Minister attacks UK Government over post-Brexit funding
CONTINUING UK Government delays in delivering successor EU funds for Wales is leaving communities in the dark and will result in lost job opportunities, according to Economy Minister Vaughan Gething.
Speaking in the Senedd, he said the UKwide Community Renewal and Levelling Up funds, which have excluded the Welsh Government and are controlled by UK
Government Ministers, are denying Wales the vital investment needed to help create jobs and kick-start Wales’ economic recovery. They amounted, he said, to a “levelling down” for Wales.
Under Westminster’s plans, the pilot to the Shared Prosperity Fund, called the Community Renewal Fund, is worth £220m across the UK in this financial year, with Wales expected to receive around £10m or approximately £450,000 per local authority.
Mr Gething said that had the UK remained in the EU, Wales would have had new EU aid money averaging at least £375m each year for seven years from January 2021 – on top of current EU programmes.
Under the UK-wide £4.8bn Levelling Up Fund, a total of £800m has been set aside for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland over four years, with Wales expected to receive around £30m this year. That’s around £1.3m per local authority in Wales, confirming, said Mr Gething, there was no substance behind the Levelling Up brand.
He said: “Only six months remain of this financial year and the UK Government has still not announced any successful bids for the Community Renewal and Levelling Up funds. This is despite the promises made to announce bids in July. Partners are right to ask how projects are supposed to deliver by March as required. This is a delay that leaves communities in the dark and badly compromises what can be achieved for people and businesses in Wales.”
Welsh Conservative Shadow Economy Minister Paul Davies MS said: “Sadly, the minister chooses to cynically portray the British Government as an adversarial actor when it aims to fund exciting and innovative projects across Wales and the wider UK to create jobs and help the economy bounce back.”