Minister of State for Employment, Priti Patel MP, has warned Welsh voters that there are no guarantees over EU structural funding beyond 2020. The revelations will be a huge blow to pro-EU campaigners in Wales.
In an article for the Institute of Welsh Affairs’ (IWA) blog – Click On Wales – the Employment Minister also highlighted attempts by the EU Commission to cut structural funds for Wales by 27% for the period 2014-2020. The proposals were only averted after the UK government re-allocated funds originally intended for England to make up the shortfall.
Writing for the IWA, Ms Patel warned that a “lack of knowledge of Wales” could mean that the EU Commission again seeks to impose “savage cuts” on these funding streams for Wales. She also warned that Turkey’s likely membership of the EU would leave Wales and the UK “certain to see further reductions in these funds beyond 2020”.
In a Written Question, the Chancellor recently confirmed that ERDF and ESF allocations beyond the 2014-2020 period have yet to be agreed, meaning that there are no guarantees over the future of structural funds in Wales beyond 2020.
She said:
“It is […] important for the people of Wales to know that when the EU planned to allocate structural funds for the period 2014-2020, its lack of knowledge of Wales meant that the Commission sought to impose savage cuts on these funding steams for Wales.
“These cuts were in the region of 27% and would have taken hundreds of millions of pounds out of the Welsh economy. The UK Government reallocated some of the funding for England to rebalance some of the shortfall, although West Wales and the Valleys still faces a 16% cut. But the fact that the EU Commission plotted to hit Wales hard with cuts demonstrates that Wales would be better off out of the EU and with the future funding for these types of projects determined by politicians accountable to the Welsh electorate.”
Ms Patel also warned that there is no guarantee that structural funding will continue beyond 2020, or what amounts Wales would receive:
“…there is no guarantee that these EU branded funds will continue beyond 2020 because the Government cannot give any indication of what the funding levels will be and if they will exist at all. But with high demands on resources from other parts of the EU and from countries like Turkey that are looking to join the EU, Wales and the UK look certain to see further reductions in these funds beyond 2020.
“The EU planned deep cut before and will do so again. The only way to prevent this from happening and to give the Governments in Cardiff and Whitehall free choice how to spend this money is to vote to take back control and leave the EU.”
Ms Patel also warned that Wales’ membership of the EU was stifling the ability of domestic governments (in Westminster and Cardiff Bay) to support the ailing steel industry.
She said:
“The EU […] stands as a barrier to us giving support to businesses in need. When the Welsh steel industry needed intervention, both the Governments in Westminster and Cardiff were limited in what they could do by the EU. Membership of the EU meant it took Commission bureaucrats fifty days to approve a state aid application, a delay that cost millions and jobs.
“We are also powerless to set tariffs to protect Welsh and UK based businesses from dumping from China. When an important Welsh industry needs help in the future, we are in a far weaker position to assist while we remain in the EU.
“By voting to leave the EU, we can take back control of these laws and set sensible regulations that support employees, investment, job creation, and growth in Wales.”
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