Wales being denied vital investment for jobs – Gething
WALES’ economy minister Vaughan Gething attacked the UK Government’s attitude to Wales as he gave a briefing on his hopes for the nation’s economy as it emerges from the pandemic.
Speaking at the weekly Welsh Government press briefing, Mr Gething accused ministers in Westminster of denying Wales “the vital investment needed to create jobs” by cutting the Welsh Government out of decisions about how replacement funds for EU support are spent.
He said: “We remain in the dark about for Wales and what we will receive from a UK government that has so far been missing in action.
“The upcoming spending review is an opportunity for the UK Government to demonstrate its ambition for Wales so I call on the chancellor and Michael Gove to ensure that Wales will make decisions about how our EU replacement funds are spent.”
The minister went on to call for:
Full replacement of EU funds that we were promised
Support for major renewable energy Urgent help for steel sector Funding to remediate Wales’ coal tips Research and investment funding Mr Gething talked about the Welsh Government’s plan to give more young people reasons to stay in Wales, saying: “My ambition is to make Wales a place where young people feel hopeful and excited about planning their future so we will develop a coherent and compelling offer.”
He has already spoken about hopes to stop the “brain drain” with young people leaving Wales. The proportion of the population aged 16 to 64 years old in Wales has been decreasing year-on-year since mid-2008 – and could be just 58% of the population by 2043.
The Economy Minister referred to the ‘Team Wales’ model with its aim to offer certainty to businesses facing a volatile recovery.
He promised a new era of partnership to strengthen regional economic development, a delivery plan to back the everyday economy and wide-ranging support for workers in a changing economy.
Mr Gething will work with trade unions and business to ensure investment is linked to fairness in work, decarbonisation and skills.
Mr Gething also had a dig at the lack of information from the UK Government.
The Economy Minister said he only heard about the plan to offer homeowners in England and Wales subsidies of £5,000 from next April to help them to replace old gas boilers with low-carbon heat pumps on Monday night.
Up to 25 million UK homes are heated by gas boilers, but the grants will fund just 90,000 pumps over three years.
He described the late notice from the UK Government as “disappointing”.
“This is an agenda where all governments in the UK have a stake,” he said. “All of our people, in every part of the UK, have a stake in the transition to lower carbon economy. We had asked to have a greater conversation, but we still see opportunities in what has been announced.
“If there is more support for people to have heat pumps, there are more opportunities for us.”
The former health minister reiterated the view from the Welsh Government that the only way to learn the lessons of Covid is for there to be a UK-wide inquiry into the pandemic.
First Minister Mark Drakeford met with Boris Johnson this week and was assured there would be a Welsh element to the public inquiry.
At the briefing, Mr Gething said: “The First Minister has always been clear that the preference is for a joined up UK inquiry that properly looks at the decision we have made here in Wales, but, also, how those are connected to UK-wide choices, from testing, the vaccine supply, how we all went together on the first lockdown.
“There was a construction conversation between the First Minister and the Prime Minister, but we need to see that those commitments are made real.”
Mr Gething said the Welsh Government was “positive” about how the booster programme was going in Wales.
There have been concern in some parts of the UK that the speed of the rollout has not been fast enough to best protect the most vulnerable.
He told the briefing that the figures of the number of people who have received the third vaccine will be published from next week.
“People should have confidence in the way we have delivered the vaccine programme,” he said. “We now need to make sure the public respond.”