Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:17 pm on 19 October 2021.
I thank Alun Davies for those points. I've had the opportunity, Llywydd, since last week, to read his contribution in the short debate last week. I think he put it very succinctly when he described the UK Government's levelling-up approach as a
'lesson in how not to make policy and how not to involve people.'
The Welsh Labour Government will go on making those investments. The Minister met on 11 October with the leaders and chief executives of the five local authorities that have a geographical interest in the Heads of the Valleys to talk about strategic investments—how different to the so-called levelling-up fund. We're still to have the results of the first round of these funds, with, now, four months to go of the financial year in which that money will be able to be spent. It will give us £10 million, we think, in Wales, compared to £375 million we would have had had we continued as members of the European Union
I sat in this Chamber and heard Members on the benches over there say to people in Wales that there was a cast-iron guarantee that Wales would not be a penny worse off. Ten million pounds is what we have; we would have had £375 million. And that £10 million, Llywydd, is in real danger of being frittered away by decisions that will be piecemeal, decisions that will be—and we know this from their track record—politically driven, rather than responding to people's needs. [Interruption.] Oh, yes, the fact that Robert Jenrick is no longer a member of the Cabinet in the UK Government doesn't mean that his approach to politics has gone with him. We, as the Welsh Government, in the way that Alun Davies has suggested, try to make our investments in a way that serves the long-term and strategic needs of those local communities, and we will continue to do just that.