Wales-England Western Gateway ‘as important as Northern Powerhouse’ says UK Government minister
A cross border economic region that aims to break down barriers between Wales and England is as important as the Northern Powerhouse, a UK Government minister has said.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke said that the Western Gateway was a “phenomenally important part of our wider UK growth package.”.
“The western gateway has equal standing alongside the northern powerhouse and the midlands engine,” he said in the House of Commons.
One stated aim of the scheme is to provide faster transport connections across the Wales and England border.
The scheme however came under fire at its launch when then Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns referred to the new economic area as ‘West Britain’.
Carmarthen West and Dinefwr MP Jonathan Edwards responded by calling the project an attempt to “see our country turned into West Britain”.
In the House of Commons Newport East MP Jessica Morden asked the UK Government for a progress report on the Western Gateway.
“It is still yet to receive the same level of recognition from the Government as other pan-regional partnerships, such as the northern powerhouse,” she said.
“Will the Government address that and get behind the western gateway?”
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke responded that he was “always happy to support its work”.
“The western gateway is a phenomenally important part of our wider UK growth package,” he said.
“I can certainly confirm that I and, indeed, Ministers in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities are always happy to engage substantively with the hon. Lady and with the leadership of local authorities in that area.”
Support our Nation today
For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.
So South Wales is to be incorporated into South West England
Step 1 in the assimilation of our country, into a greater England under this gov has started.
The Labour Leader of Cardiff City Council and other Labour luminaries are all in favor of this scheme to destroy Wales. It is not just Cairns and the Tory Party.
Shame on Plaid Cymru going into government with Labour!
They tried this with north east Wales and the Merseyside and Cheshire area. – do not worry it will not happen as the rural folk of Somerset and Bath will not want to be linked with a greater Bristol let alone we dreaded Welsh 😂. The Cheshire and Wirral folk did all the work to scupper our mad scheme Sounds like cunning plan to explain the government’s interest to explain investment in the north east and north west. There is now little threat from the Liberals in this area now so at the end of the day a bit more… Read more »
Big extension in England to include Salisbury. Meanwhile Barry, Bridgend, Merthyr don’t even get a dot on the map – they’re all bigger than Salisbury. Suspicious?
Efallai bod yn amserol adennill Caersallog (Salisbury) yn ôl i Gymru!
South Wales’ strongest transport link is already with West England. The South Wales to North Wales transport infrastructure is what is lacking. And seems to be deliberately and calculatedly ignored to prevent a Greater Welsh economic development.
Yes, the fear of Welsh success is very real, that’s why “Welsh Tories try to scupper any.
When a decent North/South Wales road link is discussed the outcome is always that it’s too difficult because there’s them there darn hills in the way. Do you remember the documentaries explaining the difficulties faced in the design of Crossrail ? They had to circumnavigate around all the other services underground, bypassing some by just feet. But that difficulty was irrelevant. Because it was for the good of London. And Wales was forced into paying a billion toward it. And Crossrail 2 (North/South) will also happen in the not too distant future, especially if bumbling Boris retains his job because… Read more »
and we can all see what an absolute sh*t show the northern powerhouse is. all this is will be, is a continuation of the extraction of wealth and power from Wales to Ingurland
there will be no benefit for Wales.
You can already hear the slurping sound of the vampire colonialist draining what little is left of our lifeblood.
Better transport links? If you’re serious about levelling up …. why didn’t you start the rail electrification works in Swansea and work from there towards England?
No, the larger, more populous England will always take priority over what they see as the Celtic Fringe.
We will only ever achieve sustainable prosperity if we have full control of our country.
Viva La (peaceful) Revolution!
The beast from the east
All these initiatives are way too late – We are heading for independence. Then we can make our own powerhouse, between north and south Wales. Or in other words – Wales will be the powerhouse.
Wales should be developing its own power houses in all four corners of our country rather than being an appendage to England hoping for scraps to be thrown.