Earlier this month the UK Government published its prospectus for the Shared Prosperity Fund, the domestic replacement for the EU structural funds, of which West Wales and the Valleys had been a recipient of the highest level of funding since 2000.
Whereas Northern Ireland, the Highlands & Islands of Scotland, Merseyside and South Yorkshire qualified for objective one funding in 2000, by 2019 and Brexit, only West Wales and the Valleys, and Cornwall continued to qualify, with GDP per capita stubbornly below 75% of the EU average.
The movement towards this new, vaunted regional policy and ambition has been controversial , with accusations of Wales being “short changed” compared to its funding profile under the EU structural funds, and that the devolution settlement has been disrespected, with UK Government parking their tanks on one of the 20 devolved policy fields in Wales.
