The Economy of South Wales West

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy – in the Senedd at 2:03 pm on 3 November 2021.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 2:03, 3 November 2021

Well, you’re right to focus on not just improving the number of people in work, but the quality of work that people have, including their pay. And as the Member will know, one of the key factors in that is investing in the skills of the workforce, investing in our people, and that’s one of the big challenges that we face here, and it’s one of my significant frustrations about the lack of a respectful and joined-up approach with the United Kingdom Government. The recent announcements made on levelling-up funding—the announcement made up until the announcement today was about £120 million in 10 projects, projects that are in the majority based in Conservative UK parliamentary constituencies that don’t actually meet any definition of levelling-up funding, funding that actually does not match the previous promises that have been made. It leaves Wales £0.25 billion short in just this first year at least, and that is money that would otherwise have been spent on innovation in supporting higher education, otherwise would have been spent supporting our skills agenda, otherwise spent on supporting the economy. And that’s the challenge here. I think that this place and our country should be treated with a deal more respect. And the promises that were made about not losing out on a single penny that have been very clearly broken in the Chancellor's recent statement—I'd like to hear some Welsh Conservatives standing up for Wales and saying, 'We want our money back.'