Follow the Money

While there are always those who belittle the Assembly and its relevance to ordinary voters, they should take a step back and see who is responsible for spending our money……

The Welsh Assembly Government budget is around £15 billion, which when divided by the Welsh population, is equivalent to £5,000 per head.

The UK contribution to the European Union budget, is €103 billion over 5 years. But with an expected budget rebate of €46 billion, the annual net contribution is less than £8 billion, which when divided by the UK population is equivalent to around £130 per head.

The UK Government budget is £520 billion, which when divided by the UK population, is around £8,670 per head. But this is a total figure including the Welsh and European expenditure, and once these have been allocated, the remaining UK government expenditure in Wales would be only around £3,540 per head.

Just so we are clear, the responsibility for spending our tax money is:

Cardiff Bay £5,000
Westminster £3,540
Brussels £130

So it is imperative that with this level of financial responsibility, Welsh voters must take more interest in the Assembly, and the calibre of our AMs needs to be significantly increased. It is also glaringly obvious that the Assembly must be able to take full control over its affairs and to do this they need to have full law making powers.

Ps it also makes me wonder why some people get so agitated about the EU…..they are largely irrelevant!