Impetus needed if Wales is to prosper

WITH his 10-point plan for the Welsh economy, Plaid Cymru’s Adam Price has set the bar for leadership candidates in all parties.

If we look at the nation’s economic performance since devolution nearly 20 years ago, it is difficult to argue that the expectations of those who argued for the establishment of a National Assembly have been fulfilled.

Ron Davies used to talk about creating an economic powerhouse. The reality is that according to too many parameters, Wales is underperforming.

It is no badge of honour that for three successive seven-year periods the Welsh region covering the Valleys and west Wales has qualified for the highest level of EU support. With the uncertainty over Brexit still looming, there are profound concerns over the country’s future prosperity.

There’s widespread agreement in the political class that things cannot go on as they are. Eluned Morgan, for example, has touched on that in her bid to get onto the Welsh Labour leadership ballot paper. But the way forward in such circumstances is to come up with practical proposals that could be achieved without too much tinkering with the Assembly’s powers.

Mr Price could not be accused of a lack of ambition for Wales. He wants the nation to succeed and has set out some ideas he believes will help it do so.

Clearly the specific proposals he has come up with require close scrutiny, but as a set of ideas for debate they are impressive.

Many will agree that Wales needs a better capitalised development bank, and Mr Price’s suggestion of a further injection of Welsh Government funds together with a bond issue is probably the only conceivable way forward.

His linked suggestion to set up an infrastructure company also deserves the most serious consideration. Wales has a habit of talking about projects for years before anything is done (or not). Sometimes that has been the fault of others, but if we are to progress with major projects like the South Wales Metro there is the need for greater impetus.

A publicly owned energy company to exploit Wales’ natural resources and job guarantee schemes are the kind of policies that deserve to grab public attention.

The three party leadership elections currently under way have so far had too much generalised rhetoric and not enough meat. Hopefully that will now change.