—they used as part of the metrics for this fund, such as household income. The average annual household income in Caerphilly is approximately £15,000 per head, which is substantially lower that the UK average of £21,000, and lower than every single English region. I know my colleague Delyth Jewell will be going into some more detail on this later, and as Hefin David just said, he'll also be going into it in detail as well.

Given that the Tories have so far refused to publish their calculations for working out the priority areas to target this funding, the conclusion that many people would draw is that these decisions are made using political rather than mathematical calculations, hanging places like Caerphilly out to dry. How can anyone trust the Tories to implement these funds fairly and transparently? Just look at the England-only UK towns fund: 83 per cent of the £610 million in this fund is going to seats with Tory MPs, with 22 of 26 places that received the funds in the latest tranche being represented by Conservative MPs. This had led to the UK Government being criticised by the Public Accounts Committee for its lack of transparency, and even the Good Law Project has taken the UK Government to court over this. This is not levelling up; it's a stitch-up.

Finally, on our second amendment, the Welsh Government announced last year a new framework for regional investment in Wales to start once EU structural funds came to an end. The Minister for European transition at the time concluded that the delivery of this framework is dependant on positive engagement with the UK Government, which has so far been withheld. Wales must receive funding in full, which needs to respect our devolution settlement. From questions raised by my predecessor Dr Dai Lloyd in January 2021, the then Minister for European transition emphasised that this plan wasn't dead in the water, and even at the late stage, there was time for the UK Government to do work with the Welsh Government and not circumvent it. That hasn't happened, and so this amendment would ensure the Welsh Government would have to show to the Senedd how their framework for regional investment has been impacted, as well as their more general funding arrangements and where this leaves devolved decision makers in Wales, when they presumably are kept out of the loop by Westminster.

I ask Members to support out amendments and I thank the Minister for his support for our amendments also. Diolch yn fawr.