Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what steps he is taking to engage with (a) the devolved Administrations and (b) local authorities on regional support for the functional economy of North Wales and Mersey Dee.

The UK Government regularly meets with the Welsh Government and local authorities to discuss support for regional economies in Wales. I wrote to Cllr Mark Pritchard, Chair of the Mersey Dee Alliance (MDA) on 28 September 2020, and met with him on 6 October 2020, to offer our support for the work that the MDA is doing to bring key partners together to support manufacturing in the region.

We continue to work in collaboration with both the Welsh Government and regional partners to ensure that the UK Government’s £120m funding commitment for the North Wales Growth Deal is delivered as soon as possible.