First of all, I thank you, Dame Rosie, for presiding over us in Committee this afternoon and I thank the hon. Member for Sheffield Central (Paul Blomfield) on the Opposition Front Bench for his calm tone at the
end of what has been a fiery debate. Indeed, in that vein, I also thank the hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant), who brought us to a mature tone after much back and forth. At this early point in my response, I thank him for his points about flooding funding and his coal tip, which I will take away and ensure are looked into the spirit in which he asked this afternoon.
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I will turn to the substance of part 6 of the Bill. As everybody here knows, this Government are determined to deliver on the commitments on which we were elected, which include levelling up the whole United Kingdom, delivering prosperity for all our citizens and strengthening the ties that bind our Union together. Part 6 helps to achieve that. The power, as many have already observed this afternoon, will enable spending in the areas of infrastructure, economic development, culture and sport and will support educational and training activities and exchanges both within the UK and internationally, much of which was previously done at EU level.
The EU previously directed investments in many of those areas on the basis of priorities set by 28 different countries, and the power will allow us instead to focus UK taxpayers’ money on UK domestic priorities. For the first time, the funds will be open to direct scrutiny in this House by Scottish, Welsh, English and Northern Irish MPs. I was shocked that those on the Scottish National Benches appeared to dismiss that and think that constituency representation in this House was in some way either unnecessary or, worse, improper.
The creation of a UK-wide Government power, in addition to the devolved Administrations’ existing powers, will allow the UK Government to complement and strengthen the support already given to citizens in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales without taking away responsibilities from the devolved Administrations, and I emphasise that point to, among others, the hon. Members for Cardiff North (Anna McMorrin) and for Pontypridd (Alex Davies-Jones).
As the Chair of the Welsh Affairs Committee, my right hon. Friend the Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire (Stephen Crabb), said this afternoon, it is a legitimate authority for the UK Government to seek to look after all of its citizens, and Members of this House have a legitimate authority in arguing for their own constituencies. Indeed, the hon. Member for Leeds North West (Alex Sobel), who is not in his place, called that idea “pork barrelling”, but Labour Members crowded into my right hon. Friend’s office when he was in government to argue that investment in their areas was needed.
Putting that to one side, it is essential that we continue to support businesses and communities in recovering from the impacts of covid, and that is why, as my hon. Friend the Member for Brecon and Radnorshire (Fay Jones) pointed out, we need to level up the country now and drive investment into all parts of the UK. In fact, we have showcased the benefits that such funding can bring through the city and growth deals across the entire country, through which the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government, the Northern Ireland Executive and local partners have accepted funding to support economic growth. Indeed, there is nothing new about the UK Government supporting economic development, using, for example, the Industrial Development Act 1982 to do so.
The power we are considering today seeks to support a wider range of crucial areas that can improve people’s lives and livelihoods. That is very important, as my hon. Friends the Members for Heywood and Middleton (Chris Clarkson), for Bishop Auckland (Dehenna Davison) and for West Bromwich West (Shaun Bailey) pointed out. It seeks to ensure that the UK Government can respond effectively to opportunities across the UK. As some Members have put it this afternoon, objecting to that is tantamount to objecting to the UK Government being able to spend taxpayers’ money on the communities and businesses of Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland in every corner of the country for which the Government are responsible.
Amendments 33, 11 and 19 suggest that UK Ministers ought to request consent from the devolved Administrations to use the power. Let me start with the context that I referred to at the outset of my remarks. Currently, EU bodies do that spending on our behalf. They are unelected and they spend billions of pounds that we have provided as a net contributor, and that is drawing to an end. This legislation confers a power to ensure that we can invest UK taxpayers’ money nationwide on UK priorities and support people and businesses here in the UK. We intend to take a much more collaborative approach to delivering replacements to EU programmes than was ever the case with the European Union mandate. This will include engaging heavily with local authorities and the devolved Administrations, as well as with wider organisations. This new power will ensure that the UK Government are well positioned following the transition period to deliver investments to replace EU structural funds, at a minimum maintaining levels of investment across all four nations as per our manifesto commitment.
It is right that this responsibility should be held by the UK Government, rather than the EU. This will ensure that any financial assistance can be unified, that it can be universal in some instances and intra-UK in others, and that it can be at a scale that the whole of the UK can achieve. It is right to want to ensure that citizens in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can continue to benefit from any initiatives that can bring such UK-wide benefits, as we did most recently with something on the scale of the furlough scheme. I again want to assure the hon. Members who tabled the amendments in this group that—