That’s a bit of a surprise.
I think anyone that believes Wales will financially better off with independence is a bit delusional.
But I’m getting convinced Wales might be better off outside of the UK. So long Wales has been squeezed for the benefit of England, and ignored.
Independent Wales could do things differently and it could be great. Wales is more left leaning so they could raise taxes on the rich, stop people from England buying up houses. We could just have a huge house building programme (or much better medium density) we got the land. If everyone has a much cheaper house then it doesn’t matter if wages are lower all that really matter is disposable income. Plus money isn’t the be all and end all, our natural beauty is incredibly undervalued and experiences bring more joy than expenses.
So I couldn’t see a richer Wales but I could potentially see a happier, healthier Wales.
So the UK designated the project as an ‘England & Wales’ project despite it not benefitting Wales in any conceivable way and the closest HS2 terminal to Wales (The border) would be more than 50 miles away.
By designating the project this way, the UK government was able to take funds paid via taxation, earmarked for transport projects in Wales, and use them for this.
If you’re interested in more about this, I wrote a piece on it a while ago in which I went a little more in-depth on the subject here