In a House of Commons debate today (8 June), Wayne David, the Labour MP for Caerphilly, asked Luke Hall MP, the Minister of State for Regional Growth and Local Government, to visit the town of Bargoed in Mr David’s Caerphilly constituency.

The debate was about the future of regional funding in Wales and Mr David made the point that the Caerphilly Borough, which includes Bargoed, has been excluded from the priority list of the new UK Government’s Community Renewal Fund. The Fund is supposed to help hard-pressed communities.

Mr David invited the Minister to visit Bargoed “to see for himself” why Bargoed needed support from this Fund and the Shared Prosperity Fund, which will soon replace European funding. Mr Hall accepted Mr David’s invitation and it is hoped that his visit will take place before the end of next month.

Mr David said, “I am pleased that the UK Government Minister has accepted my invitation to visit Bargoed because it is scandalous that hard-pressed communities like Bargoed have been excluded from receiving funds by the UK Government. I want the Minister to see for himself that funding is desperately needed for Bargoed and that his Government’s decision on funding is fundamentally wrong and needs to be reversed.”