10. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the use of structural funds to promote prosperity in the northern valleys?

Llywydd, we continue to maximise available EU structural funds to support our objectives for growth and jobs across Wales. That includes, of course, the northern Valleys. So far, we have invested over £1.4 billion for that purpose, and that supports a total investment of £2.6 billion.

Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. The Industrial Communities Alliance have suggested that a new UK regional development fund should be central to any post-Brexit regional policy. However, they've also pointed out that this needs to be managed on a devolved basis, and that any moneys allocated should be above and beyond that due via the Barnett formula. Getting this right is key to the prosperity of the northern Valleys, so does the Cabinet Secretary agree with me that promises made during the EU referendum campaign, that Wales wouldn't lose out on a penny, need to be honoured?

Well, absolutely, Llywydd. Those promises have to be honoured. It would be a very strange irony indeed if those people who voted to leave the European Union found that Wales does less well out of its membership of the United Kingdom than it did out of its membership of the European Union. That's why the money that has come to Wales from the European Union—money that, you will remember, we get because we qualify for it under the rules—must flow to us after we leave the European Union. I've made a case to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury as to how that could be done. I will be restating that case when I meet her on Friday of this week. We believe very firmly that regional development is a devolved responsibility of this National Assembly, that we are best placed to make sure that we can go on doing that successfully in the future, but we need the money that has come to Wales for that purpose while we've been in the EU to continue beyond it, and we look to the UK Government to ensure that that takes place. 

Thank you, Cabinet Secretary.