Part of 2. Questions to the Counsel General and Brexit Minister (in respect of his Brexit Minister responsibilities) – in the Senedd at 2:37 pm on 4 December 2019.
Well, I'll refer him to the contents of the document we published at the end of 2017, which describes our vision for the future of regional funding in Wales and the work of the steering group that Huw Irranca-Davies chairs, which was the subject of our previous exchange and which has led to very interesting, I think, interim proposals. We've been really clear about what the priorities are that we wish to see, as a Government, out of future regional investment in Wales—it's to support sustainable communities, productive businesses, a zero-carbon economy, and to promote equalities throughout Wales, and to do that on a basis where the national, the regional, and the local work together to deliver this most effectively on the ground.
I will say, I hear repeatedly examples from the UK Government of how regional policy has worked effectively in England. I fear if that is the model that the UK Government has in mind across the UK, because it has repeatedly been found—not least by the Public Accounts Committee in Parliament—that the way the local enterprise companies, for example, across England have approached the question of regional investment has been woefully inadequate. And I fear that is what the Conservatives have in mind for Wales.