North Wales MS Mark Isherwood has called for a Welsh Government Statement on the UK Government’s Local Growth Fund in Wales, highlighting warnings that it could result in “the imminent loss of hundreds of jobs across local authorities among staff employed to deliver these services”.
The Local Growth Fund in Wales, announced by the UK Government, replaces the previous UK Government's Shared Prosperity Fund.
In today’s Business Statement in the Senedd, Mr Isherwood spoke of concerns that the new funding “contains serious drawbacks”.
He said:
“The Industrial Communities Alliance of Local Authorities in the industrial areas of Wales, England and Scotland notes that this is a reduction in real terms, that the funding arrangements proposed contain serious drawbacks, and that if this goes ahead in Wales as currently planned, it will cripple most of the business support, training and employability services that would have been funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, and lead to the imminent loss of hundreds of jobs across Local Authorities among staff employed to deliver these services.
“They add, though, that relatively simple changes to the funding arrangements could be deployed to regenerate our communities and their economies without the need to go back to the UK Treasury for more money.”
In her response, the Trefnydd, Jane Hutt MS, referred to “the six-week consultation that opened on 7th November, with a deadline of 19th December”, adding that “Those responses will inform a three-year investment plan, which will direct funding in Wales from April 2026, when the fund will open”. However, she failed to address the concerns raised by The Industrial Communities Alliance.
