One of the
points made frequently by those who wish to see the UK leave the EU is
that the ‘European’ funds which areas such as Wales receive aren’t really
European at all; they’re just UK funds cycled through Brussels. On this basis, the argument goes, any UK
government outside the EU could simply give the money directly to Wales and cut
out the middle man.
The logic of
that is inescapable, and the usual counter argument is that whilst it may theoretically
be true, the UK government could not be depended on to do that. I agree with that as well in practice, but
boiling the issue down to who we trust least means that it isn’t really an
economic argument at all.
Last week, when
he was in Wales, Cameron himself made it clear that he could not and would not
guarantee to replace EU funding with equivalent UK funding in the event of a UK
exit. It was refreshingly honest, but I
can’t help feeling that it’s rather strange for any politician, and perhaps
especially for a Prime Minister, to try and win any argument by saying, in
effect, “You can’t trust me”. It’s a strange world sometimes.
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4 comments:
With a political party intent on reducing the state, it would be an optimist who expects the same level of funding.
John Tyler.
Yes but Cameron is canny enough to realize that if people distrust him anyway he might as well use it to his advantage. After all its not as if he needs or expects to get many votes in Wales.
Anonymous
By extension the populations (voters} of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are not needed since none of these in isolation or in combination can determine the outcome of a UK election England dominates the numbers game The others are colonies but we alone are a Principality wow!!
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What should worry those that want to stay in the EU is that friends, family and work colleagues I've spoken to know that the UK wont fill the funding gap but some are still planning to vote to leave the EU anyway.
Whatever your thoughts about Nicola Sturgeon, she's right about the Stay campaign needing to be positive because a fed up electorate being lectured at is just as likely to vote to leave to give Cameron and Co a bloody nose.
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