From Depression to Devolution

Leon Gooberman

Description

Throughout the twentieth century, Wales underwent rapid and far-reaching economic upheavals on such a scale that few avoided their impacts – from recessions, war, changing fortunes within the iconic steel and coal industries, the rise and decline of manufacturing, as well as the gradual rise to dominance of the service sector – the changes were as dramatic as was the intensity of attempts to deal with their consequences. Wales was a laboratory for government intervention in the economy, ranging from the attraction of investment and the clearance of land made derelict by industry, to the regeneration of urban areas. This is the first book to focus on these actions and to outline why, how and with what effect governments intervened, and it contains timely commentary as economic performance remains one of the most important issues facing contemporary Wales.

Sujets

• Business
• Economics
• Economic History

Informations

• Publié par: University of Wales Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783169603
• Langue: English

Extrait

FROM DEPRESSION TO DEVOLUTION
FROM DEPRESSION TO DEVOLUTION
ECONOMY AND GOVERNMENT IN WALES, 1934–2006
LEON GOOBERMAN
© Leon Gooberman, 2017
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the University of Wales Press, 10 Columbus Walk, Brigantine Place, Cardiff CF10 4UP.
www.uwp.co.uk
British Library CIP Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-78316-958-0 eISBN 978-1-78316-960-3
The right of Leon Gooberman to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 79 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Published with financial support from Cardiff University and the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales.
Cover image: Richard Jack, British Industries – Steel (1924) © National Railway Museum Pictorial Collection/Science and Society Picture Library.
For Mari, Elen and Gwen
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
List of tables
Abbreviations
INTRODUCTION
I DEPRESSION, WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION, 1934–1951
The economic inheritance
The great depression and the birth of regional policy in the 1930s
Total war and central planning, 1939–1945
The impact of government action
Reconstruction, 1945–1951
Interventions
II THE AGE OF FACTORIES, 1951–1970
Economic growth and regional policy during the ‘golden age’
Growth and decline within the resource-based industries
Interventions
The administrative emergence of Wales
Conclusion
III KEEPING AFLOAT: THE 1970s
The end of the ‘golden age’ and the peak of regional aid
Uncertain times in the resource-based industries
The Welsh Office and job creation
Interventions
Conclusion
IV CRISIS, RESPONSE AND THE IMPACT OF MARGARET THATCHER: 1979–1987
The collapse of manufacturing and the eclipse of regional policy
Redundancies, subsidies and strikes in the resource-based industries
Emergency action from the Welsh Office
Interventions
Conclusion
V A NEW WALES? 1987–1997
Optimism and disappointment
Changing views at the Welsh Office
Controversy within the development agencies
Interventions
Conclusion
VI DEVOLUTION AND ITS DISCONTENTS: 1997–2006
Stability and growth
The last years of the Welsh Office, 1997–1999
Quagmire at the National Assembly for Wales, 1999–2006
The bonfire of the quangos
Interventions
Conclusion
CONCLUSION
APPENDIX 1: DATA
APPENDIX 2: MAPS
APPENDIX 3: ORGANISATIONAL GENEALOGY, 1936–2006
Notes
Bibliography
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
P ART OF THIS BOOK began as a doctoral thesis at Cardiff University, so thanks are due to my supervisors, Professor Scott Newton of the School of History, Archaeology and Religion, and Professor Derek Matthews of Cardiff Business School, for their advice and support. Thanks are also due to my interviewees, who generously gave of their time, knowledge and experience. I am also grateful to Professor Trevor Boyns at Cardiff Business School, who discussed his unpublished official history of the WDA and reviewed an early draft of this book, although any remaining errors and omissions are mine alone. Most importantly, thanks to Mari for her constant support and encouragement.
LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1: Financial support to companies in Wales (major schemes), 1960–1 to 1969–70
Table 3.1: Financial support to companies in Wales (major schemes), 1970–1 to 1978–9
Table 4.1: Government support to economic development bodies, 1979–80 to 1986–7
Table 4.2: Financial support to companies in Wales (major schemes), 1979–80 to 1986–7
Table 5.1: Government support to economic development bodies, 1987–8 to 1996–7
Table 5.2: Financial support to companies in Wales (major schemes), 1987–8 to 1996–7
ABBREVIATIONS
ASPB
Assembly Sponsored Public Body
BNS
British Nylon Spinners
BSC
British Steel Corporation
CAP
Common Agricultural Policy
CBDC
Cardiff Bay Development Corporation
DATAC
Development Area Treasury Advisory Committee
DBRW
Development Board for Rural Wales
DCW
Development Corporation for Wales
DWS
Digest of Welsh Statistics
DTI
Department of Trade and Industry
DVLA
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency
DWHS
Digest of Welsh Historical Statistics
EAP
Entrepreneurship Action Plan
EEC
European Economic Community
EIB
European Investment Bank
ERDF
European Regional Development Fund
ESF
European Social Fund
FDI
Foreign Direct Investment
GDP
Gross Domestic Product
GVA
Gross Value Added
ICT
Information and Communication Technology
IDC
Industrial Development Certificate
IMF
International Monetary Fund
LAW
Land Authority for Wales
LG
Lucky Goldstar
MWIDA
Mid-Wales Industrial Development Association
MWDC
Mid-Wales Development Corporation
NAW
National Assembly for Wales
NCB
National Coal Board
NLW
National Library of Wales
NUM
National Union of Mineworkers
PAC
Public Accounts Committee of the House of Commons
QUANGO
Quasi Autonomous Non-Governmental Organisation
RDG
Regional Development Grant
ROF
Royal Ordnance Factory
RSA
Regional Selective Assistance
RTP
Regional Technology Plan
SARA
Special Areas Reconstruction Association
SALAC
Special Areas Loans Advisory Committee
SMEs
Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
TEC
Training and Enterprise Council
TNA
The National Archives
TUC
Trades Union Congress
WAG
Welsh Assembly Government
WDA
Welsh Development Agency
WEFO
Wales European Funding Office
WIDAB
Welsh Industrial Development Advisory Board
WIEC
Welsh Industrial Estates Corporation Ltd
WINtech
Wales Investment and Technology
WINvest
Wales Investment Location
WMIE
Wales and Monmouthshire Industrial Estates Ltd
WM
Western Mail
WET
Welsh Economic Trends
WTB
Wales Tourist Board
WTUC
Wales Trades Union Congress
INTRODUCTION
T HE ECONOMY OF WALES has seen dramatic shifts in fortune over the past hundred years. By the start of the twentieth century, rich stocks of natural resources had enabled the creation of industries that placed it at the heart of the globalised Victorian economy. Towns and cities sprang up within a few decades to service these industries, with the total population doubling between 1841 and 1901. However, the boom did not last and the twentieth century saw protracted and painful change as the dominance of resource-based activity gave way, first to manufacturing and then to services. This long process was often punctuated by cycles of trauma and subsequent reconstruction including: the Great Depression of the 1930s; wartime central planning; full employment in the post-war era and industrial collapse in the 1980s followed by a partial rebirth. The impact of the end of deep coal mining and the reductions in steel employment are well known, but the rise and partial fall of manufacturing and the growth of the service sector had far-reaching impacts that continue to resonate in contemporary Wales, which remains one of the poorest parts of the UK.
The scale of economic change was dramatic, as was the intensity of attempts to deal with their consequences. In many ways, Wales acted as a laboratory for government policy aimed at increasing employment and economic output, with a vast range of activities taking place. Efforts began during the Great Depression of the 1930s via the Special Areas Act, followed by the use of regulatory instruments to encourage factory relocations after the Second World War, then the efforts of the Welsh Development Agency to attract inward investment from the 1970s onwards, through to the deployment of resources by the National Assembly for Wales. A huge range of other activities took place, ranging from the provision of support to business start-ups through to the clearance of derelict land. Despite much effort, some problems have been a constant presence with, for example, parts of the south Wales valleys having been continually designated as areas in need of the highest degree of government support for over eighty years.
Despite continuing economic problems, the totality of intervention has yet to be studied. This book aims to fill this gap by asking what was done, why was it done and was it effective? It outlines and analyses government efforts to grow employment and economic output, evaluates their overall effectiveness where possible, and explains the economic and political dynamics that caused such efforts to take place. While ever-accelerating economic change means that some of yesterday’s solutions may have little relevance, many of the previous approaches and instruments may hold lessons for those currently working on this most intractable of problems.
A Welsh economy?
Works with an economic focus are largely absent from the published history of twentieth century Wales, with most historians being more interested in the social and political outcomes of economic change than in its causes. 1 Overall, a number of problems combine to challenge the writing of history that focuses on the economy. Chief among them is the extent to which an economy of Wales can be said to have ever existed. The original definition of ‘economy’ derived from a French term relating to household management or organisation, before it was extended to cover geographic entities. This implies some internal cohesion where commercial links between different sub-regions are relatively strong. 2 However, the regions of Wales have always tended to have greater links with England than with each other. For example, attempts in the late 1960s to create an all-Wales Trades Union Council foundered, in part due to the opposition of the North Wales Committee of the Trade Union Congress, which argued that such a coun