The Cardiff City Deal project is a great opportunity for Cardiff to continue its rapid growth. The proposed deal would bring increased investment in business development and infrastructure for the city and surrounding region.
The Welsh Government has pledged £580m for the project, but the UK Government has still not confirmed that it will match this investment.
I asked Rt Hon Stephen Crabb MP, Secretary of State for Wales, during Welsh Questions in Parliament, whether or not the UK Government will make this commitment.
Mr Crabb refused to answer directly, rather hiding behind an ‘in principle’ commitment to infrastructure.
It’s shocking that the UK Government won’t make the commitment to match the Welsh Government’s £580m investment. The Tories continue to dodge answering the question of match funding.
It’s typical of this Tory Government: no answer, no action and, I suspect, no match funding.
The full text of my question was:
Jo Stevens MP: “We don’t just want warm words from the Chancellor about the Cardiff City Deal, we want to know whether or not the UK Government will match the £580m that has been pledged by the Welsh Government for the Cardiff City Deal. Can the minister answer that?”
Rt Hon Stephen Crabb MP “I’m not sure if the Honourable Lady noticed in the visit we did to Cardiff last Thursday, we weren’t just using warm words, we were investing £50m of UK Government money in a new high-tech centre of innovation at Cardiff University. The Chancellor made very clear in his speech in Cardiff last Thursday that we will support, in principle, the infrastructure fund that will be at the heart of the Cardiff City Deal project.”