn’t laid the ground to explain."
Mr Cairns added with a laugh: ‘I’ve been very candid here’.
The comments demonstrate that the Conservative party knew full well what the reaction would be if people in Wales knew that the plan was for former EU funds to be allocated by Westminster as opposed to the Welsh Government (which had been central to deciding how European money would be spent since 1999).
He knew that the assumption would be, when they promised ‘not a penny less’, was that this money would be going to the devolved administrations, and he didn’t want people to know this was not the UK government’s intention. The reaction of Boris Johnson is also telling. ‘We want to control that, don’t we?’ he said.
Mr Cairns argued that the UK government having the money was in fact a way to ensure localisation. To use his words: ‘It will be localised to a greater degree than the centralised approach that you get for the Welsh government.’ But in his book, Will Hayward argues: "He had no idea how the Welsh Government planned to use this money, because the Welsh Government didn’t know themselves. He had no conversation, no engagement, no respect for devolution. It was the assumption that ‘Westminster knows best’, and what makes it all the worse is that they knew there would be push back, so they used sleight of hand and word play to avoid fronting up to their own plans and to try to gain in Welsh votes."
In fact being less than open about the way the money is to be administered was not the only sleight of hand on the part of the Tories during that campaign. Their promise that Wales would receive 'not a penny less' has turned out to be misleading as well.
The new funding formula for the prosperity fund has resulted in a reduction of £35 per head for every person in the South West Wales region. The money has been diverted to communities in mid Wales. This will mean communities in Swansea and the South West Wales region will lose £4.2m this year and £21m over the next 5 years.
