Brexit: Welsh ministers want control of EU aid replacement

Much of the EU cash for Wales has gone to the West Wales and the Valleys region

The Welsh Government says it should be free to control Wales' share of a forthcoming fund to replace EU grants.

Long-awaited details of the fund, designed to replace economic aid paid out by Brussels, are expected soon.

But there is disagreement over who should control the purse strings between UK and Welsh ministers.

The Conservatives say Labour has failed to make the most from the billions of pounds of EU funding received by Wales since the year 2000.

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Further details of the UK-wide Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF) are expected after the Chancellor's spending review next week.

In the meantime, Labour ministers in Cardiff have published their own proposals for how the money should be spent in Wales.

They say the UK government should set a "policy agenda", similar to the way the EU does.

But it should then allocate funding "in full" to Cardiff, giving the Welsh Government "full autonomy over its SPF share on a multi-annual basis".

'Attack on devolution'

Legislation going through Parliament would give the UK government new powers to spend in devolved areas, such as economic development.

Running for the Tory leadership in 2019, Boris Johnson said he wanted to see a "strong Conservative influence" over spending after Brexit.

But First Minister Mark Drakeford has said any attempt to centralise control over funding to London would be an "attack on devolution".

The Welsh EU transition minister Jeremy Miles said the Welsh Government had "learned lessons" from the way it has spent billions of pounds in EU funding since 2000.

Much of the money has gone to the West Wales and the Valleys region which, as one of the EU's least prosperous areas, has qualified for the top level of funding three times since the turn of the millennium.

Research by the House of Commons says it would probably have qualified again were Britain staying in the EU.

Jeremy Miles said Welsh firms needed to know how to claim aid with just 50 days to the end of EU rules

Mr Miles denied money had been wasted, saying it had created jobs and helped train thousands of people.

He said the UK government had to deliver on promises to match EU funding and respect the devolution settlement.

"But what is obviously the case is that with less than 50 days to go to the end of the transition period, organisations, projects right across Wales deserve certainty of knowing whether the replacement programmes are capable of supporting what they're doing," he said.

A spokesman for the UK government said the replacement fund would tackle "inequality and deprivation across all four nations" of the UK.

"We will continue to work closely with the devolved administration in Wales and other interested parties as we develop the fund. Further details will be set out following the upcoming spending review," the spokesman said.

'Bold promises'

Darren Millar, of the Welsh Conservatives, said Brexit was a chance to "reboot and revamp" regional funding around Wales.

"The new UK shared prosperity fund will replace the overly bureaucratic EU system, and Wales is guaranteed to receive at least the same level of funding as we currently receive from the EU," he said.

"This funding will be used to tackle inequality and deprivation right across Wales but local decision-making on how it is spent, not a 'Welsh Government knows best' and Cardiff-centric approach, will be critical to its success."

Plaid Cymru's Dai Lloyd criticised Boris Johnson's government for being "still to detail its plans for the shared prosperity fund, more than three years after announcing it and four years after bold promises of replacing the approximately £2bn in funding that Wales received under European structural funds".

"It must uphold these promises next week," he said.