Recommendation 10

Despite repeated assurances from UK Government that it would respect the devolution settlements of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, there are considerable ambiguities about where power will lie in relation to the Shared Prosperity Fund. It is unclear whether, as a result of the provisions in the Internal Market Bill, Whitehall plans to oversee the administration of the Fund directly, or if the financial assistance powers contained within the Bill are intended to operate separately to the Fund. In either event, we believe the UK Government would be ill-advised to lose or ignore the expertise that has been built up in the devolved administration’s European Funding Offices. (Paragraph 73) Wales and the Shared Prosperity Fund: Priorities for the replacement of EU structural funding 29