UK government rejects Crown Estate devolution

The level of profit generated from the Crown Estate is used as a benchmark to calculate the funding given by the government to the Royal Family

The UK Labour government has rejected Plaid Cymru's calls for control over the Crown Estate to be given to ministers in Wales.

Owned by the monarch, and helping to fund the Royal Family, the estate owns more than £603m of land in Wales, including 65% of the seabed around the coastline.

Treasury minister James Murray, told MPs that devolving the estates to the Welsh government would make "no commercial sense".

The Welsh government, along with Plaid Cymru, believe it should be devolved so money raised from windfarms and other projects can be spent exclusively in Wales.

Plaid Cymru has said the UK government's stance is a "direct contradiction to Welsh Labour government policy".

Currently, the cash goes to the Treasury in Whitehall and the money is then spent across the UK.

The Scottish government has control over the Crown Estate in Scotland.

Plaid Cymru MP Llinos Medi, who led the calls for the devolution in the House of Commons, told MPs that "the people of Wales should own and benefit from their own natural resources".

"For much of Welsh history, this has not been the case, with resources often exploited for the benefit of others," she said.

"From copper in Amlwch on Ynys Mon, slate in Gwynedd, steel in Port Talbot and Newport, to the coal across south-east valleys, the rivers of wealth which have flowed from these industries were sucked out of our communities, and those communities have since been ravaged by poverty."

The Ynys Mon MP said the "millions of pounds generated on the Welsh Crown Estate is being taken out of Wales each year", and added: "Why do the Scottish people get the benefits from their own water, wind and sea resources but the people of Wales can't?"

Plaid Cymru says that Welsh people should "benefit" from their own resources

Plaid Cymru's Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts said the government believed Wales was "too small and too poor" to benefit from a devolution of the Crown Estate.

"That is an extraordinary argument, and I'm sure the Welsh government will share my amazement," she added.

Murray said devolution would require a "new entity" to manage the Crown Estate in Wales and "further fragment" the UK energy market.

He added: "This would not make commercial sense in terms of advancing the interests of greater energy capacity, and it would not make sense in terms of increasing the net profits made by the Crown Estate which is of course reinvested into public services, right across the country, right across Wales, and other parts of the UK."

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have called for the devolution of the Crown Estate.

David Chadwick, MP for Brecon, Radnor and Cwmtawe said "it could contribute an additional £50 million to the Welsh Government's budget".

"That's more money for our public services, economic investment and infrastructure in our communities," he added.

Earlier this month in the Senedd, Labour First Minister Eluned Morgan acknowledged a split within Labour on the issue.

"There's lots that we agree on, and there are things that we disagree on. This is one of the areas where we disagree," she said.

Speaking after the debate, Medi said she was disappointed that Welsh Labour MPs had "failed to stand up for the interests of the people of Wales".

"Today provided Welsh Labour MPs with a real opportunity to put country before party by voting in favour of my amendment to ensure that wealth generated in Wales is kept in our communities to benefit our people," she said.

"We are yet to see the benefits of the so-called 'partnership in power' between the UK Labour Government and the Welsh Labour Government, particularly when they continue to undermine each other on such key issues."

Rebutting the argument that the devolution request would be too costly, she added: "Our communities are crying out for real investment, and this is another missed opportunity by Labour to have the meaningful change that they promised to the people of Wales."

What is the Crown Estate?

The Crown Estate owns more £603m of land in Wales.

That includes:

• 65% of Wales' coast and riverbeds

• The seabed up to 12 miles out to sea

• 50,000 acres of land

• 250,000 acres of mineral deposits

• Any gold and silver

Profits of the Crown Estate - a property business owned by the monarch but run independently - go to the Treasury. The level of profit is used as a benchmark to calculate the funding given by the government to the Royal Family in the Sovereign Grant.