Brexit row at County Hall

By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter

A row over Brexit has erupted in county hall over how Powys County Council (PCC) will respond to the loss of EU funding streams worth about £2million.

Last week the Liberal Democrat/Green group questioned what Council Leader, Cllr Rosemarie Harris, had been doing to try and plug the finding gaps that the loss of EU money will create.

Now Cllr Harris has snapped back and called comments made by the Liberal Democrat-Green Group as “unhelpful and unnecessary”.

The PCC Liberal-Democrat/Green group leader Cllr James Gibson-Watt had called the concerns expressed by rural council leaders including Cllr Harris recently as “far too little, far too late”, as the UK hurtles towards the Brexit deadline of October 31.

Cllr Harris is the joint chair of the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) along with Gwynedd Council Leader Cllr Dyfrig Siencyn.

Cllr Harris, said: “Not only are the comments by Cllr Gibson-Watt extremely unhelpful, they do not reflect what has actually happened over the last two years.

“We initiated and have led discussions on behalf of all the rural authorities in Wales.”

Cllr Harris explained that the loss of EU funding has been a constant issue and had been meeting with the Welsh Government, Rural Affairs Minister Lesley Griffuth AM to express their concerns.

Cllr Harris added: “It is disappointing to note the unnecessary personal criticism levelled at myself. All the Welsh rural council leaders have taken these discussions seriously and have worked hard to raise awareness of the potential loss of this funding would be to our rural communities.”

Earlier Cllr Gibson-Watt had said: “What on earth have they been doing for the past two years?

“It has always been clear that rural Wales will suffer greatly from the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

“Not least from the ending of EU funding programmes, from which we have all benefited greatly. The Welsh Government is all-too-aware of the impacts this will have, which is why it is so opposed to a ‘No Deal’ exit.

“As Powys’s main opposition group we have raised these concerns consistently for many months, without a meaningful response from the Independent/Tory Cabinet.”

Cllr Gibson-Watt claimed that questions asked as to what work was being done to prepare for the loss of EU funding streams such as LEADER II had not been answered properly.

In June 2016, Powys voted 53.7% for leaving the European Union. In the last year, two votes have been held in the council chamber on Brexit issues.

The councillors voted against supporting a People’s Vote (Second Referendum). They also voted against a motion calling on an impact assessment on the implications of Brexit for PCC to be done.