CEREDIGION has directly benefited from the UK’s membership of the European Union to the tune of an average of over £57m a year, according to Ceredigion County Council officers and figures from the Centre for European Reform.

Aberystwyth councillor and Ceredigion Cabinet member Alun Williams - who campaigned to remain in the EU in last year’s vote - said that questions remain over how the shortfall would be made up - with “no guarantees” forthcoming from the UK government that the lost millions to Ceredigion would be replaced after Brexit.

“Ceredigion is unusual in that our economy is much more dependent than most on a combination of agriculture and higher education, two sectors that receive considerable money from Europe,” Cllr Williams wrote in a blog.

“In addition we receive structural funds due to our status within the EU as a ‘less developed region’.

“This combination makes us particularly vulnerable if our present EU funding is not directly replaced to the same level when Brexit happens.

“With the nature and economic conditions of any future Brexit in a state of extreme uncertainty at the moment, the idea of the Westminster government being in a position to simply replace all of this money - even if it wanted to - seems highly optimistic.

“Even if they agreed to replace three quarters of it, that would still amount to a loss of over £14m a year to the Ceredigion economy.”

The Welsh Government has insisted that “every single penny” lost through the UK leaving the EU should be replaced by extra Westminster funding.

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