Happy 10th anniversary to the National Assembly. To mark this occasion the man who lead the non-Party 'Yes for Wales' campaign, Prof Kevin Morgan, has written a sober piece to remind us that the promises made have not been delivered.
"We had over-inflated ambitions in 1999 about the ability of government to improve economic performance" he laments.
It is worth reading the entire piece, but here is a damming reminder of the state we are in:
The Welsh Valleys remain stubbornly at the bottom end of all statistics. Of the top 10 Parliamentary constituencies with the highest incapacity benefit claimants in the UK, the Valleys contain five – Merthyr, Rhondda, Cynon Valley, Blaenau Gwent, and Aberavon. For Wales as a whole there is a steady stream of negative statistics:
Only the West Midlands has had slower growth since 1999;
Lowest private sector R&D spend in the UK;
lowest full-time weekly wages in the UK;
bottom of UK rankings for tests for 15-year-olds;
we spend 8% per child less than England in schools;
we have a spending gap of £55m with England in higher education;
fewer graduates remain in Wales for employment than other UK nations.
And now make a wish...
What the hell is wrong with Labour?
40 minutes ago
Posts
1 comments:
The whole argument about the 'devolution dividend' had very shaky foundations indeed, not least because it assumed that the new Assembly Government would somehow control the economy. This wishful thinking not only ignored the reality of exchange rates, interest rates and global competition, but also overlooked the importance of skills, transport and planning within Wales. We got lots of useless strategies and policies that perpetuated this myth that the Assembly runs the economic show. It does not, and the sooner it wakes up to that fact and focuses on putting in place the conditions for a fair as well as growing economic system the better.
Post a Comment