9. Debate: The UK Levelling-up and Shared Prosperity Funds

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:24 pm on 15 June 2021.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Alun Davies Alun Davies Labour 6:24, 15 June 2021

I'm grateful to you, Presiding Officer. I wanted to respond to a point that Peter Fox made. This isn't inherently a political matter. When I was a Minister in the Welsh Government, I worked alongside Conservative Ministers. We sat in the delegation room in Brussels and argued the same case for Welsh Government-provided civil servants to work with the United Kingdom Government in order to design and develop the structural funds programme. We argued the same case at the General Affairs Council in Luxembourg and General Affairs Councils in Brussels. We spoke together and we worked together, and that was a Welsh Labour Government and a UK Conservative coalition Government. What this United Kingdom Government has done is to break that co-operation, break that partnership, and my fear is that the conclusion of that work will be to break the union.