Part of 1. 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 1:37 pm on 5 July 2017.
I thank the Member for that question. The Welsh Government remains firmly committed to the development of a north Wales growth deal. I’ve recently embarked on my latest round of discussions with local authority leaders. I met with the new leader of Gwynedd and the new leader of Ynys Môn recently, and I discussed this matter with the both of them, and also with the leader of Flintshire council. And I know that there remains an appetite right across north Wales to fashion a growth deal bid that will be convincing to both the Welsh Government and to the UK Government. I can’t speak directly for the UK Government on this matter, although every indication we have had is that they too remain committed to taking these discussions forward. We won’t get to the point of talking about financial commitments until later in the process. There’s still quite a job of work to be done in shaping that deal, in putting forward the proposition, and in calibrating the money that will be asked for it against the realism of what can be achieved. That was the process both in the Cardiff and the Swansea city deals, and I quite certainly look forward to being able to help take that process forward in relation to the north Wales growth deal.