Conservatives reveal plans to create more Welsh Government offices in North Wales if elected

The leader of the Welsh Conservatives has announced he would re-establish parts of the Welsh Development Agency in North Wales if his party is elected to government in May.

Andrew RT Davies has also confirmed he would move the recently established Welsh Revenue Authority – the Welsh Government’s version of the Treasury – to the region to ensure communities are better represented.

The Conservatives said the move would create at least 200 hundred jobs in the area, with the organisations tasked with creating tens of thousands of jobs for people across the country, as part of the recovery from Covid-19.

Mr Davies said it would give North Wales a “seat at the top table of government”.

He said: “For too long communities across North Wales have been left behind and people could be forgiven for thinking that they’re often an afterthought.

“For the past two decades, Labour ministers in Cardiff Bay have been too focused on their pet projects such as Cardiff Airport, at the expense of delivering for families and businesses in North Wales.

“That ends after May’s Senedd election. Welsh Conservatives will level up our country and ensure the voice of North Wales is not only heard, but is at the heart of everything we do, starting with the day-to-day administration of the Welsh Government.

“We can’t afford five more years of Labour who’ve allowed problems in North Wales to mount up for over 20 years and now have no plans to fix things.

“Welsh Conservatives will build a better Wales with the North to the fore, with more jobs, better hospitals and first class schools.”

Welsh Conservative Shadow North Wales and Finance minister, Mark Isherwood said: “By bringing back the best of the Welsh Development Agency (WDA), abolished by Labour in 2006, and establishing both this and the Welsh Treasury in North Wales we will put local priorities and local people from across our area at the heart of the Welsh Government, as well as creating good quality, well-paid jobs for local people.

“Only the Welsh Conservatives will break out of the Bay bubble, end Labour’s obsession with Cardiff, level up our country and deliver for our people and communities in North Wales.”