9. What discussions has the Minister had with the UK Government regarding post-EU funding arrangements? OQ58617

The UK Government has bypassed the Welsh Government and this Senedd with post-EU funding. The impact of their flawed schemes and a £1.1 billion funding cut is seriously impacting on a range of sectors, and jobs and growth. I have repeatedly raised this with UK Ministers and I'll continue to do so.

The Senedd's Finance Committee reported this month that Wales is in danger of losing out financially if the UK Government fails to co-operate with the Welsh Government on post-EU funding. That's despite repeated Tory promises that Wales would receive not a penny less as a result of Brexit. Clearly, we must have that co-operation from the UK Government and the Tories must honour their pledge. But do you agree with me, Minister, that Wales is already losing out? The former Governor of the Bank of England has pointed out that in 2016 the British economy was 90 per cent the size of Germany's. It is now less than 70 per cent. And analysis by the Economic and Social Research Institute calculates that Brexit has led to a 16 per cent drop in trade from the UK to the EU. So, as well as a fair funding settlement for Wales, do you agree with me that we need urgently to rebuild Britain's economic ties with our biggest trading partner and reduce barriers to trade?

Yes, I do agree with those points, because in my view the impact of Brexit has been very much camouflaged by the pandemic and now by the cost-of-living crisis. I think that the example that you've given, which compares our position with Germany, really does spell out the damage that has been done by Brexit and that will continue to be done unless the UK Government takes a different approach to trading with our most important trading partners.

I think the issue around replacement EU funding, as well, is an important one. We were promised that we wouldn't be a penny worse off. Well, that's true; we're £1.1 billion worse off in terms of the lack of available European funding. The shared prosperity fund has just been an abject failure in terms of being a replacement. As well as having that funding gap, no funding has reached Wales yet, whereas of course if we were still in the EU those EU programmes would have already started in January 2021. And not only that; they would have been programmes over a number of years, which would have allowed more strategic deployment of that funding, rather than funding small pet projects across Wales, decided by Ministers in Westminster. [Interruption.] I hear the Conservatives behind me, but I find it quite hilarious that anybody is still willing to defend the current situation, where we are worse off financially, and also our reputation across the world has been damaged, probably irreparably for some time, by the Conservative Party.

I thank the Minister for finance.