Speaking to an online audience of representatives from
Welsh business, industry and tourism on Thursday (20
May) the Welsh Secretary explained how the UK
Government will build back better and greener from the
pandemic by investing in digital infrastructure,
providing financial backing for green industry and
supporting jobs and growth right across Wales in the
coming months and years.
Launching the UK Government’s Plan for Wales, Mr Hart
also described how his government will operate at a
community level in Wales, working directly with local
authorities and other groups on delivery of funding and
major projects.
Speaking about the plans, Prime Minister
said:
Just as the economic heft of the UK provided the
resources to get all four of its constituent parts
through the worst of the pandemic – and acquire the
vaccines that will ultimately bring it to an end – so
that strength in numbers will help Wales become
fairer, greener and more prosperous as we build back
better from Coronavirus.
By working together we can bring faster internet
connections, more reliable mobile signals and better
transport connections. We can create good, skilled,
well-paid jobs from Menai Bridge to Machynlleth to
Merthyr Tydfil and we can help Wales play its part in
building a net-zero economy with everything from the
Holyhead Hydrogen Hub to vast floating windfarms in
the Celtic Sea.
Welsh Secretary said:
The UK Government is stepping up a gear in Wales. We
are accelerating our support for local communities to
help them recover from the pandemic, we are bringing
the UK Government closer to Wales and we will lead
Wales’ recovery into a green industrial revolution of
jobs and growth.
Every single investment we make will be looked at
through the prism of jobs, livelihoods and
sustainability. Like never before people will see the
UK Government work directly with the 22 Welsh local
authorities as well as other local partners.
Neither Westminster nor Cardiff has a monopoly of
knowledge and expertise and I firmly believe it is
local communities that are often best placed to
determine both how to meet the specific needs of
their areas and what will have the greatest impact.
The Plan for Wales has been published following a year
which has seen unprecedented support provided to
businesses and individuals in Wales during the Covid-19
pandemic with more than 500,000 Welsh jobs protected by
UK Government support schemes including the Coronavirus
Job Retention Scheme, billions provided in government
loans to Welsh firms and an extra £8.6bn allocated to
the devolved Welsh Government through the Barnett
Formula since the start of the pandemic.
Mr Hart said that the collective strength of the United
Kingdom has been instrumental in harnessing collective
scientific, industrial and financial strength to
deliver a world-class vaccination programme that has
provided a path out of lockdown.
The Welsh Secretary outlined a series of ambitious
projects across Wales to which the UK Government has
recently committed funding and support, and reiterated
his government’s backing for longer-standing policies
like significantly improving Wales’ digital
infrastructure and ensuring transformational growth
deals cover every area of Wales.
Projects highlighted by the Welsh Secretary include:
- Investing, alongside industry, more than £40m to
support a cluster of industries in South Wales to
transition to net-zero.
- Hundreds of millions of pounds in business and job
creation in every area of Wales via the Growth Deals
programme.
- Investing £15.9m in low-carbon heavy goods vehicles
which will be pioneered in Cwmbran.
- Moving more jobs in UK Government departments
including the Home Office and the Department for
Business Energy and Industrial Strategy to locations in
Wales.
- Making almost £5m available for the Holyhead
Hydrogen Hub project to pilot the use of hydrogen in
the transport sector.
- Investing up to £30m, subject to approvals, in the
Global Centre of Rail Excellence to create a world
class train testing and R&D facility in the Dulais
Valley.
- Supporting the emergence of floating offshore wind,
with the Crown Estate holding a formal leasing round
for floating offshore wind projects in the Celtic Sea.
- Implementing the new Levelling Up Fund which will
invest up to £4.8 billion in local infrastructure
across the UK that has a visible impact on people and
their communities.
- Launching Project Gigabit, a £5bn connectivity
programme to support the rollout of gigabit-capable
broadband in the hardest to reach communities in Wales
and across the UK.
- Continuing to improve rural connectivity via the
Shared Rural Network, a £1 billion deal with the mobile
network operators to deliver 80% 4G mobile coverage
from all four operators across Wales and 95% coverage
from at least one.
- Investing in Wales’ transport infrastructure
including a further £2.7m to upgrade the digital
signalling capability on the Cambrian Line.
- The delivery of the first-ever Freeport in Wales
which could lead to thousands of new jobs.
Secretary of State for Wales said:
The UK Government’s ability to act quickly and
protect our economic future has been instrumental in
saving jobs and livelihoods as vast swathes of our
economy were shut down.
This includes the furlough scheme, which has
protected more than 460,000 jobs in Wales and the
Business Interruption and Bounce Back loan schemes
which have also provided support worth over £2bn for
Welsh businesses.
The UK Government has supported people and businesses
across Wales through the worst of this pandemic and
we will now do everything in our power to lead the
way out of it.
ENDS
Read the full
Plan for Wales.
