Weakened Tories less gung-ho over taking Assembly powers
Chief reporter Martin Shipton detects a slight softening of tone from the Conservatives over plans that could see powers over regional aid policy and farming subsidies grabbed by Whitehall...
WITH Theresa May having failed to secure an overall majority, there are glimmers that may suggest a softening of her Government’s negotiating stance – not, as yet, on the vexed issue of soft Brexit v hard Brexit, but on the question of where power should lie in relation to two significant policy areas after the UK leaves the EU.
Before the General Election, the Conservatives were quite gung-ho in their approach towards regional aid policy, as well as farming subsidies, post-Brexit.
The Tory manifesto implied that responsibility for both could be grabbed by the UK Government in a move that would represent a major roll back of devolution.
It said a re-elected Conservative Government would set up a “United Kingdom Shared Prosperity Fund” to help poorer UK regions like West Wales and the Valleys, which has received three successive rounds of EU “structural funds” aimed at increasing prosperity.
The manifesto said: “We believe in one nation – in helping every part of our country share in the prosperity and opportunity of our great UK.
“Yet there is much to do. Current EU-wide structural funding was designed to tackle disparities, but it is expensive to administer and poorly targeted.
“As we leave the EU, we must look at how we can better reduce and eliminate these inequalities.
“We will use the structural fund money that comes back to the UK following Brexit to create a UK Shared Prosperity Fund, specifically designed to reduce inequalities between communities across our four nations. The money that is spent will help deliver sustainable, inclusive growth based on our modern industrial strategy.”
The manifesto went on to state that a UK Conservative Government would consult widely on the design of the fund, including with the devolved administrations, local authorities, businesses and public bodies.
The relevant section concluded: “The UK Shared Prosperity Fund will be cheap to administer, low in bureaucracy and targeted where it will be needed most.”
It’s certainly the case that Labour has interpreted the pledge as meaning that it would be cut out of running regional aid policy in Wales, meaning the closure of the Welsh Government’s Welsh European Funding Office in Merthyr Tydfil with the loss of around 200 jobs, and the responsibility for administering future regional aid programmes shifted to Whitehall.
At the same time the Conservatives suggested that farming subsidies would be decided on a UK-wide basis, rather than left to devolved administrations.
Now, however, there appears to have been a nuanced softening of the approach.
Responding to my request for a statement on the issues, Leader of the Welsh Conservatives, Andrew RT Davies, said: “Brexit is a huge opportunity for Wales, and a chance to put behind us decades of failure to target resources and finance where they are needed most.
“We can determine priorities locally, and reverse the power grab of faceless and unelected bureaucrats.
“Some of the detail is already emerging and it’s exciting, particularly for communities outside of the gerrymandered region [West Wales and the Valleys] which has soaked up the lion’s share of EU funding. Places like Barry and Wrexham will now be able to benefit from the UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund, just as Welsh farmers will soon benefit from a locally driven replacement to a Common Agricultural Policy which doesn’t fit.
“I am delighted to see that there is an emerging consensus that farming will need a UK framework; something I have argued for since the referendum. But this isn’t about rowing back the devolved settlement. Noone wants to see powers taken away from the Assembly, and Brexit will actually bring decision-making back to this country and closer to Welsh citizens. It’s a victory for democracy, and I hope that we can all now unite and work together – on all sides – to deliver on the collective will of the people.”
Meanwhile, during a press briefing at which he claimed that politicians from other parties were ignoring public concerns about immigration, Ukip Assembly group leader Neil Hamilton said that responsibility for both regional aid and agricultural policy should remain with the Welsh Government post-Brexit, and that “every penny” should be paid to Wales.
It’s certainly good to hear the two right-wing parties represented in the Assembly coming out against a rowing back of Assembly powers: this is an important step forward.
It would be ridiculous if the Welsh Government was cut out of responsibilty for delivering regional aid across Wales. There is also merit in extending discretion over where the aid should be spent to the whole of Wales. The West Wales and the Valleys region was artificially created to ensure it qualified for maximum aid. Now that we’re coming out of the EU, we can dispense with the previous rule.