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21/08/2018

BBC Radio 4 - The Dragon Next Door

Sarah Dickins asks if Wales is destined to be forever the poor relation in the UK economy.

Is Wales destined to be forever the poor relation in the UK's economic family? Sarah Dickins looks to the future, asking if a radical rethink could transform the nation's finances.

With a quarter of its people trapped in poverty, and economic strength at the bottom of UK league tables, Wales seems further than ever from standing on its own feet financially. Add to that the apparent failure of a massive tidal lagoon project and cancellation of rail electrification to Swansea, and things seem bleak. But does it have to be like this?

Sarah Dickins challenges economists and business leaders to imagine a new Wales, one which pays its way and offers prosperity to its inhabitants. We meet the new wave of entrepreneurs growing high-tech businesses and look at whether natural resources such as tidal power, wind and water could bring the jobs and wealth once made possible by coal. Could thinking the unthinkable even give a glimpse of a Wales as an economic powerhouse for a post-Brexit UK? 

Producer: Michael Surcombe for BBC Wales

(Photo credit: Anthony Dawton).

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