Vale of Clwyd MP Dr James Davies has welcomed the comprehensive support for the region outlined in today’s Spending Review.
It was announced this afternoon that Wales will benefit from £15 billion in UK-wide funding for Test and Trace; an additional £733 million to purchase successful vaccines; and £128 million to support vaccine R&D.
Wales will also benefit from £3.5 billion in additional funding for Great Britain that builds on the UK Government’s Plan for Jobs – including the £2 billion Kickstart scheme for young people, and doubling work coaches in Job Centre Plus.
Targeted support for Wales includes:
- Providing over £800 million investment in City and Growth deals in Wales, to provide local areas with the funding they need to drive forward local economic priorities, including £150 million in North Wales
- Relocating civil service jobs into Wales as part of the UK Government’s ambitious agenda to reform the way decisions about places are made in government.
- Through the Shared Outcomes Fund, Wales will host one of five pilots (drugs enforcement and treatment pilot) which takes a whole-system response to tackling drug use through better join up of local law enforcement agencies, prisons and health and social care services.
- More Police Officers: Wales will benefit from a share of the 6,000 additional police officers that will be recruited in 2021 as part of the commitment to recruit 20,000 additional officers by 2023, which this Spending Review commits £400 million to deliver.
Other announcements that will benefit Wales include:
- Improving digital infrastructure. The £5 billion UK Gigabit Programme will improve digital connectivity between nations and ensure that a rural location doesn’t mean slower broadband.
- Delivering 10 Freeports across the UK, with at least one in Wales, that will be a hub for global trade and investment across the UK, promote regeneration and job creation, and create hotbeds for innovation.
- The UK Shared Prosperity Fund will help to level up opportunity for people and places in need across Wales.
Welcoming the Spending Review and the support it outlines for Wales, James said:
“While the health emergency facing our country is not yet over, the economic emergency has only just begun.
“The Chancellor’s Spending Review tackles this unprecedented situation head on – ensuring lives and livelihoods in the Vale of Clwyd, and across the rest of Wales, are protected and supported in the weeks and months ahead.
“I was elected at last year’s General Election on a commitment to level up communities like ours, and I am delighted that this Conservative Government is now making good on that promise – by delivering a once-in-a-generation investment in infrastructure that will create jobs and grow the economy. I will be working with other MPs in the region for a good slice of the £100bn infrastructure funding to be spent in ways that benefit this area.”
