Post-Brexit aid must be based on need, Drakeford says

EU aid has helped fund projects in poorer parts of Wales since 2000

First Minister Mark Drakeford says UK government aid for the poorest areas of Wales must be based on need.

It comes as some English Labour MPs are reportedly seeking financial packages for their seats in return for backing the prime minister's Brexit plans.

A shared prosperity fund is due to replace European Union regional aid, worth £5bn to Wales since 2000.

Mr Drakeford said the UK government could not be "judge, jury and court of appeal" for decisions on cash payouts.

Any region of an EU member state that produces below 75% of the EU's average GDP has qualified for the highest level of aid.

Much of north and west Wales, and the south Wales valleys, have qualified for structural funds, with Cornwall the only other part of the UK to benefit.

The Conservatives promised to replace that programme with a shared prosperity fund in their 2017 general election manifesto.

Mark Drakeford said Wales' needs would be the same the day after Brexit as the day before

The Welsh Government has always insisted that Wales should continue to receive the same level of funding it got from the EU.

But the UK government has so far failed to give any assurances about how the fund will work, despite promising to provide details by the end of 2018.

It has also not confirmed whether any Labour MPs have been promised financial support for their constituencies in return for their votes on Brexit, and whether this money would come from the shared prosperity fund.

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Asked about the issue at his monthly press conference, Mr Drakeford said: "We cannot possibly have a shared prosperity fund in which the UK government is the judge, the jury and the court of appeal."

He said the fund "has to make sure the money we get now still comes to Wales, that decisions about it are made in Wales, that any disputes about it are governed by a book of rules, and there is a degree of independence about the way those rules are interpreted".

"The money that comes to Wales from the EU comes because of the needs that we have," the first minister said.

"Those needs will be the same on the 30th of March as they are on the 28th March," he added, referring to the dates immediately before and after the UK is due to leave the EU.

"So the money must come in full to Wales - that's what people in Wales were promised during the referendum, that's what the UK government must live up to."