Ryan Thomas

So, last week the Welsh Government finally decided that they were unwilling to guarantee any losses culminating from the proposed Circuit of Wales up to a value of £200 million. The ground for refusal was based around two main factors; That HM Treasury would add the figure to the Welsh Government's debt and subsequently make adjustments to the block grant, reducing capital funding for projects such as new hospitals, schools and houses.  That the promise of 6,000 jobs was vastly overstated and that the likely number of direct jobs culminating from the project would be as little as 100. I think it is fair to say that the Welsh Government made the right decision. There is no reasonable way that the Welsh Government could have agreed to taking on such a large liability without being able to leverage it against an asset. Anyone who says differently just does not understand public finance (or any other kind of finance for that matter). However, the Welsh Government have also announced a ...

Yesterday, Carwyn Jones and Leanne Wood made a joint appearance in London to launch the Welsh Government's white paper on Brexit, 'Securing Wales' Future' . Rather unorthodoxly, the white paper was developed jointly by the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru. Presumably, the Liberal Democrat Minister of Education would have had at least some input into the document as well. The document is 63 pages long and has been praised as being somewhat longer than the UK Government's vision for Brexit . The document has prefaces by both the First Minister and the Leader of Plaid Cymru. Carwyn echoes Theresa May's message from last week's announcement, that while the UK and Wales will be leaving the European Union the country will very much remain a European country and will want to actively engage with its European neighbours. Leanne Wood takes a stronger position in her forward, expressing Plaid Cymru's desire to remain a member of several European mechanisms includi...