Boris Johnson asked to apologise for ‘wilful misrepresentation’ over Covid funding for Wales

The UK government has been accused of “wilful misrepresentations” over Covd funding for Welsh businesses, prompting calls for the prime minister to apologise.

Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts said Chancellor Rishi Sunak deliberately misled “desperate” businesses in Wales by claiming the Welsh government would receive £227 million of additional support.

Mr Sunak made the claim during his Treasury announcement on Tuesday, but the Welsh government said the figure was already part of an existing funding guarantee, and “not new money”.

Welsh Secretary Simon Hart later admitted the figure was part of the £5.2bn already promised to Wales since the outbreak began.

Ms Saville Roberts, MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd, asked Boris Johnson to apologise for the claim after he addressed the House of Commons on Wednesday.

“A Conservative party newsletter recently told party members to ‘say the first thing that comes into your head, even if it’s nonsense’.

“Yesterday it appears the Chancellor took on board this advice and unwrapped £227 million of already announced funding as new for Wales,” she said.

“This is, and I choose my words with extreme restraint, wilful misrepresentation which deliberately misinforms desperate businesses in Wales.

“Will the prime minister apologise on behalf of his Chancellor, and recognise that for Welsh Covid measures to be most effective, there’s an urgent need to lift financial borrowing constraints imposed on Wales by Westminster?”

Mr Johnson replied Ms Saville Roberts by saying the important thing in Wales is for its Labour government to spend Covid support funding “sensibly”.

“I’m sure the Right Honourable Lady, for whom I have a keen regard, would not wish to accuse the Chancellor of wilful misrepresentation.

“But all the cash that we’ve announced obviously is passported on. The important thing is the Labour government in Wales spends it sensibly.

“But the UK government is here to support businesses, jobs, livelihoods across the whole of the UK.”

The Speaker of the House Sir Lindsay Hoyle later rebuked Ms Saville Roberts for her use of the word “wilful”, adding: “I think we’ve got to think about the language which we use within the Chamber. These are times which are unprecedented but I really do think members ought to be careful on the language they use.”

The Plaid Cymru leader accused the UK government after the session of “playing childish political games instead of providing businesses with clarity about what support lies ahead”.

“It reflects the way the Westminster government has treated the pandemic throughout - as a political campaign, not a public health emergency,” she said.

“Following a string of Westminster fiascos and failures, we now urgently need to provide our own government in Wales with the necessary borrowing powers to properly support our businesses with tailor-made financial support.”

A spokesperson for the Welsh government said: “The UK Treasury has confirmed that this announcement does not include new money for Wales.

“This funding is already within our existing Covid funding guarantee. Greater transparency is urgently needed to prevent the confusion these UK announcements cause for people and businesses across Wales."

Mr Johnson was also accused of “demoralising” nurses and “inaccurately” portraying nursing wages after comments he made in the House of Commons.

The prime minister said nurses had been given 12.8 per cent pay increases, but Royal College of Nursing (RCN) general secretary Dame Donna Kinnair said this was not the case.

She wrote to Mr Johnson urging him to be “accurate” when discussing nurses’ pay, adding that nursing staff “are worse off now than they were in 2010” following years of wage freezes and below inflation awards.