Rebecca Evans AM (Minister for Finance and Trefnydd):...Wales
receives some £680 million annually from EU funds, and the Welsh
Government has made it clear that we will look to the Treasury to
maintain our spending at current levels post Brexit. At present,
the consultation on the proposed UK Government shared
prosperity fund, which threatens to sweep power away from Wales,
has not even opened. We will continue to hold the UK Government to
the promise that we will not be a penny worse...Request free trial
(Minister for Finance and
Trefnydd):...Wales receives some £680 million annually from EU
funds, and the Welsh Government has made it clear that we will look
to the Treasury to maintain our spending at current levels post
Brexit. At present, the consultation on the proposed UK
Government shared
prosperity fund, which threatens to sweep power
away from Wales, has not even opened. We will continue to hold the
UK Government to the promise that we will not be a penny worse off.
Our message is clear: not a penny less, not a power lost...
AM:...So, prospects
aren't as good, maybe, as some people would wish they were. And,
of course, we can add to that the concerns as to whether Wales
will be receiving replacement funding from the UK Government for
what we're currently in receipt of. I mean, they made promises
around the pensions issue, which was highlighted to be
misleading, because we didn't get the money at the end of the
day. So, there are real concerns, but, of course, I don't want to
hear from the Minister what the problems are; I know what the
problems are. What I want to know is what are you doing to
address and tackle some of those issues. So, what negotiations
are you having with the UK Government in relation to future
funding? We know the ambiguity or the evasion around committing
to the shared prosperity fund. Well, what are you
pursuing, therefore, to ensure that we get some sort of
clarity?
(Minister for Finance and
Trefnydd):...Of course, we always attend these meetings and make
the case for Wales across the piece. The shared prosperity fund, for example,
I've taken that case up again with after the unanimous vote
that we had here in the Assembly where we all supported the
motion, which was jointly tabled by three of our parties, which
said that we didn't want a penny less, that we had to make sure
that the shared prosperity fund wasn't an
opportunity to roll back on the devolution settlement, and that
decisions on that fund should be made here in Wales. Some work
has gone on over the last 18 months that would set out very
clearly what Welsh Government's priorities would be for the
future of regional funding, so we would be looking at multi-year
frameworks, we'd be looking at the greater opportunity for local
communities to have a say in the direction of the decisions that
are made around those regional funds. So, we've been very clear
in the documents that we've published and the work that has been undertaking in
the group that is looking at the future of regional funding
in Wales as well...
AM:...You have this Jeffrey
Archer sort of title, suggested—not a penny less, not
a power lost—and, again, you accentuate the downside. You could
at least have listened to your First Minister in the previous
statement. He was a lot more positive. He said we'll be acquiring
thousands of new powers and functions in policy areas that were
previously set by EU laws. Surely that is something to celebrate.
Clearly there's a discussion with UK Government and others about
exactly how the shared prosperity fund will work.
Now, Boris has said that the decision to cancel the M4 relief
road needs to be reversed, and he's said there's going to be
significant Conservative Ministers' influence on how the money is
spent, so I infer from that that the UK Government may be
offering to pay for the M4 relief road, or at least a substantial
proportion of it. Now, surely, given the impact that could have
in boosting our economy, helping young people stay in Wales—what
better way to boost shared prosperity than actually to fund that
M4 relief road?
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