To wonder wtf is going on in Wales?

[brexitstolemyfuture]

www.google.co.uk/amp/www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tories-labour-poll-wales-yogov-majority-seats-first-time-century-a7699776.html%3famp

Tories predicted to get a majority for the first time in a century. I thought this was fake news, but no it's real

But what do the Conservative party actually offer Wales? Fair enough if people are fed up with Labour but what is it that they hope for/expect from the Tories?

Except I've seen one of those talented people go elsewhere already. Not because they suddenly hate the UK, but because funding for their project has been cut, because it was EU funding. It was in cancer research, so not unimportant. The funding was due for renewal, the EU said that as the UK has triggered article 50, they won't fund the new stage of the research as it was for longer than 2 years, so his choice was to either not do the research, or to move to mainland Europe. He may have been able to get other funding sources. I didn't ask in detail as he was upset and pissed off and I assumed he'd have looked into that. Much soul searching but his project will be continuing in Germany. If people can't do the things they need to do here, they will go elsewhere.

A family friend was working in business, selling electrical things both in the UK and in Europe when we joined the EEC. He said the difference it made was immediate and profound, as trading in the EEC was so much easier and less expensive. Now all the others can trade together without tariffs, but we can't? It's not like going back to a time when there was no single strong link joining everyone else without us being included. If it is easier for France to trade with Germany because there are no tariffs, then that is what they will do. It won't affect him directly because he's retired but is take on it was to be extremely grateful that he doesn't have to join in with the mess that was trading before the EEC.

We can't go back in time and say "This is how it used to be so we will be fine". I used to ride in a car without a seatbelt but no way would my kids do that now because things are different. We need to judge on now, not 30 or 40 years ago.
And at the moment, I'm not optimistic, I'd love to be because it's the future for me and my kids, there is no joy in being a remoaner. We live in Cornwall. I think my kids are going to need to get out to have any hope of a future. Bit like most kids in Wales.

Calling Welsh Tory voters stupid [add other derogatory insults here] is very narrow minded. If you don't live here, you have no idea why people have voted the way they have.

I also live in South Wales and my area has been labour-led for my whole life and our area has remained high in unemployment with a high percentage of people in poverty. And as with pp, we have a pretty town centre that nobody goes to as there are no shops, and random artworks scattered throughout the county - both at great EU expense with absolutely no benefit. This is because the people who decided how to spend the money have no idea what the general public want.

People are fed up of labour here, they have been here a very long time and achieved nothing of any significance.

The start of my last post was aimed at rockluvvindad. However I totally agree with your take on Corbyn. Someone who actually has principles and seems to stand by them. A rare beast.

And I see I've been guilty of a key issue - that the election is a second Brexit referendum. But as I totally and utterly despise everything the Tories have done to education in particular (new GCSEs, anyone?) as well as health and social care etc etc, I wouldn't vote for them even if hell did freeze over.

PeterHouse; and May's government are slashing billions from the education budget over the next 3 years.

Corbyn as PM, McDonnell as Chancellor, Abbott as Home Sec, Thornberry as Foreign Sec....

I don't suppose that this prospect appeals to the Welsh any more than it appeals to the English tbh

Because the Tories don't despise them at all...

Well, as it happens, I am not hearing the sort of bile being spewed out by some on this thread from the Tories and Tory supporters, no (and I say this as someone who has only ever voted Labour or Green).

Handbag - interesting. In my part of Cornwall we have, for example, EU funding that's given super fast broadband, new road links, new rail links and support for a college. So down here it's definitely not spent on artworks. I wonder then how much input there is from local decision makers, as it seems odd for it to be spent so well in one area and so badly in another?

HandbagCrazy: so is it a protest reaction? Or do people actually believe that a May gvt will deliver good health and education investment?

Funding is allocated by the EU but decision making on how it is spent is done locally.

As a nation Wales is absolutely petrified. It has no confidence whatsoever in the future. Maybe those with poor memories think the Conservatives will somehow turn back the clock a century and magically re-open the mines.

PeterHouse; and May's government are slashing billions from the education budget over the next 3 years.

SoulAccount,

Don't get me wrong. There is no doubt that Wales will be in for another battering under the Conservatives in the next decade.

As a nation Wales is absolutely petrified. It has no confidence whatsoever in the future. Maybe those with poor memories think the Conservatives will somehow turn back the clock a century and magically re-open the mines.

Those hoping for a re-opening of the mines will be sorely disappointed. I read that Friday was the UK's first coal-free day since the Industrial revolution as all our electricity needs were met through nuclear, gas and renewable energy sources.

www.walesonline.co.uk/news/politics/how-much-money-wales-gets-12765100 This link, of Welsh origin, suggests that EU funding does go further than clocks and artworks.

It gives primary school kids milk for a start.

My parents generation never shut up about thatcher stealing their milk, but them taking my kids milk is totally different.

GlitteryGlitter - how much do you want to bet?

Labour has been a disaster for Wales, Plaid Cymru has sold its soul and the Welsh Assembly is an (expensive) laughing stock.

And yes the bile comes from the left wingers. Funny that.....

gov.wales/topics/educationandskills/schoolshome/foodanddrink/milkforprimaryschoolchildren/?lang=en

It stands to reason that if Wales has been part of the EU for 40 years and are still one of the poorest areas of Europe then they have got to be thinking "this isn't working for us".
Isn't it the definition of stupidity to keep on doing the same thing but expect a different outcome. Wales have realised that being part of the EU is doing nothing for them so they might as well get out. Ditto voting Labour.

For any saddos like me who are interested, this is lifted from the EU parliament document on how the Structural Fund should be spent:

1. Strengthening research, technological development and innovation.
2. Enhancing access to, and use and quality of, information and communication technologies
3. Enhancing the competitiveness of SMEs, of the agricultural sector (for the EAFRD) and of the fishery and aquaculture sector (for the EMFF).
4. Supporting the shift towards a low-carbon economy in all sectors.
5. Promoting climate change adaptation, risk prevention and management.
6. Preserving and protecting the environment and promoting resource efficiency.
7. Promoting sustainable transport and removing bottlenecks in key network infrastructure.
8. Promoting sustainable and quality employment and supporting labour mobility.
9. Promoting social inclusion, and combating poverty and all forms of discrimination.
10. Investing in education, training and vocational training for skills and lifelong learning.
11. Enhancing the institutional capacity of public authorities and stakeholders and efficient administration.

Perhaps there is a separate cultural fund for regional identity to be spent on the building of important dragon statues?

Also, according to a report published by Cardiff University in May last year, Wales receives £245m more from the EU than it pays in, as opposed to the rest of the UK combined, which is a net contributor.

I know that EU funding goes on infrastructure, roads and railways, but that just means those who can go and work and spend money elsewhere. Our town's pubs and music venues used to be thriving on a Friday and Saturday night, now everyone gets the reinstated (EU funded?) train to Cardiff and it's like a ghost town here.
I work not that far away from home but in a 'not deprived' part of Wales and tend to spend more of my cash there as once I leave work it's a mad dash to get back for DS.

"Maybe they remember what a lying, criminal shyster Tony Blair was."

Maybe. In that case, if this is their principle, they are not going to vote for any party or candidates which voted in support of the Iraq war. All MP's who knew as much as any ordinary labour MP at the time.

If they did, that would just make them hypocritical bullsh*tters.

Lets see if any Conservatives voted in support of the Iraq war.

David Amess, Henry Bellingham, John Bercow, Paul Beresford, Crispin Blunt, Peter Bottomley, Graham Brady, Julian Brazier, Simon Burns, Alistair Burt, David Cameron, Bill Cash, Christopher Chope, Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, David Davis, Jonathan Djanogly, Alan Duncan, Iain Duncan Smith, Nigel Evans, Michael Fabricant, Michael Fallon, Mark Field, Liam Fox, Mark Francois, Roger Gale, Edward Garnier, Nick Gibb, Cheryl Gillan, James Gray, Chris Grayling, Damian Green, Dominic Grieve, Philip Hammond, John Hayes, Oliver Heald, Gerald Howarth, Bernard Jenkin, Boris Johnson, Greg Knight, Eleanor Laing, Oliver Letwin, Julian Lewis, Ian Liddell-Grainger, David Lidington, Peter Lilley, Tim Loughton, Theresa May, Patrick McLoughlin, Andrew Mitchell, George Osborne, Owen Paterson, Eric Pickles, Mark Prisk, John Redwood, Laurence Robertson, Andrew Rosindell, Andrew Selous, Keith Simpson, Nicholas Soames, Caroline Spelman, Gary Streeter, Desmond Swayne, Hugo Swire, Robert Syms, David Tredinnick, Andrew Tyrie, Angela Watkinson, John Whittingdale, Bill Wiggin.

inews.co.uk/explainers/iq/current-labour-mps-voted-iraq-war/

Read more at: inews.co.uk/explainers/iq/current-labour-mps-voted-iraq-war/

So no Conservative party MP or current Conservative MP voted for a criminal war. They weren't complicit as criminal shysters too. Clear conscience on that one if that is the reason.

Welsh born and bred. My mind is boggling at this. Really boggling.

There's a serious lack of understanding about how anything works by folk here. And this is how it's manifesting. I fear for future generations (it will be about 1000 years before we humans cease to exist - almost wish it were sooner )

Educational outcomes in Wales at the moment are absolutely dire.

Education is devolved, they have gone totally their own way with GCSEs. Even if you think the Tories are doing a good job with education () that won't affect Wales.

Getting out of the EU won't turn back the clock a century or so to when coal mining drove the industrial revolution.

All getting out of the EU does for Wales is completely scupper what little is left trying to fill some of the gap left by coal mining.

"Also, according to a report published by Cardiff University in May last year, Wales receives £245m more from the EU than it pays in, as opposed to the rest of the UK combined, which is a net contributor."

That is interesting. Is it a strictly cash in, cash out assessment? I wonder if it takes into account all the trade which is carried out and made easier because it benefits from the removal of tarrif and non tarrif barriers with the EU. The benefits will contribute to the economy in manifold ways.