Wales: Britain’s Singapore Waiting to Happen
Wales should compete with Northern Ireland in becoming the UK's Singapore, as outlined in the R last week. Or join them. We are uniquely placed on the mainland for access to the Channel Tunnel and renewable tidal energy to reliably power technology companies. We'll race our Irish brothers to it.
For too long Wales has been treated as a quaint, mist-shrouded province – good for mining memories and heritage grants but not for hard-edged economic ambition. That mindset is not merely disappointing – it is a catastrophic waste of human potential and geographical advantage.
Just look at the map. Wales sits in the very heart of the Kingdom, its ports pointing at Ireland, its roads and rails linking to the Midlands and beyond. From Holyhead to Milford Haven, Cardiff to Port Talbot, the country boasts deep-water harbours, an English-speaking workforce, world-class universities, and a coastline bristling with renewable energy potential. These assets cry out for liberation from excessive regulation, punitive taxation and the bureaucratic mindset of Cardiff Bay.
When Lee Kuan Yew built modern Singapore he understood something Britain has forgotten: small size is an advantage when you cut red tape, champion enterprise and welcome investment. Wales could be the free-trading workshop of Britain, a low-tax hub for logistics, manufacturing, tech and energy. Instead it is shackled to subsidies, top-down planning and a public-sector monoculture that strangles innovation.
Why shouldn’t Wales be Britain’s Hong Kong on the Severn?
A special economic zone with simplified taxes, fast-track planning and a bias for business instead of bureaucracy. With its harbours and its skilled people, Wales could attract the supply-chains Brexit has made possible to re-shore. It could become a launchpad for trade with Ireland, North America and Africa rather than a backwater of Whitehall handouts.
This isn’t fantasy. It is precisely what Singapore, Dubai and Estonia did – turning smallness into speed and location into leverage. Wales can do the same if the political class stops thinking of it as a permanent patient and starts treating it as a platform.
Headline-Ready Ideas for a “Singapore on the Severn”
- Low, simple taxes – a 15–18 % corporation tax inside a UK special economic zone to draw investment.
- Fast-track planning – guaranteed 60-day approvals for industrial and logistics sites.
- Port powerhouses – turn Swansea, Holyhead, Port Talbot and Milford Haven into bonded freeports with world-class customs and freight facilities.
- Skills & enterprise visas – welcome top engineers and entrepreneurs to train and invest alongside local talent.
- Cut red tape – sunset clauses on new regulations unless they demonstrably boost jobs or exports.
- Infrastructure first – dual the A55 and upgrade rail links to Cardiff, Swansea and the Midlands to make Wales the UK’s logistics spine.
A confident, self-governing Wales inside a strong United Kingdom could show the world how to marry patriotism with prosperity. But that means turning away from the failed, statist model of devolution and embracing enterprise, competition and freedom.
If we want a dynamic Britain, we need a dynamic Wales. And that starts by asking a simple question: why shouldn’t Wales be our Singapore?
