'WAG under fire as investors go north after grants are cut'

So the parties are unveiling their Manifesto this week and depending whose launching, they will either be full of reasonably fresh ideas that will never see the light of day or rather dull policies that offend few but are likely to be implemented.

And speaking of policies one of the the last WAG policies is unraveling, it seems Scotland is benefiting from WAG’s decision to change the grants for companies and turn them into loans in benefit other parts of the UK.

In the Western Mail, Martin Shipton wrote ‘The Assembly Government’s decision to cut back on business grants has been criticised in the wake of evidence that Scotland is attracting substantial inward investment projects by continuing its grants policy.

Amazon, the online retailer, has created 950 jobs in Scotland and a number of leading international manufacturers have announced plans to create thousands of jobs in the renewable energy sector – one of several areas seen by the Assembly Government as crucial to Wales’ economic future.

The European arm of Mitsubishi Power Systems said last December that it would invest up to £100m in a research and development centre in Edinburgh for offshore wind turbines, creating up to 200 jobs.

Lena Wilson, chief executive of Scottish Enterprise, said this followed four years of relationship building, during which she had been to Japan three times to meet Mitsubishi and John Swinney, Finance Secretary in the SNP minority Government, had also visited the company in Japan.

Allan Lyall, vice president of European operations at Amazon, told the Financial Times: “Our decision to base this major expansion in Scotland, against stiff international competition, is due not only to the excellent local workforce but to the impressive professionalism of Scottish Development International.”

At a time when every pound of investment is being fought over by countries around the world to help create jobs, it makes WAG’s decision on turning grants into loans look even more stupid than when it was announced.

It's also further proof that scrapping International Business Wales and not replacing it, is beginning to backfire as well – but never mind the same clowns will get re-elected to do more damage to Wales in a couple of weeks – how depressing!Any source