Extracts from Wales Assembly questions to the questions to the Counsel General and Brexit Minister - Jul 10

Thursday, 11 July 2019 08:21

Darren Millar AM:...It speaks volumes, frankly, Minister, that this administration here in Wales will take every single opportunity that it can to criticise the UK Government, no matter how unfair that criticism is, and yet you jump at the chance to praise the European Union no matter how undeserved that praise might be. We heard this week that the Welsh Labour Party's priorities are clear. It's the European Union first, and the union of the United Kingdom last. And because this Chamber won't hear it from the Brexit Minister, let me tell you about the opportunities that we will see, because, of course, we will see the regulatory burden rolled back, potentially, from many businesses that don't need to trade overseas with export. We will also see, of course, some significant savings for the taxpayer. We will have the shared prosperity fund to replace the European Union funds that we will lose. And, of course, the two candidates for the leadership of the Conservative Party, one of whom will become Prime Minister, have both guaranteed that Wales will not lose out a single penny of European funding compared to the cash that it receives to date...

Jeremy Miles AM (Counsel General and Brexit Minister): Well, I'm going to resist the temptation of the Pollyanna-like blandishments of the opposition spokesman in this regard. Can I just pick him up on one point? He talks about the shared prosperity fund and the commitments made in relation to that. Let's be clear: what Boris Johnson said last Friday was a constitutional outrage—the fact that those funds would be better deployed if there was a Conservative element to them, not a UK Government element, but a Conservative element. What does that mean? If he wants the Conservatives to manage those funds, the Conservatives need to win an election here in Wales, which you haven't done during the last 100 years...

Delyth Jewell AM:...Boris Johnson recently said that if he were Prime Minster, he'd want a strong Conservative influence over how the EU funding replacement scheme—the shared prosperity fund—was spent in Wales, and the Conservatives, in this Chamber today, have said that, 'You lot should not be trusted with that'. Their words not mine. Since the Conservatives are not in power here, this suggests that Boris Johnson wants the fund to be administered from Westminster, or that there may be some truth to the rumour that his friend, not mine, the Secretary of State for Wales, wants it to be be administered by local authorities. Do you agree with me, Minister, that this would be a naked power grab, which would run counter to the Wales Act 2017, and that it should also therefore be possibly illegal since powers over economic development, including the administration and spending of regional funds, are devolved to this Assembly?

Jeremy Miles AM: Well, I echo the sentiments in the Member's question. As I mentioned a few moments ago, I think it would be outrageous for that to be what happens. The Prime Minister has made commitments, which she is not living up to. Boris Johnson, in making that statement, raises alarm bells, as her question implies. We are absolutely clear that we should not suffer a penny less of the funding that we have received here in Wales, and that the powers over those funds should be exercised here in this Assembly by the Welsh Government on behalf of the people of Wales, because we are best placed here to manage our economic development in Wales.

Huw Irranca-Davies AM: This, of course, isn't the first instance where the representative democratic interests of Wales and the Welsh Government have been, to some extent, bypassed or put to one side while the UK Government just gets on with something without discussion or consultation. It does seem very, very odd. The previous one, of course, was equally significant, on the UK shared prosperity fund. So, I wonder—clearly, they're not learning a lesson, or they're wilfully carrying on to ignore the wishes of Welsh Government or the Scottish Government and both Assemblies as well, both Parliaments, but where are we on the shared prosperity fund? Because, meanwhile, in Wales, like the suggestions that have been put forward by Welsh Government and by the Scottish Government on future structures of devolution, we're also working on ways forward for allocating properly funding throughout Wales. So, the group that I'm delighted to chair—the regional investment for Wales steering group—is working actively across Wales with representatives of wider Welsh society to look at the right structures, and yet UK Government is off doing its thing on the UK shared prosperity fund and we don't know a lot. Would the Minister share with us where we are on that at the moment? Do we have any clarity at the moment on that? Because that might indicate to us the way in which they intend to take this latest piece of work forward.

Jeremy Miles AM: Well, I thank the Member for that. Can I also take the opportunity of thanking him for his work chairing the regional investment steering group, which is important work and goes to the heart of the point I made to Llyr Gruffydd earlier about needing to take proactive steps in a very creative and imaginative way to look at how we can deliver some of these funding sources into the future differently from how we have been able to do that to date? So, I thank him and members of the steering group for the work that they are doing in that important area.

I think the point that he makes in relation to clarity of information and sharing of information in relation to the prosperity fund is absolutely critical, isn't it? We have been clear that this is not the way to proceed if you're looking to respect the devolution boundaries, and I think he will have shared my dismay at the remarks made by Boris Johnson—in Cardiff, of all places—last Friday in relation to this. I very much hope that that will have ended up being a question of party politics as he seeks the nomination of his party. I'm afraid I don't have much confidence in that. As we stand today, I can't tell him that I have any insight into what the proposals are or any substantive detail, and I think he will share my regret about that.