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Interesting read on Wales and Brexit
An Independent Wales in the European Union
http://ifanmj.blogspot.com/
What if the industrial revolution had not happened? What would have become of Wales? The economist Brinley Thomas tackled that very question in the 1950s. Rather than the rural utopia some had suggested, it was likely that Wales would have shrivelled up. The young population would either have moved east to London, or sailed in their tens of thousands for the United States, like the Irish. Rather than being the curse of Wales, he argued, the industrial revolution saved it and its culture. Otherwise it would have turned into an old country, a costa geriatrica fit only for retirees, with no real economy to speak of.
The industrial revolution started to run out of steam a hundred years ago, and there is now every danger that Wales could become the country that Brinley Thomas envisaged. A vibrant capital hides the fact that we are becoming an increasingly old, poor country. And who can blame the young for leaving when there are so many communities where there are no opportunities to be had?
On Thursday Wales received another body blow which could make this decline irreversible. It voted to leave the EU, a decision described by one leading academic as ‘Turkeys voting for Christmas’. Wales had received over £4 billion from the EU since the year 2000 in order to improve its creaking infrastructure. What was left of our export economy, already in the doldrums – see Port Talbot - depended on Wales being a base from which companies could reach the rest of Europe through the single market. The economic rationale for leaving was very poor.
I was a strong Remain supporter, and was gutted by the result. Even Wales’ passage to the Euro 2016 quarter finals couldn’t lift me from my slough of despond. The country suddenly felt alien to me – who are these fellow countrymen I share a nation with? Do I even like them any more?
The industrial revolution started to run out of steam a hundred years ago, and there is now every danger that Wales could become the country that Brinley Thomas envisaged. A vibrant capital hides the fact that we are becoming an increasingly old, poor country. And who can blame the young for leaving when there are so many communities where there are no opportunities to be had?
On Thursday Wales received another body blow which could make this decline irreversible. It voted to leave the EU, a decision described by one leading academic as ‘Turkeys voting for Christmas’. Wales had received over £4 billion from the EU since the year 2000 in order to improve its creaking infrastructure. What was left of our export economy, already in the doldrums – see Port Talbot - depended on Wales being a base from which companies could reach the rest of Europe through the single market. The economic rationale for leaving was very poor.
I was a strong Remain supporter, and was gutted by the result. Even Wales’ passage to the Euro 2016 quarter finals couldn’t lift me from my slough of despond. The country suddenly felt alien to me – who are these fellow countrymen I share a nation with? Do I even like them any more?
Much more at the link