Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has plans to replicate Connecting Europe Facility funding after the transition period.

The Political Declaration states the UK is open to participation in certain EU programmes, if it is in our interest to do so. The proposed regulations for the next 2021-27 CEF programme are still being discussed in the EU and has yet to be finalised. Our future participation in programmes will be subject to negotiations on the UK-EU relationship. Decisions on future budget provisions are a matter for the Comprehensive Spending Review.

The Online Harms White Paper, published in April 2019, set out plans for world-leading legislation to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online. This will make companies more responsible for their users’ safety online, especially children and other vulnerable groups.

Infrastructure is a top priority for the Government, and we will be setting out our long-term vision in the upcoming National Infrastructure Strategy which will be published at Budget. We are committed to building on the strong foundations of the Clean Growth Strategy and the Industrial Strategy to deliver the emissions reductions we need to see across the whole economy, including in the power sector. We are considering a range of options with regards to the future of infrastructure across the UK as part of the Government’s plans to level-up the economy.