Devolution: Crown Estate
1/51. What recent discussions she has had with the Welsh Government on the potential merits of devolving the Crown Estate.
I wish to start by paying tribute to Sir Billy Boston, the trailblazing Welsh rugby league legend who received a knighthood this week. It is fitting that Sir Billy is first recipient of a knighthood for services to rugby league, and I commend those colleagues who have campaigned so hard for this well-deserved award. This Government are totally focused on taking maximum advantage of the opportunities that floating offshore wind in the Celtic sea presents for Wales. The industry has the potential to create more than 5,000 jobs and bring £1.4 billion of investment into the UK economy in coming years. We do not support devolution of the Crown Estate, as that would risk market fragmentation, jeopardising those jobs and the significant investment that Wales deserves.
In contrast to that, recent research by the Crown Estate Scotland has revealed that in one 12-month period, the Crown Estate helped its tenants to generate an economic impact of £2.1 billion, and supported almost 17,000 jobs. A decade on from the devolution of the Crown Estate’s assets and revenue, Scottish voters are enjoying the benefit. How can the Secretary of State continue to justify withholding the same profits from Wales, when in Scotland, those profits are being put back into the Scottish purse, where they belong?
I am afraid that I will not take any lectures on the Crown Estate from the SNP, whose mismanagement of the Scottish seabed has seen Scottish assets sold off on the cheap. We are focused on doing whatever it takes to secure the more than 5,000 jobs, and billions of pounds of investment, that the Crown Estate can help to unlock for Wales.
Devolving the Crown Estate sounds like such a wonderful idea, but the truth is that it really is not, and the continued lobbying and loud chat about devolving the Crown Estate is jeopardising future investment in Wales, and jobs. Does the Secretary of State agree?
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. If we were to devolve the Crown Estate and introduce a new entity, that would risk market fragmentation, complicate existing processes, and delay further development offshore, jeopardising those jobs and that investment. Even if it could be done without risking the revenues, that would not automatically lead to more money for the Welsh Government, because any revenues they retained would likely be offset through reductions to the block grant, as is the case in Scotland. Meanwhile, Wales would no longer benefit from Crown Estate assets and profits in England.
There is no long-term vision. Torfaen council has voted unanimously to devolve the Crown Estate to Wales, which means that every local authority in Wales, including every Labour-run council, supports the policy. Does the Secretary of State really believe that the UK Labour Government know better than the entirety of Welsh local government? When Wales speaks with one voice, isn’t it time that Wales’s voice in the Cabinet says the same thing?
I refer the right hon. Lady to my previous answer.
Was that the answer? It is hardly even looking at the question. In opposition, the Secretary of State for Wales joined Plaid Cymru in condemning the Conservatives for denying Wales £4.6 billion in rail funding. Now in government, she is waxing lyrical about 10% of that, and she was recently content to move the goalposts and deny Wales a further £300 million by classifying the Oxford-Cambridge line as benefiting Wales. I don’t know how they make this up. Does she oppose that new injustice, or was she ignored? Or is it her mission to see Wales short-changed?
I listened carefully to the right hon. Lady’s question, and I am sure that she would not wish unintentionally to mislead the House. The situation regarding the Oxford-Cambridge line was an error made by the Conservative Government in the 2021 spending review, and as she knows, heavy rail infrastructure is reserved, not devolved, so for every heavy rail project in England, Barnett consequentials do not apply. The UK Government fund that is funding East West Rail is also directing funding projects in Wales, such as the redevelopment of Wales’s busiest station, Cardiff Central; improvements to level crossings in north Wales; and upgrades to the south Wales relief lines. I know that all 27 Welsh Labour MPs are looking forward to hearing what the Chancellor has to say today about rail investment, after all their excellent advocacy on behalf of people across Wales.