English government department will decide on aid projects for Wales – just like under the Tories
Martin Shipton
A major new funding row has erupted after the Welsh Government accepted a decision of its UK counterpart to allow an English ministry to administer the latest post-Brexit aid round for Wales.
When the Conservatives were in power at Westminster, Welsh Labour Ministers were angry when they were excluded from the process of choosing projects and allocating funds to them. Instead, local authorities received money directly from the UK Government’s Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, initially headed by Michael Gove.
Previously, when the UK was an EU member state, European aid money came directly to the Welsh European Funding Office (WEFO), a branch of the Welsh Government. WEFO decided which projects to take forward and how much money they would receive.
UK Shared Prosperity Fund
Last week, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the details of her Spending Review. In it she stated: “The government is providing targeted, long-term local growth funding to support regional growth across the UK, completing the transition from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund … In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the Offices for the Nations will work with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to implement the new local growth fund; and, investing in up to 350 deprived communities across the UK, to fund interventions including community cohesion, regeneration and improving the public realm.
“For 2026-27 to 2028-29, funding for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland across these schemes will be at the same overall level in cash terms as under the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in 2025-26.”
In Wales, the relevant “Office for the Nation” is not the Welsh Government, but the Wales Office, headed by Secretary of State for Wales Jo Stevens.
We asked the Welsh Government how it viewed being bypassed again, this time by a Labour UK government.
A spokesperson for the Welsh Government said: “We will ensure this £630m funding has greater impact than the legacy Shared Prosperity fund. We will continue to discuss the detail of this funding with the UK Government and will decide how it is used to support our economic ambitions and bring prosperity to all parts of Wales.”
‘Dismissive’
Plaid Cymru Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts MP said: “The UK Labour Government’s decision to retain control over Welsh regional funds is a deeply disappointing repeat of Tory policy: centralised, top-down, and dismissive of Wales.
“Wales was promised we wouldn’t lose a penny. Instead, we’ve lost over £1.1bn, and now Labour is making things worse by choosing to sideline Wales from key decisions.
“The Welsh Government would be up in arms were this action taken by a Conservative UK Government. Wales sorely needs a government that puts nation before party, which fights for fairness regardless of the party of government in Westminster.”
In July 2023 Mark Drakeford – then the First Minister and now the Cabinet Secretary for Finance – issued a Written Statement in which he strongly criticised the UK Government’s decision to bypass the Welsh Government in the context of regional aid, seeing it as an example of the “fraught” relationship between the two governments.
‘Disrespect’
Mr Drakeford stated: “The UK Government’s attempts to undermine the devolution settlement and its continued disrespect for the Welsh Government and the Senedd … has impaired intergovernmental working and damaged the union of the United Kingdom.
“The UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund and its repeated breaches of the Sewel Convention [under which the Senedd can decide to withhold consent for Westminster legislation impinging on devolved policy areas] are particular illustrations of this.
“There have been occasions where the UK government has worked with us positively and constructively, for example, in relation to freeports where the UK government showed willingness to work as equal partners. This is an example of how we can work together and bring our different powers, levers and expertise to deliver for Wales. This way of working needs to be applied to other areas including the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF) and Levelling Up Fund, where funding should come directly to the Welsh Government so that all sectors can benefit from these programmes.
“As a replacement to EU funding, the SPF not only leaves Wales £1.1bn short compared to EU Structural and Rural funds, but also sets up a funding system that: bypasses the Welsh Government and the Senedd; excludes key growth sectors including universities, colleges and the voluntary sector; prevents high-impact strategic projects; and puts unacceptable demands on our local authorities.”
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Unelected Whitehall mandarins are running the show. That’s why nothing really changes in SW1.
Annibyniaeth nawr!
Party. Westminster. Wales.
In that order.
The Labour way.
More like Self, Party, Westminster.
Wales doesn’t enter their thoughts.
Welsh government – labour and plaid should be hauled over the coals for their appalling use of EU structural funds. It was an unbelievable opportunity wasted, and why it isn’t discussed more is a shame. It could and should have transformed the economies of west Wales and the valleys. At least some lessons could have been learned. It stands to reason they shouldn’t be allowed to permitted control of levelling up funds
Quote: “It stands to reason they shouldn’t be allowed to permitted control of levelling up funds”
The Welsh Government’s use of EU Structural Funds was appalling I agree. But whenever a government demonstrates sheer incompetence the answer is vote them out, not restrict their autonomy.
Many thanks for your reply. I very much doubt that any member of the public went to the polls in 2021, or earlier, thinking, “who’d be the best party to distribute Structural funds?” It’s simply not an electoral issue. It was one of those boring, but (at the time) immensely important matters that needed to be handled correctly. If you compare Wales’ growth during the ERDF/SF years with that of many eastern european nations, we performed very poorly. Some local authorities e.g., Gwynedd and Anglesey even got poorer, despite receiving large sums of investment to boost their economies. It was… Read more »
The economy isn’t devolved in any meaningful way. Therefore real economic development is only possible with all tiers of government working in partnership. If structural funds weren’t as successful as they should’ve been it’s because central government was AWOL when they should’ve been in the room match-funding initiatives they supported. That’s how other member states did it and that’s why they were far more successful. This failure by central government to engage with its responsibilities means they can’t be trusted either.
It depends what you mean by ‘economy’ – the same functions that exist in Westminster for England, exist in Wales. My experience Wales operated SF no different to many other EU recipients, which is not surprising as it was awarded within the framework of the EU. Funding is always regionally assigned. Wales definitely didn’t make as much use of private or national public sector match funding as they could have, in fact the EU highlighted this during the last round of SF and even changed the rules to make it more viable for ‘regions’ such as Wales to draw down… Read more »
In your examples of match-funding from the UK Gov, how much of this was the result of a constructive partnership between all tiers of government, versus being dragged to the table kicking and screaming and only coughing up to avoid the political embarrassment of EU funds not being released without match funding from central government? I don’t deny the problems with money spent on heritage projects and civic realm improvements rather than permanent GVA boosting initiatives, but central government’s delinquency must be acknowledged to avoid repeating the same old problems. Because too much of the so-called levelling up crumbs under… Read more »
I get where you’re coming from, the use of EU Structural Funds in Wales was a major missed opportunity, I’ve commented about this on Nation Cymru numerous times before, but this problem is not unique to Cardiff Bay. You could make the same argument about politicians in Westminster: poor decisions, lack of strategy, political appointments, and mismanagement of funds happen there too, sometimes on an even far larger scale. The fact that something is not front-of-mind for voters does not mean it’s apolitical or should not be accountable. If anything, it’s an argument for better scrutiny, stronger transparency rules, and… Read more »
I fully agree, Westminster is not necessarily better, other than (in my view) the civil service is a little better. Mismanagement happens everywhere. But doing the same thing over and over isn’t sensible as well. I think the public should take some blame; last week, there was an announcement of Sizewell and the next step of SMR development. This has taken years of planning, it will take years to implement, yet labour will get zero credit at the next GE. In fact they’ll probably take plenty of blame when energy prices go up in a few months time and Sizewell… Read more »
The EU structural funds did not achieve what many thought they should. Would it not be better to let them get on with it. If they do a better job say well done. If they do as bad criticise them with specific detail.
Demonising refugees, slashing benefits of the most vulnerable, wrapping themselves in the union jack at every opportunity and treating Wales with utter contempt – so what exactly is the difference between labour and the tories? PS. that “insurance policy” Drakeford used to boast about worked out well didn’t it.
Again authoritarian UK Labour and their Welsh Not campaign continues at pace. What’s the point of Welsh Labour? They are absolutely useless. A party of complicit cowards on their knees in deference to their English overseer tinpot Jo Stevens. Time to kick these democratic donkeys out of office next May. We must take Labour’s knee of our neck to breath freely once again.
You learn a lot about a person when you get a chance to speak to them face to face for over half an hour. I spoke to Jo Stevens regarding her pushing for the development of Cardiff parkway. I didn’t think it was no longer necessary but she insisted it was and she said the train station had to come first otherwise large companies like Rolls Royce would not come. Despite that conversation, it became clear the planning application had changed and the developer wanted to delay the construction of the train station until over 3/5ths of the business park… Read more »
It would seem like the anti devolution faction of labour, that of Neil Kinnock and kim Howells, has never gone away, and now they get their chance to rule directly from London again with Jo Stevens at the helm. No HS2 funding, other rail projects ” for Wales see England ” no devolution of policing and justice anytime soon, and now continue the Tory mantra of “London knows best” when it comes to spending our money. This is how it has been, and will be, unless we vote for an independent nation, and drag ourselves up to the levels of… Read more »
The risk here is the projects become what Reeves et al want delivered not the local community.
Perhaps the ‘English government’ think there is no one competent enough in the WG to undertake the task. I often think if there is anyone in the WG competent enough to undertake any task. I am 100% for independence but I have this nagging doubt if we currently have the talent in the Senedd.
The list system will only degrade that further as it will the line toers who will get the spots over real talent for managing progress and change that Wales needs to develop as an independent nation in a uncertain world.
No more or no less competent than the politicians in Westminster.
It appears that some don’t agree with me but the sad thing is that the truth hurts. The current lot give the impression that they could not run a bath let alone a country.
Then vote them out next year.
I have never voted Labour.
Neither have I, but thats democracy for you. Sometimes it doesn’t go the way we want.
Ambitious talent goes where the power is. You can’t use the talent in Cardiff Bay today to judge the talent that would get onboard with a new government empowered to run an independent country.
Like every empire throughout history, this one is coming to a natural end fortunately.
One country running anothers affairs is not democracy of any kind.
Its long overdue for Wales to get off its knees and flourish away from the laughing stock of the UK.
Liebour same as the Tory scum same horse different jockey we are treated as a colony or if you want a county council of england we need out of the disunited kingdom
It looks like the Gaulitier Stevens of the Colonial Office wants to amass more power to Whitehall and undermine deveolution and deprive Wales of its fair funding.
Yet another reason to vote Plaid and continue the struggle for further devolution if not independence
Here we go again, the Westminster knows best narrative is sickening. Bradwr Stevens needs to put Cymru first not the Labour Party’s precious union.
Strictly speaking there’s no “English government” presumably because England can’t be trusted with its own government. There’s only an English administration, which is a subset of the UK central government that’s responsible for matters only relating to England. Unfortunately this penny pinching hybrid arrangement leads to a lot of double jobbing and conflict of interest that invariably benefits their own nation. This is never clearer than when the de facto First Minister of England is flying national flags outside Number 10.