Welsh Secretary Simon Hart has confirmed that the Welsh Government will be bypassed as EU regional aid money is replaced by cash that will be distributed directly by Whitehall to councils and other local bodies.
The announcement was greeted with outrage by the Welsh Government, which accused Prime Minister Boris Johnson of grabbing powers and fuelling “needless confrontation”.
Launching the 海角视频 Government’s “Plan for Wales” yesterday, Mr Hart described how his government will operate at a community level in Wales, working directly with local authorities and other groups on the delivery of funding and major projects.
Speaking about the plans, Mr Johnson said: “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.”
Making an online presentation, Mr Hart said: “The 海角视频 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 海角视频 Government closer to Wales and we will lead Wales’ recovery into a green industrial revolution of jobs and growth.”
We put it to Mr Hart that his presentation could have taken place before the Senedd’s existence in the 1980s or early 1990s, and didn’t reflect the fact that, under the devolution settlement, economic development in Wales is the Welsh Government’s responsibility.
We asked him: “Is it simply that you don’t trust the Welsh Government to spend the money wisely or is there another reason why you think it is appropriate that the 海角视频 Government rather than the Welsh Government should be in charge of this fund?”
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Mr Hart responded: “I disagree with the basis of the question for the simple reason that nothing that we’ve announced today – nothing that we’ve said in recent Budgets or Comprehensive Spending Reviews or similar – in any way compromises the devolution settlement.
“In fact what we’re doing is restating what we do and what we plan to do within the confines of our reserved powers, if you like, but to do so better and more positively than we’ve done before.
“The second part of your question about whether colleagues in Cardiff are anxious about whether we should be talking to local authorities or, for example, MPs – I think that has a whiff of uncertainty about it because actually I would think that anybody who believes in devolution should absolutely enthusiastically sign up for the fact that we should involve as many people as possible in the decision-making process, particularly people who are closest to the coal face.
“That’s how I define devolution. Devolution for me isn’t simply putting a Cardiff postcode on activity that used to be undertaken in Westminster.
“It’s actually about bringing in 22 local authorities, it’s bringing in stakeholders and involving people who have desperately been trying to catch the judge’s eye in recent years on investment issues – and bring them into the loop.”
A Welsh Government spokesman said: “These plans fail to guarantee a fair share for Wales and are based on decision-making powers grabbed back by Whitehall.
“The Welsh Government approach is based on evidence, and is designed in partnership with Welsh communities. The 海角视频 Government plans were made in Whitehall and designed to fuel needless confrontation.
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“The 海角视频 Government needs to end the ‘you’ll get what you’re given’ approach to Wales. We will fight for Wales’ fair share with decisions about Wales, to be taken in Wales.”
Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts said: “Westminster’s so-called ‘Plan for Wales’ is a plan to undermine Wales at every turn.
“At its heart is the Levelling Up Fund, a pork barrel fund that puts short-term political interests ahead of the long-term needs of Wales. Areas like Gwynedd – which was prioritised under EU structural funds for being one of the least developed areas in Europe – will now be relegated down the list. Meanwhile, funds will gush into richer Tory constituencies.
“Westminster’s aim is not to work with Welsh decision makers, but to deliberately and cynically undermine our devolved government. Their refusal to involve the Welsh Government could undermine rather than enhance Wales’ economic strategy.
“Wales urgently needs a proper national economic development agenda. What we have instead through the Levelling Up Fund is the 海角视频 Government dividing, and it hopes, conquering Wales, by breaking our economy into 22 competing units. The 海角视频 Government must urgently re-assess its criteria so that funding is allocated according to need.”
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The Welsh Secretary outlined a series of projects across Wales to which the 海角视频 Government has recently committed funding and support.
They included:
- 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.
- 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.
- Continuing to improve rural connectivity via the Shared Rural Network, a £1bn 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.