I'm genuinely going to try to make a non-partisan, non-political speech here, which is unusual in the middle of an election, but actually it comes out of something that has arisen in the middle of the election. Because I've been sent a copy of a letter that's been sent, apparently, to all parliamentary party candidates and it's signed by the head of external affairs for the Federation of Small Businesses in Wales; Dave Hagendyk, the director of the Learning and Work Institute Wales; Heather Myers, chief executive of the South and Mid Wales Chambers of Commerce; Iestyn Davies, chief executive of ColegauCymru; Professor Julie Lydon OBE, chair of Universities Wales; Margaret Phelan, Wales official of the University and Colleges Union; Rob Simkins of the NUS; and Ruth Marks, chief executive of the Wales Council for Voluntary Action. 

The letter is actually calling on whatever Government is in place after the election to make sure not only that former funds that we were having from the European Union are replaced in full, but that the decisions that are made on them are made in Wales. And they say:

'We are calling on all political parties to replace structural funds in full. The current UK Government has pledged to create a Shared Prosperity Fund to replace these funds. Any Shared Prosperity Fund must be devolved by design and operate on a needs-based model.'

And they refer to the way in which European funding, funding that, indeed, went from taxpayers throughout the country to the EU but came back to Wales in spades—in spades—was actually used and plays a critical role in Wales in research and innovation, in our most disadvantaged communities, in young people and adults seeking to improve their skills and find employment and build careers, and the sustainable management of our natural resources. 

The replacement funding that we're looking for is equivalent to around £370 million a year, which we currently receive through European structural and investment funds. The replacement has got to be long term and needs based, and it's got to have within it permanent adjustment to the block grant above and over Barnett. And it's because, despite progress—and I could turn to the progress that we have made and the resilience that some of that funding has given to some of our communities—those regional inequalities, both in Wales and in other parts of the UK, still are there. And, in Wales, they often remain some of the highest in the EU. They don't disappear, these issues, with Brexit, and they could get even worse without continued investment that fits within the policy framework in Wales.

That EU funding has made an impact across the whole of Wales and across a wide range of policy areas. We can touch on the businesses that it's created and the jobs, over the last decade—48,000 new jobs and 13,000 new businesses; the 25,000 businesses that were helped with funding and support; the 86,000 people helped with funding; the 300,000 people who were helped with new qualifications—