North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has questioned the Counsel General and Brexit Minister this week over actions the Welsh Government is taking in readiness for Brexit.
Speaking in the Welsh Parliament yesterday, Mr Isherwood questioned the Minister over a number of issues, including what provision the Welsh Government is making for cross-border co-operation within Britain post-Brexit and the allocation of funding for Wales post-Brexit.
He said:
“As you know, the UK European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, which secured legislative consent from this Chamber, is developing Frameworks to ensure that, whatever happens post Brexit, there is a UK single market so we don't have internal barriers between the nations of the UK. Clearly, Framework negotiations are paused at the moment until the outcome of the General Election is known and we have a new UK Government in place, but what proposals, if we reach that position, does the Welsh Government have for a body to have oversight and, if necessary, enforcement, where the Framework for environment, animal safety, food standards and so on is breached?”
He later referred to the statement within the Conservative Manifesto that the UK Shared Prosperity Fund will be used to bind together the whole of the United Kingdom, and that, in Wales, there will be no loss of equivalent funding, and asked how a UK Labour Government would allocate the funds.
He said:
“The Conservative Party will guarantee that Wales does not miss out on a penny of funding; we will match funding for agriculture throughout the next UK Parliament; and most importantly, we will actually deliver on the Brexit that the people of Wales voted for and continue to support.
“Your UK manifesto tells us how you don't want funding to be allocated, but doesn't give us any idea of how you would allocate funding - Labour muddying the waters in the hope that the people of Wales don't notice that you're betraying Brexit because you don't want to deliver it. So, if you wouldn't mind providing detail, from your perspective, what proposals do you and your Party have to replace the way that funding is allocated after the UK leaves the EU?”
Mr Isherwood also questioned the Minister over actions to be taken by the Welsh European Funding Office post Brexit.
He said: “You state, quite rightly, that Wales must not lose any equivalent funding as a result of leaving the EU and that all decisions regarding this funding must continue to be taken in Wales, as at present. However, at present, it's a requirement of all European funding awards that projects are able to provide full evidence to support all of their expenditure and project activity.
“Therefore, the Welsh European Funding Office needs to collate and analyse the information and statistics gathered from individual projects, because that European funding is public money, and all projects are subject to a level of audit and verification to ensure both eligibility of expenditure and activities, with checks against programme guidance and individual grant and contract awards, and even the possibility that money could be reclaimed.
“When we leave the EU, what proposals do you have in place, to ensure that a replacement system is ready to go, with a Welsh UK Funding Office able to provide full evidence to support all of this expenditure and project activity in accordance with UK single market rules that, by then, hopefully, the four Governments will have agreed to?”
