North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has described the Welsh Government’s failure to close the gap between the richest and poorest parts of the country as a “betrayal”.
In their Debate on Regional Economic Inequality yesterday, Welsh Conservatives called on the Welsh Government to close the gap between the economic fortunes of the different regions.
They stated that the gap between the richest and poorest regions of Wales has created a country of unforgivable inequality, with Gross Value Added (GVA) in some Local Authority areas almost twice that of others. In 2017, GVA in Cardiff was £25,964, compared with £13,957 in Anglesey.
The Debate took place hours after 2017 ONS figures were released revealing that productivity levels in all regions of Wales were below the average for the UK, with the best-performing county of Flintshire and Wrexham still 4% below the UK average. The worst-performing county of Powys is at a damning 35% below average productivity, the lowest figure in the UK.
Wales is now the weakest and slowest-growing economy in the UK, and still lags behind Scotland considerably.
Closing the debate in the Assembly Chamber, Mr Isherwood criticized successive Labour Welsh Governments for the failings.
He said:
“Tragically, Wales remains the least productive of the 12 UK nations and regions. Even more shockingly, for the value of goods and services produced per head in Wales, growth has been slower than Scotland, Northern Ireland and England once again. The only particular positive that I can see was that the highest growth in Wales had been in Flintshire and Wrexham, but this still left the region at below pre-devolution levels.
“Frankly, it's a betrayal that regional inequality in Wales is as it is, with successive Labour Governments failing to close the gap between the richest and poorest parts of the country.
“I'll conclude by quoting Wales Online's article yesterday when they interviewed people in Ebbw Vale. They reported responses from residents, business owners, Councillors, business forum chairs and others being all the same: that they'd had a lovely statue, a lovely glass canopy to replace the old one, a mechanical lift that connects one part of town to the other, a leisure centre had been replaced, a college had been replaced, but despite millions spent on regional regeneration projects, it hadn't done what they needed - bringing jobs and bringing businesses in.”
