‘We was hoodwinked’: Inside the ex-mining town that backed Brexit despite millions of pounds of EU funding

HEOne hundred and fifty years ago, deep in the now scenic South Wales Valleys, a revolution was born from pig iron and coal.

The town of Ebbw Vale produced iron from roaring white-hot blast furnaces this did it The rails of the first steam locomotive railway line at Stockton and Darlington, and the steel holding up the Sydney Harbor Bridge a century later.

His he even said The 40,000 bricks at the base of New York’s Empire State Building come from nearby town.

By the 1960s, around 12,000 people were employed in the town’s steelworks, once the center of a thriving local community, with regular pay packets fueling packed cinemas and social clubs.

But when we turn the clock forward 50 years, there is now silence where there was once the sound of churning machines and clashing metal. The steelworks were demolished in 2002. The surrounding coal mines, which produced 2 million tons of coal annually, were closed.

Still clinging to one of the area’s last weekly markets, the town center is home to a familiar range of pound shops, bookmakers and entertainment venues.

With seemingly no road signs 10 miles from England, even the town seems to have been wiped off the map. Ironically, the only directional sign on the M4 is the logo of the now-closed Festival Park shopping center on the edge of the city.

In fact, the most eye-catching sign as you drive in is not the one for the town of 20,000, but the one for the European Union in front of the ruins of an ironworks, marking €1.9 billion in funding for West Wales and the Valley 20 years ago.

And that’s not the only reference to the EU.

There are many plaques and signs showing that millions of pounds of funding have poured into the Blaenau Gwent area.

So why did almost two-thirds (62 per cent) of the public vote Leave when Britain voted in the EU referendum 10 years ago? This is a conundrum that many in the media are investigating. Independent several times, our last visit was seven years ago.

But the answer is not as black and white as some claim.

“Yes, there was money from the EU but there was almost no regeneration,” says Phill Edwards, who runs the town’s weekly market. “There has been plastic surgery, new aligners, shiny new pieces of infrastructure, but there has been little in the way of change that supports major growth.”

Mr Edwards stands next to a cable car that takes pedestrians from the main street to the city’s refurbished train station and the former steelworks site where a college and employment park now stands.

Along with the £2.3m lift, derisively named the Stannah stairlift, the £350m refurbishment of the steelworks flagship was partly paid for by EU funding.

But it has broken down hundreds of times since its opening in 2015, costing £41,000 a year to run it. based on To the BBC.

“It’s a waste of money,” Mr Edwards says. “What’s wrong with stepping up the ladder when the money could be spent on much more valuable projects that really make a difference to people?

“You see, EU money is all about creating things that sparkle and dazzle. It’s not right to say we’re turning our back on investment.” [by voting Leave]because for real people it was never there.”

More than £80 million of EU funding also went towards improving the A465 Heads of the Valley road, which was completed last year, and more than £8 million from the EU went towards the reopening of a rail line connecting Ebbe Vale to Cardiff in 2008.

But in the city centre, locals are more likely to point out the £22,000 spent on a steel dragon on the high street and an 11 meter high clock called Echos, often described as a “cheese cutter”. Both of these are being paid for through an EU-funded town regeneration project.

They sit on a pedestrianized street that also includes the Wetherspoon pub on the site of the Astoria cinema, built in 1939; a pint of Greene King IPA here costs just £1.65. There is also the Wayne Grist Family Butchers and a Methodist church that has been converted into the town’s library.

On Friday, the town’s market hosts everything from rugs to shoes to expired chocolates and sweets.

And although there is a strong community spirit, it cannot mask the fact that many people here are struggling economically and physically.

By the way Blaenau Gwent has just 7.6 job vacancies per 100 people on universal credit, according to the New Economics Foundation.

Life expectancy for both men and women among the lowest In England and Wales, where Aneurin Bevan, the founder of the NHS, was an MP 31 years ago.

In interviews with local people, Brexit appears to provide hope for change.

Suave clerk Dominic Roberts says: “I voted because of the extra support for the NHS, but these were all broken promises. We were completely deceived.”

Paula Coleman, owner of a small gift shop on the high street, says: “I thought it would mean more jobs, a better standard of living. People were hoping for more. It hasn’t come and now we’re living with it.”

Standing outside Wetherspoon, Carl Hobbs, 70, said: “It’s the worst thing we’ve ever done. We got lots of grants from the EU. But we were given so much misinformation. We were told we deserved better.”

At the former steelworks site, three of the last workers on site are volunteers working at the Ebbw Vale Working Museum, housed in the former grand headquarters where marble floors and internal stone arches hint at a bygone golden age.

Alan Waite, 73, who has worked at the factory for 35 years, said he voted Leave because the money would be sent to Europe.

He admits the town has received EU money for regeneration but says: “Yes, it’s great, but it wasn’t anywhere near the money we sent there.”

Roger Burchell, 73, who worked at the steelworks for 33 years, adds: “Farage is a good speaker, he said what we wanted to hear.”

Launched in April 2022, the lost EU funds are replaced by the Welsh government’s shared prosperity fund (SPF). The then Wales secretary Simon Hart was promised no more “vanity projects” in 2021.

But a report by the Welsh government flagged concerns about a lack of co-operation with the UK government on spending, while councils complained of difficulties bidding.

But money flowed through it.

In June last year, a new engineering campus opened at Coleg Gwent, thanks to £1.5 million from the fund.

This year it has been replaced by the local growth fund, which will provide £1.5bn in grants over the next three years to support economic growth.

“Many people were hoping Brexit would lead to money being better spent,” says Councilor Wayne Hodgins, independent councilor for Brynmawr. “But that hasn’t happened here. Looking back now, some will wonder whether we were better off staying in the EU.”

“Yes, the spending hasn’t always been great, but whether it’s due to issues with the Welsh or UK governments, I think we’ve struggled to get here.”

Three women carrying plastic bags of food walk quickly towards their cars on the main street.

They come from Big Bocs Bwyd Community Store and Kitchen and take donated food to cook and serve healthy meals to children in local schools, all at “pay as you feel” prices.

“We want to believe in a better future for our town and our people,” says Emma Prosser.

“We have been treated like pawns for too long, many have lost interest but we will never stop helping each other. And that’s what makes Ebbw Vale what it is, in Europe or outside of Europe.”

Join the community

Sign up for our free Europe: The Way Back newsletter here or using the form below:

What you get when you join:

You’ll get even more benefits if you subscribe for just £1 for seven months: