7. Welsh Conservatives Debate: Regional Economic Inequality

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:15 pm on 6 February 2019.

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Photo of Mark Reckless Mark Reckless Conservative 5:15, 6 February 2019

I agree with the Member's point. The city deals started back with the first eight of them being agreed within the UK in July 2012. Now those were eight deals in England, including places, such as Bristol and Nottingham, of a similar size to Cardiff and not much bigger than Swansea. Why did it take so long for this concept then to be developed in Wales? In England, between July 2012 and that first lot, we saw another 20 deals coming through by July 2014. Yet it was only in March of 2017 that we had both the Cardiff and Swansea deals up and running, and we're still working to get the north Wales deal, and particularly the mid Wales deal, up to that point. So, I'd just say: pleased to see the degree of commitment and support now, I hope we will see more of that, but why did it take so long? And let's push on and really have an urgency about this.