Delyth Jewell AM:...But, coming back to the question, now we know,
and as you've just recognised, there's very little that we could do
to mitigate the disastrous impact of a 'no deal' Brexit, to
mitigate that on Wales, and we would be powerless, essentially, to
defend ourselves. The disrespect shown to Wales by Westminster over
the past few years is actually beyond belief. They've taken powers
from us, they've refused to let Welsh Ministers see draft plans for
replacement...Request free trial
Delyth Jewell
AM:...But, coming back to the question, now we
know, and as you've just recognised, there's very little that we
could do to mitigate the disastrous impact of a 'no deal' Brexit,
to mitigate that on Wales, and we would be powerless,
essentially, to defend ourselves. The disrespect shown to Wales
by Westminster over the past few years is actually beyond belief.
They've taken powers from us, they've refused to let Welsh
Ministers see draft plans for replacement schemes for European
funding. You told us yesterday, Minister, that they refused to
listen to your concerns over plans for immigration, and also that
we've had very little input—well, no input at all—into plans for
the shared prosperity fund...
: During yesterday's debate on
the shared prosperity fund, said that there are
unanswered questions about the future of
the shared prosperity fund, which led me
once again to question why on earth he's a Tory. He
surely too nice and intelligent for that kind of
activity. [ Laughter.] I think the
future—[ Interruption.] Well, let me get to the
question. The future of the structural funds has a huge
impact for skills and development and training in my
constituency. In Caerphilly town, ACT Training have
benefited from European social fund support, which
delivers Government apprenticeship, traineeship and Jobs
Growth Wales programmes. In Ystrad Mynach, Educ8
benefited from the same and, of course, Coleg y
Cymoedd have built into their work ESF-funded programmes
too. So, would you agree with me—and perhaps with
—that the shared prosperity fund needs to
be clearly directed towards these programmes and that the
UK Government needs to make a commitment on that fund and
that that direction needs to be put towards particularly
those kinds of educational programmes too?
(Counsel General and Brexit
Minister): The Member
started referring to the benefits that young
people have received as a consequence of some of
this support, and he's absolutely right to do
that. A number of the EU-funded programmes have
specifically been targeted on getting young
people into employment, improving their skills,
and so it's hardly a surprise, is it, that
younger people can see more clearly, perhaps,
some of the benefits of continued participation
in EU programmes than, perhaps, other parts of
society?
He talks about providing solutions to the question
of how the shared prosperity fund can
be designed. I wish there had been an opportunity
to do that. The truth of the matter is, when I
spoke with the Secretary of State for Wales, I
specifically offered the support of the Welsh
Government in designing a consultation that would
work for Wales and would reflect the principles
that we feel are echoed in all parts of Welsh
society, economy and public services, and that has
not been taken up. It is absolutely essential that
we here, as the Welsh Government, are able to
design a system that best supports the young people
that he refers to in his question across Wales,
particularly in disadvantaged communities. And
until we get the realisation of those commitments
by the UK Government, we're not going to be in a
position to do that.
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