Wales Post 2012 Olympic Investment

I wrote a few posts last summer before and during the 2012 London Olympic Games asking if Cardiff and Wales was making the most of the opportunities that the Olympics offered, however limited to sell Wales and secure as much investment as possible.

I was skeptical about the efforts and potential impact, but it’s still disappointing that Wales only secured £21.54m of post-Olympic investment into the UK and there were 498 jobs created from the UK’s total of £2.5 billion as a result of the 2012 Games, not quite at the bottom on the league, but pretty close as the figures below show.

Investment into other nations and regions of the UK

East Midlands £3.86m, London 1,006 bil, North East £19.43m, North West £30m, Scotland £115m, South East £81m, South West £716m, West Midlands £410 and Yorkshire £59.34

No of Jobs created by nations and regions of the UK from post-Olympic Investment

East Midlands 51, London 14,928, North East 7, North West 315, Scotland 850, South East 553, South West 12,550, West Midlands 1,160 and Yorkshire 150.

The Western Mail’s Political Editor David Williamson wrote a piece today after the figures were revealed in a House of Commons question last week and I agree with his last paragraph‘Wales does not need another intergovernmental fire-fight but weaknesses must be addressed. Is devolution working in such a way that economic development in Wales is not on the agenda for the UK Government’s Business department and its embassies, and how well is UK Trade & Investment working with the Welsh Government?’

It’s a pity that the Welsh and UK Governments are more interested in point scoring and grand standing than actually addressing some of the problems the pre and post Olympic investment figures have highlighted Any source