Well, it seems that Theresa May has found her magic money tree once again. After nine long years of Labour MPs calling for greater investment across the UK, only when the Prime Minister needs to get her botched Brexit deal through the commons does she start to clear the cobwebs from the Treasury vaults. But while this gruel for deprived English towns may be pretty thin, it is gruel nonetheless. But what did Wales get in today’s desperate round of handouts? Nothing. We didn’t even figure.
The Prime Minister’s announcement underlined once again the Tories’ utter disdain for Wales, where after almost £1billion of cuts to the Welsh budget since 2010, she hasn’t offered us a single penny in this so-called spending splurge.
Of course, I welcome any spending commitments for those English communities which have felt the devastating impact of Tory austerity hardest. But I also share the anger of many of my Labour colleagues in England about the – absurdly named - Stronger Towns Fund. In government spending terms, the £1.6billion the Prime Minister has pledged to spend over the next six years amounts to just £266million per year. This is an offensive drop in the ocean when compared to the hundreds of millions of pounds that have been slashed from local government budgets, pushing many of the towns Theresa May now professes to want to help to breaking point.
Even a late attempt by No10 spin doctors to fix the mess has ended in abject disaster, with no guarantee given that Wales would receive its rightful associated block of funding – the “Barnett Consequential.” If it is new money, Theresa May should have been clear from the outset as to how Wales will benefit from this investment. If this is money being taken from other budgets, her attempted bribe is doubly obscene.
Alongside this it’s important to note that Wales currently receives around £680million in EU funding every year. When I asked the Welsh Secretary, Alun Cairns, last week to confirm how this funding will be replaced post-2020, through the Shared Prosperity Fund, he was still unable to do so. With just 25 days to go until we are supposed to be leaving the EU, it speaks volumes about this government’s contempt for communities across Wales.
There’s an important backdrop to all of this which we must not forget. The Welsh budget has felt the full force of Tory austerity since 2010, shrinking by more than £850million. The impact of this cannot be understated. This has meant less money to be spent on Welsh priorities and frontline public services across Wales. The Conservatives have constituently neglected Wales since they entered office and Theresa May’s failure to mention Wales as part of today’s announced funding just acts to further underline this level of neglect.
So, as well as spending cuts, what else have the Tories done for Wales since 2010? Whether it be the scrapping rail electrification west of Cardiff, cancelling the Tidal Lagoon and utterly failing to support the Wylfa Newydd power plant, failing to invest in the non-devolved parts of our rail network and causing unprecedented uncertainty for businesses with their shambolic handling of the Brexit negotiations, it’s clear the Tories have given up Wales. They don’t even bother to feign an interest anymore.
Set this all against our Welsh Labour Government which are delivering a whopping £5billion on our Welsh rail network alone, and it becomes abundantly clear that there is only one party which is standing up for Wales - and it certainly isn’t Theresa May’s Tories.
But in these peculiar political times, nothing is impossible. Perhaps Liam Fox could be tasked with securing a trade deal for some fertiliser, because Theresa May’s magic money tree will need all the help it can get in the weeks ahead.
Chris Elmore is the Labour MP for Ogmore