Part of 2. Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for European Transition (in respect of his European Transition responsibilities) – in the Senedd at 2:42 pm on 3 March 2021.
I thank the Member for giving me another opportunity to describe the shortcomings of the fund, but he describes a continuation of engagement as though there had been material engagement. The whole point of this process is that there has been none. And when you ask—. When the Member asks me what we will do with Welsh local government, we will continue the collaborative partnership working that has led to the design of the framework, which has not been characterised in the approach of the UK Government. And I am bound to say to him that he seems remarkably relaxed about Wales losing an entire year's worth of funding from the shared prosperity fund, and if he thinks that is an acceptable outcome to this process, I fundamentally disagree with him, and his assurance and his reliance on unspecific blandishments about future courses of action I do not think reflect the interests of people in Wales.