Fair funding vital for Wales after Brexit

IN the continuing daily melodrama of Brexit, one element we are not hearing enough about is how regional aid will be allocated within the UK once we are no longer eligible for EU funding.

Wales, of course, has a vital interest in this question. Between 2014 and 2020 alone our communities will have received more than £2bn in EU aid.

The issues raised by Plaid Cymru’s MPs are very worrying. Jonathan Edwards is quite right to argue that the British state has never been good at distributing resources fairly around the nations and regions of the UK.

Infrastructure investment has gone disproportionately to London, the Barnett formula left Wales underfunded for decades, and the current UK Government ignored funding conventions to throw money at Northern Ireland and secure the support of the DUP.

What confidence can we have in a new regional aid framework that will be controlled by a Whitehall department that has no responsibility for Wales? There is every chance that Wales will receive no more than a Barnett consequential, which would be significantly less than the proportion of aid we have received from the EU. It, of course, has a mechanism designed to fund the regions that are most in need.

The UK Government has hinted strongly that it does not want the Welsh Government to have control of whatever funds are disbursed within Wales. Such a move would be another blow to devolution.

It is now more than two years since the referendum took place. During the run-up to it, the Leave campaign made it clear that Wales would not lose a penny in funding if the UK voted to quit the EU. Yet without any assurances from the current UK Government, our communities are in danger of losing out on precious millions that ought to be helping their regeneration.

It is noteworthy that while the Conservatives have been prepared to legislate to grab powers that in the normal course of events would have passed from the EU to the Welsh Government at the time of Brexit, they have not been prepared to enshrine in law a commitment that Wales will not lose out on funding we would have been entitled to if we had voted Remain.

Welsh MPs of all parties have a duty to join forces and put pressure on the UK Government to ensure fair funding for Wales after Brexit. And Secretary of State Alun Cairns should pledge his support for such a position.