The challenge that we face in Wales is that however effectively those funds are deployed, when we have a UK-wide economic policy that is based on austerity and the continued maintenance, on a UK-wide basis, of the most unequal regional economy in any part of Europe, those funds cannot do the heavy lifting for that failure in fiscal and macro-economic policy across the UK, which is punishing so many of our communities. But they have been effective, and we have a good track record, and that compares very, very favourably to the failure of the local enterprise partnerships and the local growth fund in England, which the public accounts committee in Parliament has analysed in some detail.

I will make the commitment to him that we are very keen to make sure that the replacement funds respect the regionalisation agenda that flows throughout the whole of our policy in Welsh Government, and I will make the commitment to him that all parts of Wales will benefit from these funds. There is a potential in the replacement funds—which we've worked together with stakeholders to design and to map out—to look at this more flexibly than perhaps has been possible in the past. So, I hope he will engage constructively with the consultation when it comes forward.