Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 2:11 pm on 29 June 2022.
Thank you. Well, in contrast to my colleague there about how good the UK Government are when handing money out, the Welsh Government, certainly in my time—I’ve been here 11 years—and prior to that since devolution, have wasted millions and millions of pounds: £221 million on uncompetitive enterprise zones; £9.3 million on flawed initial funding—[Interruption.] I know it hurts, but let me finish. Nine point three million pounds on flawed initial funding for the Circuit for Wales; £157 million on the M4 relief road inquiry; £750,000 in the last financial year on the grounded Anglesey to Cardiff flight link; and, in my own constituency, £400,000 on G.M. Jones, and that was to build bespoke units in Llanrwst that up until very recently had been empty right from build. That business actually is no longer, because of the implications of the higher cost. I could go on, but the latter example in particular highlights a clear area where I do believe now that money is very tight; we’ve got a sort of cost-of-living crisis.
I raised it in the First Minister’s scrutiny committee, and I asked the First Minister in my question, 'When you’ve handed large sums of money over to these companies, how do you then monitor it?' And the response was very much a case of, 'Once we’ve handed that money over, it really is up to that business.' So, how can you convince me, Minister, that you have got good financial probity at the heart of Welsh Government, so that we do not keep seeing this repeating and a number of times when, actually, you are simply wasting taxpayers' money? Thank you.