(Title Image: The Guardian)
Extra £735million for Wales in UK Budget
Wales will receive an additional £735million during 2021-22 as a result of the recently announced UK Budget.
At a UK-wide level, government borrowing has reached record levels due to the Covid-19 pandemic. A furlough scheme and grants for the self-employed have been extended until September 2020.
Elsewhere, corporation tax on profits above £250,000 is set to rise to 25% in 2023, while income tax, national insurance, inheritance tax, capital gains exemptions and personal tax allowances have been frozen until 2026.
Specific measures announced for Wales include a £30million investment in a proposed centre for rail technology near Onllwyn, Neath Port Talbot and support for a hydrogen technology hub at Holyhead, Anglesey.
Finance Minister, Rebecca Evans (Lab, Gower) welcomed an extension to a temporary uplift to universal credit, but said the UK Government’s plans to take direct control of the so-called UK Shared Prosperity Fund was unacceptable. She also criticised a lack of funding for coal tip safety improvements.
A vote on the final Welsh budget for 2021-22 is set to take place next week.
Cardiff Airport bailed-out by Welsh Government
The Welsh Government has written-off more than £42million of commercial debt and provided an additional £46.3million in equity at Cardiff Airport to stave off a potential mothballing or closure.
Air traffic has plummeted due to the Covid-19 pandemic and despite the ongoing vaccination programme, passenger levels aren’t expected to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2023 at the earliest. The Economy Minister said the move would protect 5,200 indirect jobs relating to the airport.
The UK, Northern Irish and Scottish governments have provided similar support packages for airports in England, Northern Ireland and Scotland.
Farm run-off regulations “disproportionate”
The Senedd rejected a motion tabled by Llyr Gruffydd MS (Plaid, North Wales) requesting regulations designating all of Wales a Nitrogen Vulnerable Zone (NVZ) are annulled. The Senedd voted 27-30 against annulling the regulations with three abstentions.
The measure was introduced to clamp down on water pollution caused by farm run-off but has been criticised as a disproportionate blanket measure. Natural Resources Wales reportedly said that only 8% of Wales needed to be placed into an NVZ, when the regulations apply to 100%.
Upfront capital costs for farmers to deal with the regulations are expected to be up to £360million, while the Welsh Government has only provided £11.5million towards the costs – threatening the financial viability of many farms.
Llyr Gruffydd said: “It is right that we move to protect our water resources, but under no circumstances should regulations be brought in that increase the risk of harm to our beautiful countryside, and damage an entire sector.”
Concerns over expected lack of diversity in the Sixth Senedd
The number of women members of the Senedd is expected to drop dramatically after May’s scheduled election, leading to calls for urgent action to ensure diversity of opinions within the legislature.
Just 34% of women candidates have been selected to stand in what is described as “winnable seats”. Currently, just under half of MSs are women. The only party which has a gender-balanced slate for 2021 is Labour, with the next closest party being Plaid Cymru with 41% of their candidates being women.
Suzy Davies MS (Con, South Wales West) – who has effectively been deselected by the candidate selection processes in her party – told BBC Wales: “It’s very hard when you have a very localised system to ask a local association to make a strategic decision for a party….”I would have loved to have seen that and I look again to our processes to ask why that’s been so difficult when we have new men coming through and they’re getting more viable seats.”
Football association support for 2030 FIFA Men’s World Cup bid
The governments of the UK nations and the Republic of Ireland have provisionally backed plans to jointly bid to host the 2030 men’s football world cup. £2.8million has been provided by the UK Government to make preparations for the bid.
Since the expansion of the men’s World Cup to 48 nations from 2026, tournaments held by multiple hosts are now seen as more acceptable. The only jointly-hosted world cup to date – in Japan and South Korea in 2002 – was beset by logistical problems.
A joint statement from the five bidding football associations said: “Staging a FIFA World Cup would provide an incredible opportunity to deliver tangible benefits for our nations. If a decision is made to bid for the event, we look forward to presenting our hosting proposals to FIFA and the wider global football community.”
