Secrecy does not serve Wales well

IT’S no longer whether the Welsh and UK economies will enter recession, but whether a full-blown depression will take hold. Wales will need strategic oversight and assistance as we seek to rebuild Welsh industry, post Covid-19.

The Senedd claimed desire, for openness and transparency, gives Wales the opportunity to refresh our democracy and recapture some of the original aspirations. Accountability will be a major issue. Secrecy does not serve Wales well.

Whatever the political challenges, local government reform, cannot be postponed any longer, post Covid19 we are going to need to prioritise many of the services delivered by it. We have some well-run local authorities, some extremely poor and very secretive, the relatively small size of Local Authorities limits economies of scale and effective service delivery.

The Williams Commission noted six years ago that “good practice is a bad traveller in Wales” and there remains little evidence to the contrary. With a population of 3.1 million, how many local authorities does Wales really need? Can’t we move from the current 22 to four or five, or is that too few? Local government must be the best it possibly can be, not the most secretive.

If Wales is to thrive we need an infrastructure that provides a springboard for growth. Having wasted 20 years and Structural Funding all £10.5bn of it, without even leaving an audit trail, means we need England, not independence.

Graham Simmonds