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Drakeford blasts UK Government claims that Wales would not be worse off outside the EU as ‘fraudulent’

08 Feb 2022 3 minute read
Mark Drakeford. Picture by Doubledoppler (CC BY-SA 4.0).

 

Mark Drakeford has blasted the UK Government’s claim that Wales would not be any worse off outside the EU as “fraudulent”.

Speaking during First Minister’s Questions he said that the “absolute guarantee” that Wales would be not a penny worse off had been “comprehensively broken and abandoned”.

Wales would have received £375 million in funding in this calendar year from European structural funds, but will now receive £47 million from the UK Government.

“How does anybody, Llywydd, believe that £47 million, when we would have received £375 million, represents, at a minimum, matching the size of EU funds each year?” Mark Drakeford asked.

“The UK Government now says that it will count towards the money that they will give us, money we have already got from the European Union. Now, I’m not saying anything about fraudulent use of money, but I’m absolutely saying that that argument is fraudulent.

“The argument that you can count money you’ve already got towards money that they promised they would give us is simply not to accurately describe what is going on here.”

‘Crucial’

The First Minister added that the way the UK Government had handled Covid contracts pointed to the difference between the Welsh and UK Government’s handling of finances.

“The controller general said that he had not been able to obtain an assurance that up to nearly £9 billion that had been lost on PPE in England—that there had not been a material level of that loss, which was down to fraud,” he said.

“Well, there you have it, Llywydd: a very, very direct comparison of the way things have been done in Wales.”

The Conservatives’ economy spokesperson Paul Davies responded to say that he agreed that “it’s crucial that Wales doesn’t receive less funding than it had when we were in the European Union”.

“And, as Chair of the Economy, Trade and Rural Affairs Committee, I can assure you that we will be scrutinising this issue very carefully in the next weeks and months,” he added.

Mark Drakeford responded: “Well, Llywydd, thank you very much to Paul Davies for what he said, as Chair of the committee, and I look forward to the work that the committee will be doing to assist all of us to make the case to the Treasury to do what the Conservatives said in their manifesto during the general election.

“I don’t think that there is any doubt now that they have rolled back from what they promised, and the work of the committee will be a help, I’m sure, to make the case again to the UK Government to fund Wales as they had said they would.”


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Grayham Jones
2 years ago

The welsh people that voted us out of the EU must now be ashamed of themselves we in wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 was millions of pounds better of being members of the EU by £350 million pounds stop being little Englanders and and be proud to be welsh start fighting for your children and grandchildren future in wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Dave
Dave
2 years ago
Reply to  Grayham Jones

Just to support your point a bit more Grayham but it was the English immigrants who live in Wales that enabled Brexit to win here, not the indigenous Welsh people. so said a Cardiff Uni study in2019

Paul
Paul
2 years ago
Reply to  Dave

I wonder what possesses people to instantly compare the Wales of today to a genocidal far right regime of the previous century… Why would they insist that wanting the people of Wales to have the final say in Wales to be functionally equivalent to Nazism?

Bachgen o Sir Caerfyrddin.
Bachgen o Sir Caerfyrddin.
2 years ago
Reply to  Dave

Waw this comment is rejected. Speaks volumes for commentators on here. Being Welsh is embarrassing sometimes.

Piers Carruthers
Piers Carruthers
2 years ago
Reply to  Dave

What about Drakeford is that a surname of Welsh origin?

defaid
defaid
2 years ago

Cox, George, Russell, Bale, Jones, Thomas, Herbert, Bassey, Cooper, Davies, Edwards, John, Giggs, Grey-Thompson, Lawrence, Recorde, Steadman.

Are you saying that only those with indigenous names should be permitted to claim that nationality?

If you like, Ill do the same for England.

Piers Carruthers
Piers Carruthers
2 years ago
Reply to  defaid

No I am not suggesting such a right wing thing I am only pointing out that the Drakefords must at one tome been English immigrants.

Quornby
Quornby
2 years ago

Dafydd Wigley said “You are Welsh if you choose to be”. Whatever your surname might be.

Piers Carruthers
Piers Carruthers
2 years ago
Reply to  Quornby

Is Wigley a situational name from Derbyshire

Arwyn
Arwyn
2 years ago

Why o why complain that the Tories didn’t arrange the deckchairs on the Titanic to our liking!?! Get off the sinking ship and into the lifeboats you fools!?! And while we’re at it, can we stop saying the English are responsible for Wales’ Brexit vote. Far more Welsh people in absolute terms voted for Brexit than English people living in Wales did. Ignore them if you like, but those Welsh people are far less likely to view the Senedd favourable and even less so annibyniaeth. There’s been far too much anti-English rhetoric in the comments here recently. It will get… Read more »

Paul
Paul
2 years ago
Reply to  Arwyn

People say it because it is true. There is research to back it up.

Lionel Fensch
Lionel Fensch
2 years ago
Reply to  Paul

Show us it, then.
Not an article.
Not a photo.
The actual data.

Paul
Paul
2 years ago
Reply to  Lionel Fensch

I did not conduct the research. How do you propose I get my hands on the actual data? What would you do with that data anyway? You have already declared that a research paper is not good enough for you.

Arwyn
Arwyn
2 years ago
Reply to  Paul

Yes, we’ve all seen RWJ’s research. The point is that it’s completely disingenuous to say that “Wales only voted for Brexit because of English incomers.” Wales voted for Brexit because hundreds of thousands of Welsh born and bred voted for it. So ignore the elephant in the room by all means and just go for the lazy “It’s the English wot done it” line and let’s see if that works as an analysis of recent events and helps us in our cause. I’ll happily offer a shortcut – switch focus to how to win votes for independence supporting parties. Focus… Read more »

Paul
Paul
2 years ago
Reply to  Arwyn

That is not what I wrote. That is what you, being lazy, decided to attribute to me. The papers on the subject indicate the Wales would have voted remain without the effect of people who moved here voting leave.

Paul
Paul
2 years ago
Reply to  Arwyn

You also seem to read a monstrous amount into my one comment. What is it that makes you convinced I am not already engaged in doing those things? Why should I believe that you are doing any of those things?

Dryserth
Dryserth
2 years ago
Reply to  Paul

I think you speak with forked tongue

anon
anon
2 years ago

It’s about time local councils took the bull between the horns and taxed empty homes enough council tax to reinvest in local schools and the Welsh language. Make the empty hol homes pay tax for every day they’re empty so that it will benefit the local community and help the language flourish despite attempts to kill it by neglect. Investing enough in local schools to make them ALL Welsh language primarily and free adult language classes. Find the way!

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