Successive independent reports following the banking crash showed that the last UK Labour Government ignored warnings and applied light touch regulation to the banks.
By 2010, the UK budget deficit was the worst in the G20, behind only Ireland and Greece in the EU.
The Austerity inherited by the incoming UK Government in 2010 was therefore an inheritance, not a choice.
If the UK Government had spent and borrowed more, greater cuts would have been imposed on them.
After all, those high-deficit nations, which rejected austerity, got it in full measure.
Since 2010 the top earners have been paying a higher proportion of income tax than ever before on record whilst the amount paid by lower earners has fallen.
With the deficit now down, Wales will benefit from £1.8 billion of extra investment under a majority UK Conservative Government - on top of the £2.7 billion already committed to increased spending on health and education here.
In contrast, Mr Corbyn’s plans would generate higher interest rates and bigger cuts down the road.
Conservatives are delivering on record investment, with £790 million into Growth Deals across Wales.
This included £120 million for the North Wales Growth Deal.
The UK Conservative Government announced that it was ‘opening the door’ to a Growth Deal for North Wales in its March 2016 Budget and, earlier this month, representatives of the North Wales Economic Ambition Board joined the UK and Welsh Governments to sign the Heads of Terms for the North Wales Growth Deal, which is expected to generate total investment of £1 Billion.
The UK Government has also supported North Wales in other ways, including awarding an £82m defence contract to a Denbighshire firm, and locating the F-35 Maintenance Program at MOD Sealand in North Wales, which is expected to generate millions of pounds and support thousands of jobs.
The 2015-16 ‘Office of Rail and Road Annual Report on UK Rail Industry Financial Information’ stated Wales received 9.6% of net Government funding for Franchised train operators and Network Rail, and 6.4% of the total net Government funding for Network Rail routes.
Their 2017-18 Report showed that Net Government funding as a percentage of the Rail industry’s total income was 17% in England, 47% in Scotland and 49% in Wales - and that net Government funding for Rail Franchises as a percentage of total income, including infrastructure funding, was 56% for Wales and the Borders compared to just 21% for the GB total”.
And their 2018-19 report showed that Government contributed £1.79 per passenger journey in England, £6.14 in Scotland and £9.16 in Wales– where the Wales route had the highest government funding per passenger Kilometre.
Further, Network Rail will invest £2 billion in railways across Wales and its borders over the next 5 years.
The Welsh Government’s Superfast Cymru Broadband Programme was kicked off when the UK Government gave the Welsh Government £57 million in 2011- 11 per cent of all the UK funding - followed by £56 million more in 2017 - and UK Government funding including the £7 million for North Wales announced in June to introduce ultrafast broadband connectivity across the region’s public sector organisations, and create more connections to local businesses and homes.
The ‘Funding Floor’ agreed by UK Conservative Government means that the Welsh Government now benefits from the certainty that the funding it receives for devolved services won’t fall below 115% per head of the figure in England.
Currently, for every £1 per head spent by the UK Conservative Government in England on matters devolved to Wales, £1.20 is given to Wales.
However – after two decades of devolved Labour Welsh Government, Wales has the highest unemployment, highest percentage of employees not on permanent contracts and lowest weekly wages across the UK nations.
Wales remains the least productive UK Nation and successive Labour Welsh Governments have failed to close the gap between the richest and poorest parts of Wales – and between Wales and the rest of the UK - despite the Welsh Government having blown Billions on top-down programmes meant to tackle this.
Between 2010 and 2016 Labour-led Wales was the only UK Nation to see a real terms decrease in identifiable expenditure on Health.
Their A&E targets have not been met since 2009 and they spend a lower proportion of their NHS budget on GPs than any other UK Nation.
AND, despite repeated warnings, they have created an affordable housing supply crisis which did not exist when they came to power two decades ago.
Let this be a warning to all those considering giving their vote to Mr Corbyn.