Wales being worst hit by post Brexit losses of EU funding, research shows
Wales is being hardest hit by the post Brexit loss of EU Structural Funds, latest figures have shown.
The £373 million lost by Wales is more than double that of Scotland (£125m) and most of the English regions that have previously received European Union support.
Labour say the figures, which show more than £1 billion lost, ‘make a mockery’ of the UK Government’s claims to be ‘levelling up’ the UK.
Steve Reed, Labour’s shadow communities secretary, said: “This research makes a mockery of the Conservatives’ pledge to fix the gigantic regional inequalities they have created.
“Not only is the government failing to fulfil its promise to match what these regions have lost, it is making them bid against each other for what little funding there is, prioritising rich areas over poorer ones.”
The analysis shows the biggest losers in England to be Midlands (£190m), Yorkshire (£143m), Cornwall (£95m), the north-west (£88m) and the north east (£80m).
Losses
The EU Structural Fund ended in December 2020 with Wales no longer receiving an annual sum of £373m in economic aid.
The UK Government has pledged to replace the amount lost with a Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF) but has yet to provide clear details about how this will work.
In the meantime, £220m funds are being provided by a Community Renewal Fund but this covers all of the UK nations with Wales expecting to receive around £10m.
In a recent interview, First Minister Carwyn Jones said Welsh voters had been promised in 2016 that, “Wales would not be a penny worse off as a result of Brexit.”
He said: “Sadly that is turning out to be absolutely not the case. Wales will be many, many millions of pounds worse off next year as a result of Brexit because the UK Government simply isn’t delivering on that promise.”
‘Levelling up’
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson delivered his ‘levelling up’ speech in July in which he admitted that the UK had a ‘glaring imbalance’ in its economy.
He said: “It is an astonishing fact that 31 years after German unification, the per capita GDP of the North East of our country, Yorkshire, the East Midlands, Wales and Northern Ireland is now lower than in what was formerly East Germany – and I remember going to former East Germany in 1990, just after the wall had gone down.”
While highlighting the problem, his speech was criticised for failing to provide any practical solutions.
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This is only a surprise to just over half of us. The rest saw this obvious outcome 6 years ago.
You could always move to England if you hate wales so much
Overwhelmingly? Grow up. How we voted when conned is irrelevant. Usual unionist drivel.
What’s the problem here? They wanted it, they voted for it, they got it. We are assured that they knew what they were voting for and of course they had done the necessary research. Warnings were all called Project Fear. Now they get to find out for themselves that the EU may have cared about them, the Tories not so much. Meanwhile, ROI trade through their ports is disappearing. Cold times ahead I think.
Well that’s a bit harsh! A “quasi-Marxist dictatorship”? That sounds like some people calling the EU “the Fourth Reich”. I vaguely recall the Welsh quasi-Marxist dictatorship campaigned to stay in “The Fourth Reich” at the time, it is all so confusing to me. Perhaps Wales wouldn’t be hooked on the welfare drug if it wasn’t under the control of its exploitative pushers in London? 😀😀😀😀
52.5% voted Leave, 47.5% voted Remain, so it’s slightly more in favour of Leave than the UK as a whole, but not really overwhelming.
The poorest areas, and the areas that received most EU funds were the ones that voted Leave. Cardiff voted 60% Remain – would you call that overwhelming?
Hardly overwhelming.
854,572 leave
772,347 remain
643,353 did not vote
PEOPLE in Wales voted MARGINALLY to self destruct with the Tory-owned Brexit. It was a blue on blue disaster (whilst red was AWOL).
waah waah waah “Marxist” waah waah waah. All Cymru needs for credibility is to independently govern itself, free from Unionist Tory interference. More and more people are noticing this. But keep your tantrums going you big baby. Every rant wins new supporters for independence.
52% to 48% not quite overwhelming…. and the evidence is that people have changed their mind
Dach chi’n hapus rŵan, chi, Frecsitwyr?
Ai dyma oeddech chi eisiau – llysiau yn pydru mewn caeau, archfarchnadoedd efo silffoedd gwag, diwydiannau mawr a bach yn cau ledled Cymru, ein cyfeillion hoff o Ewrop yn ein gadael a swyddi yn methu cael eu llenwi mewn llawer maes? A’r arian mawr a addawyd i’r GIG yn ôI Bws Mawr Coch Boris a’i gyfeillion? I gyd er mwyn “Cymryd yr Awennau yn eu Holau”.
How’s all that working out for you?
And you lost your automatic right to work, settle, invest, live, in the European Union, which includes quite a few Welsh favorite spots. I live in one of them (Canaries), and resident Welsh are NOT happy.
Nid am ddim yr adweinir fi mewn cylchoedd eraill fel Sion o Ewrop …. <crying emoji>
Wales voted for this disaster. Now enjoy Brexit!
So Wales pays the price again. The price of being a defeated people subject to the whims of charlatans.
In November 2020, EU contribution savings meant Extra funding is £5bn for Wales; on top of 2019/20 Barnett block grant of £16bn in Wales.
Write that on the side of a bus and some idiots will believe you!
Where is the money ? We are only getting £10m extra at the moment (and we haven’t even received that yet and we stopped getting funding in 2020). We will not get what we received from the EU – you know it and I know it.
Brexit was always going to be a disaster for Wales. There is no point in moaning about it now. The sooner we get out of the UK the sooner we can start building a more prosperous society for ourselves.
I hope Mr Drakeford is reading some of these comments and moves us toward indy.
He is capable and should grasp the chance to help build a society close to his dreams.
But the Welsh said they knew what they were voting for, conned by Johnson and the Tories