BBC’s political programme Question Time returned to Newport tonight for the first time since 2014.

Presenter Fiona Bruce was joined by Welsh Government economy minister Vaughn Gething, UK government’s environment, food and rural affairs secretary George Eustice, South Wales East MS Delyth Jewell, Laura McAllister - professor of public policy and the governance of Wales at Cardiff University and Financial Times’ Whitehall editor Sebastian Payne.

Here are the talking points as directed by the people of Newport.

Levelling up fund

It was mentioned by Professor McAllister that the levelling up fund was not including any part of Gwent in the funding it was giving out. This was mentioned after Ms Jewell said that the Welsh Government would be £1bn down on what they would have if they were still in the EU.

Cressida Dick

Dame Cressida Dick’s resignation as chief of the Met Police came just hours before the show aired and hours after she said she would not resign.

Audience member Stella Cosgrove asked if the problems in the Met Police are deeper than her leadership.

Mr Payne agreed that they are and believed there should be a conversation about breaking up the Met Police as it is ‘too big and a hybrid of London’s police and the UK’s police.’ He highlighted issues with the force including the murder of Cwmbran private investigator Daniel Morgan – which a report was released about the involvement of the Met Police in his death and subsequent investigations.

An audience member highlights that it is not just the Met Police that have these issues and that there is misogyny in Gwent Police and South Wales Police among other forces. Mr Gething agrees and says that the leaders of these forces need to accept there are problems and be willing to make changes.

England’s removal of covid restrictions.

Mr Eustice disagreed with an audience member who posed a question about England’s restrictions being eased too early when there are still around 70,000 cases of covid a day in the UK. He highlighted the ‘best vaccination programme in the world’ for the success and that: "The death rates we are seeing are taken down quite sharply and sometime we have to get back to living normally."

Ms Bruce asked where the advice came from to make the decision after SAGE said they had not been consulted. Mr Eustice said that there was consultation with them. Ms Jewell said that the evidence was not there and said she understands people want to return to normal, citing the pandemic as “the worst two years of my life” but also believed it was “quite distasteful” that the prime minister was willing to “risk people to save his own skin.”

MORE NEWS:

The call for an independent inquiry for Wales was also highlighted – with Mr Gething saying he is prepared to give evidence on how the Welsh Government acted for a UK-wide inquiry. He also said he disagreed with Eustice on it being the right time to completely lift the restrictions and that the Welsh Government always consult with their scientific and medical advisors. He highlighted that chief medical officer for Wales – Dr Frank Atherton – was not made aware of the prime minister’s announcement until he saw it made in Parliament.

What else was discussed?

There was discussion on whether the prime minister should apologise to Kier Starmer over comments made relating to Jimmy Savile, which was met with agreements from all bar Mr Eustice who said he “had more sympathy for the prime minister than everyone here” as he was in the ‘heated’ debate where the comments were made.

Role models and teaching children right and wrong was also discussed on the topic of Kurt Zouma being picked for West Ham just days after a video of him kicking and slapping his cats in front of his child went viral. All were in agreement that it was unacceptable and that he should be sacked because any other job would see the person sacked.

You can watch Question Time on BBC iPlayer on demand.