Cardiff is pressing for extra public funding, along with other large UK cities, on the grounds that it benefits the wider area. People in Merthyr Tydfil, Bridgend or Cwmbran would doubtless ask ‘what benefits?’. Yes there are shops, yes there are events at the millennium stadium’ for people outside Cardiff to go to if they want.
What Cardiff conveniently overlooks are the millions of pounds of public investment it already gets. This investment underpins its prosperity – thousands of jobs in the public sector (the assembly, HQs of quangos, two universities, BBC, etc etc) plus millions spent on leisure and tourism attractions, regeneration of the Bay etc. Take this public investment away and Cardiff would struggle.