BOARD OF TRADE VETO ON THE WDA'S ACTIVITIES

EDM number 471 in 1997-98, proposed by Dafydd Wigley on 17/11/1997.

That this House notes with alarm the comments of the Chairman of the Welsh Development Agency, that the work of the Agency would be fundamentally undermined if the Board of Trade in London exercised a veto over the WDA's efforts to attract inward industrial investment from overseas to Wales; applauds the success achieved by the WDA in this regard and expresses the hope that such good work will continue, with the benefits reaching all parts of Wales; believes that achieving a level playing field in such matters between the nations and regions of the United Kingdom will not be best undertaken by constraining the WDA's initiative or curtailing its effectiveness, but rather by creating equally resourceful development agencies in England; and calls on the Government to avoid a policy of levelling down the WDA and to reconsider its ill conceived and highly centralist approach of imposing a London straight jacket to limit the WDA's ability to develop the Welsh economy.

This motion has been signed by a total of 3 MPs.