Well, bright and sparkly though Cardiff may be, the only reason Cardiff has been able to reinvent itself from steel-making, rail and docks centre to public administration centre and capital has been public money. No other city or town in Wales has been so fortunate as to have billions on such a make-over, and no other city or town in Wales is so well off either. 

The idea that Cardiff’s advantage should be perpetuated, in the hope that the rest of Wales will somehow benefit from trickle-down, aka crumbs off the table, is all about protecting its privileged status. I have yet to see any evidence that Cardiff’s growth benefits anywhere else in Wales, other than those from adjoining areas who hop over Cardiff’s very tightly-drawn boundaries to work.

Just as active steps need to be taken to spread the UK’s propserity outside the south-east of England so Wales’ economic strategy needs to encourage development throughout – be it north Wales, rural Wales, west Wales or the Heads of the Valleys.  Otherwise, Cardiff may well be a jewel, but in a crown we should be ashamed of.

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.