The Welsh Liberal Democrats have accused the Conservative
Government in Westminster of levelling down Wales in yesterday’s budget,
stating that measures announced by the Government do not even come close to replacing
lost EU funding.
The accusations come as a newly released impact study by the
Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) showed that the UK economy will be 4 per
cent smaller as a result of Brexit, in addition to the 2 per cent smaller it is
set to be from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The announcement from Chancellor Rishi Sunak yesterday also
outlined that Wales will receive a £254 million cut in development funding
after it was revealed Wales will receive just £121 million in funds from the
so-called ‘Levelling-Up’ Fund in comparison to the £375 million a year it would
have received if the UK had remained in the EU.
Commenting Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader, Jane Dodds MS,
stated: “We are now seriously beginning to feel the consequences of this
Conservative Government’s obsessive Brexit ideology and the harm it is
inflicting on the Welsh economy.
“In addition to acute labour shortages, supply shortages
and price increases we now have significant evidence provided to us by the OBR
showing the damage Brexit is doing to our economy. This can no longer be passed
off as project fear, but rather project reality.
“The ‘levelling-up funding announced by the Chancellor
yesterday is a pittance compared to that Wales would have received under EU
development funds, and in fact signals a levelling down of Wales by this
Conservative Government.
“In addition to a cut in funding, the powers over this
funding have been removed from Wales, meaning decision making is once again
happening further away from the people and with less accountability to the
people of Wales.
“This is already causing serious concern on how the
Government are allocating funding, with 60 per cent of the announced funding
going to Conservative seats in Wales, despite the Conservatives only having 35
per cent of the seats in Wales.
“The Conservatives have utterly failed to keep their
promise that Wales won't be a penny worst off because of Brexit, they must
urgently ditch their attachment to rigid Brexit ideology in order to save Welsh
jobs, livelihoods and the economy.”
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