- UK Government guarantees extra £800 million of new funding for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
- New funding will continue to help the devolved administrations to support people and businesses through coronavirus
- All parts of the UK will continue to receive direct support provided by the UK Government, including furlough and business loans.
Member of Parliament for Delyn, Rob Roberts, has welcomed new funding of £800 million which is being guaranteed for the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to support people, businesses and public services with the ongoing impact of Covid-19.
Today’s announcement increases the UK Government’s unprecedented upfront guarantee this year to at least £16.8 billion on top of funding outlined in Spring Budget 2020.
This funding can be spent on priorities such as the NHS and business support.
This means a further £400 million for the Scottish Government, £200 million for the Welsh Government and £200 million for the Northern Ireland Executive.
Any changes to devolved funding are normally confirmed towards the end of the financial year – but in July the UK Government introduced an unprecedented guarantee to provide them with funding certainty to respond to Covid-19.
Today’s announcement ensures that all parts of the UK can continue their response to Covid-19 through the winter months.
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury Steve Barclay MP said:
“We’ve already committed unprecedented levels of support to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
“This extra funding will provide the nations with the certainty they need to plan through these difficult months.
"We remain committed to an economic recovery for the whole of the United Kingdom and will continue to work closely with the devolved administrations to support people and businesses.”
Welsh Secretary, Simon Hart said:
“We said we would support every part of the UK though the pandemic and we meant it. Today’s announcement means that an extra £5.2 billion has now been guaranteed to the Welsh Government since March 2020 to support its Covid-19 response.
“And last month the Chancellor announced that the devolved administration in Wales will receive an additional £1.3bn from the UK Government in 2021-22 giving it the certainty it needs to plan ahead.
“This is only one part of our support for Wales during the pandemic. One on three jobs Welsh jobs - more than 500,000 livelihoods - have been protected across Wales by the UK Government’s direct support for workers. We have also procured vaccine on behalf of all of the UK, set up testing facilities and are continuing to provide significant Armed Forces assistance across Wales.”
Commenting on the funding announcement and what it means for Delyn, Rob said:
“I welcome the additional funding for Wales that has been provided by the U.K. Government which takes the total in extra funding (on top of the normal allocation) to £5.2bn in order to combat the COVID crisis.
“To date, the Welsh Government is yet to allocate more than £1.8bn of the additional funding they have received, despite businesses in Delyn being in dire need of assistance - particularly in the hospitality, tourism and “close contact” industries such as hairdressing and beauticians.
“Hopefully the Welsh Government will use this extra funding, which takes their “unallocated” funds to £2bn in total to provide some respite for local businesses that have already been well served by the U.K. Government’s monumental furlough and self-employed grant schemes and have now been forced into closure once again because of high case numbers in South Wales despite those in the North being only a fraction as severe.”
People and businesses in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will also continue to benefit from the UK Government’s unprecedented £280 billion UK-wide economic response package.
This includes schemes such as the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and the Bounce Back Loan Scheme providing billions in support to businesses across the three regions.
Alongside this, millions of jobs in the three regions continue to be supported through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme.