Speaking in the Assembly Chamber this afternoon, North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood slammed the “historic underfunding of North Wales by the Labour Welsh Government” and spoke of the need to strengthen the performance of the North Wales economy.
Mr Isherwood also made fresh calls for the devolution of powers from the Welsh Government to North Wales.
Speaking in the Opposition Debate on North Wales, Mr Isherwood expressed concern that the Welsh Government has now launched four economic strategies since 1999, yet Wales’ economic performance has continued to stagnate, and that the value of goods and services produced per head of population (GVA) in West Wales and the Valleys sub-region, including four North Wales Counties, is still bottom across the UK, at just 64% of the UK average.
He said:
“Even Flintshire and Wrexham have seen their GVA fall from almost 100 per cent of the UK GVA level to just 84%, whilst GVA in Anglesey has fallen to just 54%, the lowest level in the UK.
“Yet this Welsh Labour Government only gives Anglesey the 11th highest level of local government revenue funding per head of population out of 22 Welsh Local Authorities, with Conwy 15th, Wrexham 18th, and Flintshire 19th.
He added: “The Labour Welsh Government amendment claiming that it has played the ‘cross-border leadership role in developing proposals with partners for a North Wales Growth Deal’ is laughable.
“In its March 2016 Budget the UK Government announced that it was ‘opening the door’ to a Growth Deal for North Wales and that it would be looking for the next Welsh Government to devolve powers down and invest in the region as part of any future deal.
“At least the UK Government has the courtesy to say that officials from both itself and Welsh Government have been working with local partners to develop the vision and understand where a growth deal would sit within it.
“The UK Government encouraged local partners to prioritise their proposals – which is precisely what ‘the Growth Vision for the Economy of North Wales’ does, when it calls for the devolution of powers by the Welsh Government over employment, taxes, skills and transport, stating that this “would boost the economy, jobs and productivity, create at least 120,000 jobs, and boost the value of the local economy from £12.8 billion to £20 billion by 2035.
“People in North Wales look South and conclude that different set of rules are being applied to different parts of Wales. As the Chair of the North Wales Chamber of Commerce stated, the Welsh Government is too 'Cardiff-centric' and “North Wales could be better served if it could secure its own form of devolution deal with the Welsh Government so it can respond much more quickly and in a more informed manner to ongoing developments within the region and across the border”.
“I therefore move Amendments 2 and 3, proposing that this Assembly notes “that the North Wales Economic Ambition Board's 'A Growth Vision for the Economy of North Wales' document concludes that ‘North Wales is well placed to receive a range of new responsibilities’, and endorses its call for the devolution of powers by the Welsh Government”.
“Evidence submitted by the North Wales Economic Ambition Board to the Economy and Infrastructure and Skills Committee’s “City Deals and the Regional Economies of Wales” inquiry stated ‘Devolution of functions to North Wales that matches that of neighbouring English regions is a defensive necessity and a desirable enabler of growth’.”