First Minister Carwyn Jones has said there is an overwhelming case for the revision of the Barnett Formula – the mechanism which determines how much money Wales gets from the UK Government.
Speaking in the wake of Britain’s decision to withdraw from the European Union, he said: “The country has taken a fundamental decision.
“I am deeply disappointed with the result.
“This was a referendum I was never convinced we should have – not because I object to the democratic decision taken today – but because of its timing so soon after elections and I always feared that the debate would never really be about the EU.
“This argument has not been one that represents a great advert for our political discourse in Britain.
“But, a decision has been taken. And we must respect that.”
Mr Jones said his priority was to protect Wales’ interests with the focus on protecting jobs, Wales’ role in EU exit negotiations, retaining access to the single market, and the foreseeable continuation of EU-backed projects.
He added: “Wales is a net beneficiary from the EU to the tune of hundreds of millions of pounds. There is now an overwhelming case for a major and immediate revision of the Barnett Formula taking into account needs arising from EU withdrawal and I call today for the promise made that Wales will not lose a penny to be guaranteed.”
Mr Jones also said there are “far-reaching implications for the devolution settlement” and called for unity.
He said: “”Areas of Wales and England that contain post-industrial communities, often deprived communities, voted out – even though they had often benefited massively from European funding. Even though those communities voted for parties in May who supported a Remain vote. Too many people in these communities feel that politics, and our economy, has left them behind, and we have a real task ahead to undo that sense of alienation.”
You are joking, right? We in London voting overwhelmingly to stay in, but we’re being dragged out because other parts of England and Wales bought the lies and bigotry Farage, Boris and Gove peddled. We’re already going to have to pay a heavy price for a choice we did not make. You can’t seriously expect us to pay even more towards those who’ve put us and our families in this awful position. I totally understand that there are are areas which have suffered tremendously but the problem is Westminster not Europe. Why on earth did you vote us out? We’re now faced with a new PM/govt who’ll will do even more damage to our health, education services and impose more cuts which will harm deprived areas – all without the safety net of Europe. It’s a disaster and all of you who voted leave should be ashamed.
The problem is that if you lived in Wales you would see that the majority of people in Wales have not seen the benefits of being in the EU, yes Wales has had many billions in EU funding which has mainly been spent keeping local authority bods in well paid jobs and failing third sector organisations going year after year, councils have built themselves plush new multi million pound offices and thrown obscene amounts of EU money at pet projects but Wales still has some of the poorest areas in the UK. Carwyn just like Corbyn didn’t do much for the remain campaign, I had one sad sorry leaflet pushed through my door from Labour a day before the referendum. Perhaps there has been some confusion with the voters – Welsh voters will always vote against the Tories, so in this vote did some really understand fully what exactly they were voting for or did they just vote against David Cameron.
Thanks, its helpful to get a sense whats really behind this. If nothing else I do hope this will start a real conversation on why so many feel so frustrated and angry, and really try and find a different way forward. The heartbreaking thing is that we’re now heading in the direction of a much further right govt which will listen less not more, with more ‘privatisation’, less support to those that need it and more damage to state services like health and education. I know people have voted but I genuinely believe many werent aware of what the impacts were really going to be, not least in terms of strengthening the hard right section of the Tory party. I’ve never felt this upset and worried about the UKs future.
It was the inability of governments of the last 25 years to listen to the people that caused this result. I can’t speak for London but I can inform you about how many people in South Wales feel. The tories have never listened to us and labour has moved so far from its roots as to be unrecognisable to the voice of the working man that it once was. No longer do our labour political elite talk about the deindustrialisation of the valleys or the abject poverty or the ripping apart of our communities by class A drugs. They stopped talking about manufacturing and industry and talked instead of Europe and positive effects of immigration whilst ignoring its negative aspects and anyone who raised those points.
In short, people outside of London have been ignored for so long that when they had the opportunity to vote against London they did. Like it or not if you think this adversely effects London then London shouldn’t have been so arrogant for so long.
I get the impression that you saw the EU as a safety net. I saw it as a teat to suckle from but by the time the rest of the country got to feed the milk was sour.
It’s no good blaming the rest of the country, London has to realise it is not an island but the capital city of Britain and it should start acting like it.
You say you are from London and I have no reason to disbelieve you. You have chosen to come to an online local newspaper in a small Welsh town to chastise us for making your London life more uncomfortable. We burst your lucrative bubble because you never looked outside for a moment until you had too. Do you see where I’m going with this? It took this to motivate YOU to spend a couple of hours on a Friday night surfing the net in the rest of the U.K. What does it take to get the ruling elite of London/Brussels to put down the port and caviar fir a moment?
I too find it a bit strange that people living in England are interested in what goes on in Caerffili, we have had a couple of people lately. I’m interested in the town as I live here and people here voted for me. I can actually make a difference, or at least try. I do not have the same interest in say, Basildon or Peterborough. No doubt they have their own issues to discuss as well and do so quite happily without me adding my four pennyworth.
Perhaps we should be flattered that our town gets online visitors, they are most welcome of course. Or maybe there is a feeling out there that, once more, we are British and we go forward together? I certainly hope so.
He is, as you say, perfectly entitled to post on this forum and I for one applaud his efforts as I’m sure you do too. No sarcasm intended toward him I mean what i say as at least he is sticking his head outside the London bubble. If only the elite would follow.
Of course, that is my point. We are all British and London is our capital city. Our main government is in the capital and we elect MPs from Wales to represent us there. The UK is not split up into regions, as the EU wanted, but is now free to choose who makes the laws. If the government chosen does not perform well we can also remove it and elect another at election time.
Inevitably the government elected will often not be the one I voted for but I accept this as democracy in action. At least from now on I will know who is accountable and can vote for the candidate I consider most likely to speak up for our constituency.
I think there will be a general election before 2020, most likely next May, as one of Brown’s biggest mistakes was fearing an election shortly after he prised Blair’s claws off the premiership. It’s good betting odds that whoever the Conservatives choose as leader after Cameron will not make that error of judgement. We have a politically interesting time ahead and perhaps this referendum has galvanised more people to cast their vote. It’s looking good for democracy in these islands.
Interesting times for sure. The status quo has been interrupted and the pendulum of public and political life is due a swing just as far in the opposite direction make no doubt about it.
I have no idea what is going to happen now but things are going to change, but not apocalyptically as many at the BBC and gaurdian suggest.
Apocalypse is not going to happen any time soon, not that one would think it the way Cameron and Osbourne were performing in the lead up to the referendum. I bet they bitterly regret that exageration as it has finished their careers in high office.
I’m sorry for the tone of my first post. I was shocked by the result, which seemed to me a massive step backwards for all of us, but it wasn’t right for me for to ‘chastise’ anyone for their choices. Pete, you’re right that it has taken this for me to ask more questions. I can’t speak for other Londoners, but I’ve been aware that other parts of the UK have lost industry and suffered economically. It’s not that I don’t care, it’s just that I thought that I played my part by paying taxes which could be shared out and directed to make things fairer across the country. I guess what I’m realising is that its not enough to rely on Westminster, and genuinely if there are things that people like me can do I’d be really interested in hearing them.
On the referendum, there are two reasons why I was so upset. Firstly, I’m afraid I see the result as a vote FOR an elite, not against. Boris and Gove epitomise to me the worst types of politicians – people who aren’t there to serve the public but to drive forward their own agendas and political ambitions. I have family and friends who work in education, teaching in touch areas and working incredibly hard to try and give our young people the knowledge and skills to make real choices. Across the board, they revile Gove. He made no bones about the fact that he didn’t care what teachers in the classroom thought or what those who’ve spent years studying education said. Instead of listening to them, he’s made huge changes based on his extremely privileged and isolated life experience. That kind of egotism, that refusal to listen is exactly what’s been doing so much harm in the UK. I hope I’ll be proved wrong, but the key pro-Brexit politicians seem to me to be perfectly happy in their elite bubble and I don’t see them stepping outside that to help other parts of the country that need it.
Secondly, both sides of the referendum ran poor campaigns, but the leave one was unbelievable for the audacity of its lies and misinformation. The politicians at the head seem to have literally said anything to get a victory, and having that kind of person in power is not good for anyone. The worst has been the blatant use of bigotry. You’re right, immigration isn’t purely positive and we need to be more honest about the problems. At the same time, I think the way that Farage & co have riled up hatred against anyone who doesn’t look the right way, sound the right way, and have the right beliefs is disgusting and dangerous. When you’ve got far right politicians across Europe, and the likes of Trump celebrating the result, I think we have to ask what signal we’ve sent.
Anyway, sorry for the long post – still digesting what this all means, and your posts have really helped me to try and understand it, so I wanted to reply properly. And, I do hope that things do get better both on your side of the country and here. [And PS am a she not a he!].
Fair enough.