Doubt has been cast on claims by north-east England that it was unfairly outbid by Wales in efforts to win a £30 million ($50 million) Taiwanese investment.
Recent correspondence among senior politicians in the governing Labour party suggests that the successful aid package offered in Wales for the Acer group factory was slightly lower - rather than much higher - than the rival bid from north-east England.
Wales and north-east England are the UKs most successful regions at attracting inward investment from east Asia.
A report on competition among UK regions was due to be published by the House of Commons trade and industry committee soon.
The inquiry was ordered following complaints from north-east England about the Welsh Development Agency and the Acer project.
The Northern Development Company, the north-east agency, claimed Acer had been lured away from the north-east by a last minute higher offer from Wales. This, and a similar move to win Europes biggest inward investment project - the 6,000-job £1.7 billion LG Electronics plant - were made possible by unfair play on behalf of the Welsh, it alleged.
Ron Davies, the chief minister for Wales in the British government, has written about the dispute to Gordon Brown, the chancellor of the exchequer.
Davies is understood to have said that the claims were untrue and that the successful Welsh Development Agency bid was lower than its north-east rival.
After a higher but unsuccessful bid on behalf of west Wales, the WDA made a second offer for a site near Cardiff, the capital, about £3 million-£4 million less than NDCs bid.
The total value of the successful package of land, buildings, and training is reported to be £8 million.
The NDC has since repeated its claims. When we last negotiated with Acer it was less than offered by Wales, an official said.
The agency said it did not want to comment further on the row, which has recently provoked fears that the UKs image is being damaged.
Recently James Turner, international managing director for the WDA, said potential and existing overseas investors had complained about being used as weapons in the investment dispute.
In another letter to Martin ONeill, chairman of the House of Commons trade and industry committee who led the inquiry, Davies also alluded to the lower offer for Acer.
The details of the assistance offered to the company must of course be treated as commercially confidential, but I will say that it is less than what I understand is being offered elsewhere in the UK, he said.
The Welsh office is confident that Mr ONeills report will be helpful to Wales.
Davies also refers to Acers comment last week that it chose the Welsh site not because of the grant but because of its location and workforce.
