Political post.. @Yescymru

[Rjk]

England has the resources to pay back any borrowing the government may utilise, Wales does not.

I presume the answer is more than 15bn then

[Feedback]

I presume the answer is more than 15bn then

I understand what you're getting at. If the English deficit of taxes against spend was £275bn then per capita things would be equal. however, I doubt the English deficit is anywhere near that, as you are probably aware too, so your point isn't really valid.

[Rjk]

I understand what you're getting at. If the English deficit of taxes against spend was £275bn then per capita things would be equal. however, I doubt the English deficit is anywhere near that, as you are probably aware too, so your point isn't really valid.

It's likely to be around that this year!

As a % that kind of deficit for Wales wouldn't be unprecedented, and other countries have managed that previously and come out the other side much better.
The idea being if you have an economy run to benefit Wales then we will see increased growth, and reduce the defecit.

[Feedback]

It's likely to be around that this year!

I knew you'd come back with that. Yes well this year is a one off, and I reckon Wales fiscal gap will be considerably more than £15bn this year, so swings and roundabouts.

As a % that kind of deficit for Wales wouldn't be unprecedented, and other countries have managed that previously and come out the other side much better.

The idea being if you have an economy run to benefit Wales then we will see increased growth, and reduce the defecit.

with all due respect the Welsh government have baulked at the idea of investing in the M4 relief road - a road almost everyone agrees is needed.

We have a fiscal gap of £15bn, we have 1 in 4 working in the public sector, compared to the UK average of 1 in 5. Assuming 1.5m people in Wales are working, that means we have 375k jobs in the public sector when it should be around 300k.

Wales economy is currently around £60bn, of which almost half is government spend. If we are to become independent, and by that I include financial independence, we need to increase our tax receipts by 25% and also increase private sector jobs by at least 6.7%. That's before we consider our share of the national debt. That's a huge burden to place on the taxpayer.

you've argued for following Ireland, but theirs is a low tax economy, certainly apropos of corporates. How do you see Wales dealing with its fiscal shortfall, its requirement to fund public services and jobs, whilst at the same time trying to be as competitive as the Irish?