Welsh Secretary hails UK Government investment in Wales in 2023
Welsh Secretary David TC Davies has claimed that the UK Government has never been more active in its delivery for Wales than in 2023.
In a New Year message, Mr Davies said that huge progress was being made in growing the Welsh economy and delivering major projects across the country.
Mr Davies, the MP for Monmouth, said: “As Welsh Secretary I am proud to be part of an administration which is the most active UK Government in Wales since devolution began a quarter of a century ago.
“Through five Welsh growth deals, two freeports, various levelling up funding streams and two new Investment Zones the UK Government is delivering an extra £2 billion in direct investment in Wales, on top of the record funding we are providing to the Welsh Government to deliver its devolved services like health and education.
“I am also delighted that we are investing directly in transport infrastructure including £1 billion on the electrification of the North Wales Main Line, £5 million to improve transport links in Monmouthshire and, earlier this month, it was fantastic to see my Wales Office colleague Fay Jones open the restored Barmouth Viaduct following a £30 million restoration funded by UK Government.”
Communities
He added: “These investments matter greatly to communities and are possible because the UK Government’s economic plan is working. Just a few weeks ago I listened in the House of Commons as more and more good news for Wales was announced in the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement.
“His measures meant that around 1.2 million workers in Wales will benefit from an average of £324 back in their pocket through National Insurance cuts and there was the biggest-ever increase in the National Living Wage announced for 130,000 Welsh workers.
“The triple lock was maintained for pensioners, benefits will continue to rise in line with inflation, alcohol duty was frozen, and the Local Housing Allowance increased.
“Specifically for Wales, there was an ambitious commitment to floating offshore wind, £800,000 for the Space Technology Test Centre in North Wales and the much-loved Hay Festival in Powys received £500,000.
“And as a result of England-only announcements in the Autumn Statement, there was also an additional £305 million in Barnett Consequentials for the Welsh Government, on top of its record block grant, to spend on devolved responsibilities.
“Despite some claims to the contrary, the Welsh Government is well funded and is currently receiving over 20% more funding per person than equivalent UK government spending in other parts of the UK.”
Looking ahead to 2024, Mr Davies, who was appointed Welsh Secretary in October 2022, said he looked forward to working with the new First Minister, following Mark Drakeford’s announcement that he would step down in Spring.
Optimism
He added that Wales could approach the New Year with optimism.
“The Prime Minister and I are determined to do all in our power to ensure that Wales’ prosperity is increased and its potential realised,” he said.
“This year I look forward greatly to seeing our new Investment Zones and Freeports getting up and running and the completion of many of the levelling up investments we have made in every one of the 22 local authorities in Wales.
“It was incredibly important that the UK Government acted to preserve steelmaking in Port Talbot last year with a £500 million package for Tata Steel and I will continue my work as the chair of the £100 million Transition Board throughout 2024.
“Finally, we recently saw Wales’ men’s team finally play at a football World Cup and I hope to see the team travel to Germany next year for Euro 2024 following their incredible success in the 2016 tournament.
“I am certain that we have a bright year ahead in Wales and I look forward once again to travelling to every part of the country to see the delivery of UK Government investment in our communities.”
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We are certainly capable of governing ourselves thank you very much. Let the English Government invest on whatever it wants to in England, and leave our democratically elected Welsh Government alone to invest in Wales.
Well you have to admire the confidence with which he spouts a pack of lies. Taking credit for planned railway infrastructure maintenance is really scraping the barrel, not to mention the North Wales electrifiction plan which we did not ask for. Making it easier to leave Cymru for England is not a big vote winner in my opinion when that kind of money could have made it easier to travel north-south in the country. I will leave other posters to flesh out the falsity of the rest of his claims. Roll on the General Election!
We need working hospitals and a fully functional international airport this side of the clawdd before people will be convinced.
That will never happen Cymru is too disorganised, it’s priorities are Cymraeg not the real world.
Brexit removed a lot more than they are giving back.
But Freeports huh. He needs to see how Ben Houchen is doing.
https://northeastbylines.co.uk/teesworks-houchens-silence/
https://bylines.cymru/politics-and-society/shanker-singham-north-wales-freeport/
Is he supporting the terrible comments from Cleverly still? The ones where Cleverly thinks drugging women is a joke as long as its “off the record……”
He looks that type
Still not replaced the EU money we got for being underfunded by the UK.. Generous maybe in their eyes, tiny to most in the real world.
You will have to excuse him as he has been smoking the funny fags again Moroccan woodbines and has been halicanating again
So the Welsh secretary is using his new year statement to try and save his job. No amount of BS about what the Tory government has supposedly done will stop the rout at the next GE. If there’s been so much investment in Wales – why are we still so damn poor? Why are 1 in 3 children in poverty? All this talking up of the electrification of the North Wales line – why didn’t they continue electrification to Swansea? It’s all pre-election crap. Hopefully it will be goodbye Davies next year.
David Davies, your government is spending Welsh taxpayers money with no electoral mandate from the people of Wales. Your decisions to spend on certain capital projects are purely to benefit your party and amount to nothing more than pork barrel politics. Moreover, your government has spent our money on an English infrastructure project and denied our democratically mandated government those funds and deprived them of the opportunity to use them as we have mandated them. Moreover, your government has unilaterally annulled a Welsh law using perogative powers against the wishes of the Senedd. Moreover, you have trampled on the Sewell… Read more »
I can’t be bothered to read it all but he is clearly hailing the great success of his party in the deliberate ongoing underfunding of our country (and he called it a country which he doesn’t believe it to be so a shot in his own foot there). Would his party have delivered free prescriptions? See England for the answer.
Now to be fair the Tories have done some investment. The monarchy, tax havens, dodgy PPE contracts, contracts to stick migrants in hotels which are managed by their friends,billions lost with bounce back loans. Yes plenty of money for their mates ! I’m still waiting for all the extra hospitals and the cap on care home fees they promised us at the last election. It’s not that you can’t trust them when they make promises for the next election. You can’t even trust them with the promises they made at the last one !
This guy is a stooge for his English paymasters. Wales is grossly undervalued and we are asked to buy into this myth. If we stay we should have more from this “united kingdom” pot than we currently get (learn from Scotland). All the time we are being asset stripped, for example the billions the Crown Estate takes from us whilst we are expected to “doff a cap”
The Israelis still want us to believe that the Palestinians are the cause of their own genocide.
Wales has not forgotten that Hitler created the Warsaw ghetto and then destroyed it
The Coinservatives sorry Madam Mone are still treating Wales with utter contempt
Rubbing salt into the wound will not save his job as an English Westmonster stooge. To put not too fine a point on it, He needs to stop using the Columbian Marching Powder that seems to be freely available in the Tory cabinet and the corridors of Worstminster, Stop talking with Gove, you muppet! Come back down to planet Earth Major David TC Davies, and Yes, we all know what the TC stands for! (Total C%%T
Bradwr