Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Trefnydd – in the Senedd at 2:03 pm on 17 March 2021.
It's astonishing, isn't it? The levelling-up fund is a direct affront to Wales's devolution settlement, Minister, I'm sure you'll agree, and it circumvents our democratic institutions. Not only is the Senedd excluded from decisions that will be taken in Whitehall, but the fund ties the success of community projects to representation made by MPs in Westminster, even as the UK Government cuts the number of Welsh MPs by a fifth. Surely, decisions made for Wales should be made in Wales. Given that England's Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will be overseeing the scheme, what assurances have you received that they will be able to assess accurately Welsh bids, given their complete lack of expertise in devolved areas?