A Budget for Wales

Today's budget announced by the Coalition Government is a budget for growth in Wales.  North East Wales will benefit from capital allowances in the Deeside Enterprise Zone, which will provide jobs and growth accross North Wales.  It also shows that Minister Edwina Hart has been foolhardy in not engaging earlier and better with UK Ministers on behalf of Wales, as clearly the business case for other enterprise zones in North Wales has not yet been provided.

I am delighted that the personl tax allowance has been raised to £9,205 which will mean that an extra 42,000 people in Wales will now not pay tax, meaning that since the UK Government has come into power 95,000 low paid workers in Wales have more money in their pockets and don't pay tax.  Those on low pay will also see an increase in the National Minimum Wage.  Not only those changes, but the reduction in corporation tax will increase the attractiveness of Wales as a place to do business, reinforcing the commitment to jobs and employment.

Wales will also get an additional £11.7 million from the UK Government, meaning it has had an additionl £500 million since the spending review in 2010.  How this will be spent will be upto Labour's Welsh Goverrnment.  Given their capacity to waste huge amounts of money, I don't hold out hope that it will be put to good use.