I’m not sure
what it says about the Welsh Government’s economic policy. I had thought that the emphasis was moving
away from attracting inward investment in order to concentrate on growing and
developing indigenous businesses; not least because of experience. Whilst some inward investment into Wales has
created some sound long-term employment, there are plenty of other examples of
a short-term presence which moves on when the grants run out. In effect, policy often seems to be whatever
is happening at the time; events drive policy rather than policy driving
events.
Political
reaction has been predictable. The
Tories point to every failure in economic policy as being down to the Welsh
government and claim the latest news as a success for UK policy; whilst Labour
point to every failure as being the fault of the UK government, and claim the
news as a success for their policies.
They can’t both
be right of course – but that doesn’t mean that they can’t both be wrong. I don’t simply mean that the policy pursued
by the UK government would have been much the same if Labour were in power
(although it would have been) or even the same thing in reverse in Cardiff Bay (although
it’s easier to conceive of a Labour UK government than of a Tory Welsh
government). I mean rather that economic
policies pursued by governments at both ends of the M4 might actually have had a
negligible impact on the outcome.
Governments like to pretend they’re in control when things are going
well, and pretend that things are out of their hands when things are going
badly. I suspect they’re right on the
latter, but simply deliberately understate the applicability of that
conclusion.
Posts
2 comments:
"Governments like to pretend they’re in control when things are going well, and pretend that things are out of their hands when things are going badly." Quite so! But perhaps you should have added in the word 'recent' as in recent governments. I don't recall Churchill or Thatcher governments ever stooping so low.
On a slightly different subject but in the light of Hazel Irvine's comments what exactly is the status of Wales? And, if indeed it is in every sense of the word a 'country' in its own right should the people of Wales demand an immediate vote on self-determination (much akin to that taking place in Scotland).
Apologies for the change of theme, I certainly don't want to wreck your blog but the question is surely pertinent.
"I don't recall Churchill or Thatcher governments ever stooping so low." I think if you look back over the Thatcher years - and Callaghan, Heath, and Wilson before that (my memory doesn't go back to Churchill) - you will find plenty of references to 'international' factors when the economy was doing badly, and plenty of 'how good our policy is' statements for when things were going well.
Your other question requires a longer answer than is sensible in a comment on a post on an entirely different subject, so I'm not going to deal with it here.
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