Extract from Lords debate on the Budget: Shared Prosperity Fund - Mar 12
Saturday, 13 March 2021 10:56
Lord Wigley (PC) [V]:...We must trust our local communities and
that can happen only by empowering them, so the Budget should also
have urged Wales to maximise capital expenditure using, where
necessary, our own borrowing and tax-varying powers to respond to
local needs. The Budget decision to sprinkle capital projects like
confetti around these islands, through the centralised,
micro-managed shared prosperity fund not only reeks of pork-barrel
politics but reflects a scattergun approach...Request free trial
(PC) [V]:...We must trust our local communities
and that can happen only by empowering them, so the Budget should
also have urged Wales to maximise capital expenditure using, where
necessary, our own borrowing and tax-varying powers to respond to
local needs. The Budget decision to sprinkle capital projects like
confetti around these islands, through the centralised,
micro-managed shared prosperity fund not only reeks
of pork-barrel politics but reflects a scattergun approach which
cannot deliver sustainable economic solutions in a co-ordinated
manner. The shared prosperity fund has just £220
million for the whole UK this year, compared to the annual £375
million that Wales received from EU structural funds. Brexit
pledges to Wales turned to dust. I fear that this Budget may do
likewise...
To read the whole debate, CLICK
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