The Coronavirus Recovery Programme in Blaenau Gwent

Part of 2. Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for European Transition (in respect of his European Transition responsibilities) – in the Senedd at 2:57 pm on 7 October 2020.

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Photo of Jeremy Miles Jeremy Miles Labour 2:57, 7 October 2020

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.