Plaid accuse Labour of turning its back on Wales over profits from natural resources

Councillor Carrie Harper

Labour MPs have been criticised for blocking a Plaid Cymru proposal at Westminster to devolve the Crown Estate to Wales. 

The Crown Estate is a company owned by King Charles which generates vast profits from Welsh land and the Welsh seabed, as well as other UK assets, which then go directly to fund  the UK Treasury and the Royal family. 

The boom in renewable energy projects in recent years, such as the Gwynt Y Mor wind farm off the north Wales coast, has seen profits soar for the company. It’s prompted renewed calls for Wales to benefit from our own natural resources, instead of profits being sucked out of the country. 

The Crown Estate in Scotland was devolved in 2017 but Labour MPs have blocked giving the same rights to Wales, costing the Welsh public purse millions.

Plaid Cymru Wrecsam spokesperson Cllr Carrie Harper said:

“Wrexham MP Andrew Ranger was one of the Labour MPs who voted against devolving the Crown Estate to Wales this week. It’s ironic because just last week Labour locally supported a motion to council to devolve the Crown Estate to Wales, a position also supported by the Welsh Government.” 

“There is clearly a divide between Labour in Wales and their London representatives. Ultimately of course, Labour will ignore their Welsh branch office as they always do. As we see repeatedly, London based parties have a clear conflict of interest when it comes to Wales, we’re never the priority. It is interesting to note that the one Reform MP present also voted against devolution.”

"Because they’re all putting party before country, we’re losing out on millions in funding. The devolution of the Crown Estate brought in an additional £103.5m in public funding for the Scottish purse last year but Labour are denying Wales the benefits of that income.

"Again we see this destructive pattern of wealth extraction from Wales, we’ve seen it with coal, we’ve seen it with water and now it’s happening all over again with Welsh renewables. It’s time to break the cycle. 

"Ensuring Welsh communities benefit from our own natural resources is essential and shouldn’t be a difficult choice for anyone representing a Welsh community. Why on earth should we put up with a sub standard devolution settlement? Labour are letting us down massively, they've turned their back on Wales over this and it’s important people know how they’re voting in London in order to hold them to account.”