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Economic Development

Welsh Government accused of 'sitting on' £500m but says 'irresponsible' to splash all reserves now

Welsh Conservatives have attacked the Government in Wales for not rolling out more funds to struggling firms

Welsh Government accused of 'sitting on' £500m'(Image: Getty Images)

Welsh Government says it would be "irresponsible" to commit all its reserves now after being accused of "sitting on" a £500m funding pot for firms.

The Welsh Conservatives say that there is "100s of millions of pounds" left over in Covid support funding and should be used for the hospitality sector as it is hit by a cancellation crisis - and the nation faces additional restrictions after December 27.

Welsh Government has so far committed £60m but said with a quarter of the financial year left it would be "irresponsible" to spend every penny of the reserves now and leave no support for the next three months.

They have requested the Treasury increase support for the hospitality sector and "demonstrate HM Treasury supports the whole of the º£½ÇÊÓÆµ, not just England".

Last night º£½ÇÊÓÆµ Government increased the amount of emergency funding from the º£½ÇÊÓÆµ Reserve made available to Wales from £135m to £270m.

This is to support the vaccine rollout and the health and economic response as cases increase due to the Omicron variant.

In England Chancellor Rishi Sunak has so far resisted calls for extra support for impacted sectors and has been under fire from hospitality chiefs for jetting off to California for meetings with tech firms amid the crisis.

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “Financial support of up to £60m will be available to businesses materially affected by these new restrictions. We are working intensively with partners on how that support can most effectively be delivered, and further details will follow as soon as possible.