The Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns will today announce that every area of Wales will now benefit from new and additional funding through the flagship City and Growth Deal programme. The latest area to benefit will be Mid Wales which will receive £55m of new funding from the Welsh Secretary to support major projects across central Wales.
The new funding agreement takes the total level of new and additional Conservative UK Government investment to £790m of City and Growth Deal funding secured by the Welsh Secretary, Alun Cairns and Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Wales is now the first country in the United Kingdom to be covered entirely with City and growth Deal programmes.
The Conservative Government is investing heavily in Wales – with £500m committed to the Cardiff Capital Region City Deal and £115m for the Swansea Bay City Region Deal. £120m of new funding has also been committed for the North Wales Growth Deal.
For the first time, with Mid Wales now also set to benefit following today’s announcement, every community in Wales will be able to come forward with new regeneration ideas to be funded by the UK Government and partners. All Welsh communities will be able to work with local authorities, local politicians and the private sector to draw down new UK Government funding to drive economic growth in areas overlooked by rigid and narrowly focussed EU West Wales and Valleys funding maps.
The Mid Wales Growth Deal will see the £55m of UK Government funding being used to leverage further private investment for the delivery of local projects to increase opportunity and prosperity in communities like Newtown and Aberystwyth and across Ceredigion and Powys.
Secretary of State for Wales, Alun Cairns, said:
“Wales is a nation spread over a large geographic area – no more so than in Mid Wales. These communities have not benefitted from Cardiff Bay focused funding for decades. Today I am putting that right by committing £55m for people in Powys and Ceredigion. I am delighted to have been able to work closely with the Prime Minister and Minister for the Union Boris Johnson to ensure that we have completed packages worth up to £790m of new funding to drive major improvements in every corner of our great country.
“This is the next stage of my long-term commitment of building a stronger and better-connected Wales. Scrapping tolls, a more generous funding settlement and more powers for people in Wales are proud achievements for this Conservative Government. The First Minister leads a Labour administration that has consistently failed to deliver for the people of Wales – a Labour party in Wales too focussed on constitutional arguments that don’t improve people’s lives. That’s why new announcements like this are so important – Conservatives will deliver for the whole United Kingdom.
“The Prime Minister is committed to leading a government for the whole of the UK – a strengthened Union with real opportunity for people who work hard and do the right thing. I wanted this new funding model to be taken up throughout Wales and in doing so strengthen the Union, drive local growth and encourage local communities to come forward with game changing projects.”
Craig Williams, Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for Montgomeryshire said:
“As we prepare for our British future after Brexit, Boris Johnson and the Conservatives will renew the ties that bind our United Kingdom. By investing directly in the whole of Wales, the Conservatives are determined to unleash the productive power not just of London and the South East, but in Montgomeryshire and Powys.”