WELSH GROWTH FUNDS REDIRECTED TO UK GOVERNMENT SCHEME

Plaid Cymru condemns £86 million ‘top-slicing’ of Wales’s regional funding allocation for a Whitehall-designed programme.

Plaid Cymru has today (Thursday 11th December) raised concerns after Rebecca Evans MS, Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning, suggested during a Welsh Affairs Committee evidence session that part of Wales’s expected Local Growth Fund allocation has been redirected by the UK Government to finance its Pride in Place scheme – a programme designed and delivered entirely from Whitehall, with no Welsh Government involvement.

The disclosure comes amid mounting tensions within Labour, after eleven Labour MSs accused the UK Government last week of “rolling back devolution” through the imposition of Pride in Place under the UK Internal Market Act.

The session of the Welsh Affairs Committee on Wednesday, which examined inward investment and the industrial transition facing Wales, also covered the new Local Growth Funds due to replace the Shared Prosperity Fund from April 2026.

During questioning, Llinos Medi MP for Ynys Môn drew attention to an £86 million shortfall between the £633 million Wales was initially told to expect over the spending period and the £547 million confirmed in October.

Pressed by Ms Medi on the reason for the reduced allocation, Ms Evans told MPs:

“I understand that the decision was taken that some of the funding would be channelled through the Pride in Place fund. Now, that's a UK Government fund – it's not something that the Welsh government are involved with. We haven’t been involved with the design of that, and we don't have a role in the delivery of that either. So, I think, I will check, but I think the funding we're talking about here relates to the Pride in Place funding.”

Speaking on Thursday, Llinos Medi MP said:

“This is Welsh regional funding being top-sliced into a Whitehall-controlled scheme behind closed doors. Money that was promised for communities in Wales has been quietly carved up in London, with no guarantee it will be spent where it is needed. 

“The UK Government cannot claim to respect devolution while diverting funds into programmes that Wales’s government had no role in designing. The failure of that design is clear: only one town in my constituency of Ynys Môn could even qualify for Pride in Place funding.

 “This situation raises serious questions about Labour’s respect for devolution, but more fundamentally it is a question of trust, fairness, and how future settlements for Wales will be protected.”

- ENDS -