Changing the name of the game? RSA, indigenous and inward investors and the national assembly for Wales

The recent rejection of British Aerospace's (BAe) application for £25 m in Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) for its Broughton facility in North Wales, and subsequent granting of £19.5 m in other aid packages, has highlighted an important policy issue now facing development areas across the UK. In particular, how do governments balance the ability of foreign investors to lever increasingly scarce economic development resources from central coffers on a continuing (almost automatic) basis against the new policy agenda which is focusing to a much higher degree on the needs of indigenous firms? Using a new database on RSA to contrast the fortunes of BAe with those of several prominent inward investors, this article illustrates the complex political economy that now surrounds grant decisions in post-devolution UK.