3. Will the Counsel General make a statement on how the Welsh Government's coronavirus recovery programme will benefit Blaenau Gwent? OQ55642

As set out in the publication yesterday, we are committed to a reconstruction that works for the people of Wales, including Blaenau Gwent, by addressing the issues that matter to us most: unemployment, entrenched inequalities, affordable housing, the revitalisation of town centres, and support for the foundational economy.

I'm grateful to the Minister for that response. I'm also grateful to the Minister for his statement yesterday. Blaenau Gwent is a part of the country, of course, that will lose out more in terms of funding than almost any other county borough. Blaenau Gwent has relied on funding from the European Union in terms of connectivity, both investing in railway and the dualling of the A465. People in Blaenau Gwent have benefited from European funding, of course, in terms of training and apprenticeships as well. So, both our place and our people have benefited in the past. I know the Minister has worked hard over the last few years to ensure that these funding streams will be maintained, and I know that the United Kingdom Government has let him down and let us down, and broken the promises that they've made. So, how will the Welsh Government pick up the pieces of those broken Tory promises and ensure that we have the budget, that we have the funds available for a long-term programme to sustain and support people in Blaenau Gwent and our communities in Blaenau Gwent? 

I thank the Member for that important question on behalf of his constituents, and he raises matters that affect the daily lives of his constituents, as they do mine and others in the Chamber. He's absolutely right to say that his constituency and, indeed, mine and others will have benefited significantly from some of those programmes, and he is right to articulate his disappointment about the UK Government's failure to live up to its promises to make sure that Wales continues to have that funding, and that people in Wales get to make the decisions for Wales, which is the guiding principle of devolution and a promise that the UK Government should be living up to. 

We know from their recent moves in Parliament that they're seeking to undermine that, looking for powers to spend money in Wales where the Welsh Government could spend that better on behalf of the people of Wales. His constituents will have lost out by virtue of the fact that the UK Government has failed to live up to its existing financial responsibilities, whether that's to do with the rail network, whether it's to do with the energy system or digital connectivity—all of those things are massively underfunded and they're responsibilities of the UK Government. 

What we are seeking to do is to make the case that the UK Government should keep its promises in relation to this so that we can continue to support communities like Blaenau Gwent with future programmes, but also, as he will have seen in the document published yesterday, to seek to stimulate the economy for the benefit of all parts of Wales, including Blaenau Gwent, from investment in schools, in road maintenance, in health infrastructure, in care infrastructure, in housing and in energy upgrades. All of those are designed to stimulate the economy, to help people keep work and to get new work, and that is at the heart of the challenge that the Government will be setting its sights on addressing over the coming months.