You can’t spend sovereignty, Mr Farage

Jack Meredith

In 2015, Nigel Farage visited Swansea, Wales, in the run-up to the referendum on European Union membership. He made several claims during his visit, stating that Wales was receiving a “rotten deal” from the EU, alleging its membership was causing severe damage to the Welsh steel industry and that small businesses were at risk of collapse.

He claimed that the UK had ceded control of fishing, industry, farming, and business to the EU, but provided no evidence to support these claims.

Fast forward four years. By this time, the UK had voted to leave the EU, and Mr Farage was back in Wales once more, this time in Merthyr Tydfil, campaigning for a UKIP victory in the European elections. When questioned by a BBC reporter about the benefits to Wales of leaving the EU, by then referred to as “Brexit”, Mr Farage was unable to answer. When questioned about the money Wales received from the EU, specifically £250 million a year, Mr Farage simply responded that “we” have given away hundreds of billions over the last few decades.

When pressed further on how Wales would benefit from Brexit, Mr Farage stated that the UK would be in charge of its steel industry, even though it was forty miles away from where he currently was, and couldn’t provide any real benefits for the Merthyr Tydfil agricultural industry.

Despite Mr Farage’s claims of unfairness on the part of Wales’ membership, EU Structural Funds have greatly benefited the country. Refurbishment and redevelopment projects throughout Merthyr Tydfil Town Centre, amounting to £7.15 million, saw the installation of St Tydfil’s Bridge, providing a link between the College area and the town centre, along with the creation of a new arts centre.

In East Wales alone, £3.1 billion was invested through EU funding, supporting the creation of small businesses, renewable energy projects, research and innovation, and urban development. Through the Rural Development Programme, the EU invested over £846 million in farming businesses and sustainable land management, with more than £409 million allocated explicitly for farmers.

In South Wales, the story is all too similar. Port Talbot saw regeneration projects, funded by the EU, through the creation of the Harbour Way M4 link road, which involved an investment of £54 million, as well as a new engineering research centre, with an investment of £7.5 million, and a new transport hub for the town centre, with an investment of £2.5 million.

Swansea University also saw its fair share of investment, with the European Investment Bank providing £60 million to enhance both Singleton and Bay campuses.

Meanwhile, in North and Mid Wales, respectively, EU investments of £1 million in Powys Council led to the creation of the Cynnydd Project, a joint partnership between the Council and Careers Wales to better support young people aged 11-16, while a £1.5 million EU investment in Conwy County Borough Council saw the creation of a new enterprise park, that was expected to create up to 150 new jobs for the region.

With so much funding given to Wales by the EU, one must wonder how Mr Farage was able to make his claims of a “rotten deal” with a straight face. Throughout the run-up to the Brexit vote, Mr Farage talked about “taking back control” and, during his speech at the 2024 Sovereignty Summit, claimed that he had won the battle for Britain’s sovereignty against “globalist institutions” like the EU.

And now, nearly a decade on from the promises and the slogans, the steel industry still struggles, farming is no more secure, and the billions once flowing into Welsh communities have slowed to a trickle. While the EU funded roads, campuses, youth projects, and innovation, Mr Farage offered only slogans about control, with no answers when pressed.

You can’t fund schools with rhetoric. You can’t rebuild communities with ideology. And you certainly can’t pay the bills with control. You can’t spend sovereignty, Mr Farage, but you did spend Wales’ future chasing it.

Jack Meredith is a member of the Welsh Liberal Democrats