Mark Drakeford
Welsh Labour · Wales
“Well, Dirprwy Lywydd, the Member can never see a top without wanting to go over it. And she, as usual, didn’t disappoint us this afternoon. Her conspiracy-minded ideas of how a visitor levy came about wouldn’t bear any examination.”
“I agree entirely with the points that Mike Hedges makes, Llywydd, and it’s not just that I agree with him, but the research published as part of the preparation of the Bill, independent research by Bangor University that looks at the experience of visitor levies introduced elsewhere, bears out exactly what Mike Hedges says.”
“I'd just say to Darren Millar that there are many causes that we talk about on the floor of this Senedd where anger is a justified response, but a modest tourism levy is not one of them.”
“The Bill does exactly what I set out in my introduction, Dirprwy Lywydd. It offers local authorities a permissive power that they can draw down when they make an assessment that this would be the right thing to do in their local circumstances.”
“I thank Joyce Watson, Dirprwy Lywydd. I take what she says particularly seriously on this Bill, given her own direct experience of working and living in a high-impact tourism part of Wales. I thought she captured very well indeed that sense of proportion that has been very absent in some other contributions here this afternoon.”
“The law will be clear, it will tell them the things for which they are able to use funds raised through the visitor levy, and there will be a reporting mechanism through which they can be held to account. That will, I think, ensure that they do just as we would expect. And, in the end, they face their electors, as we do here.”
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“I thank Joyce Watson. The UK budget provides a much-needed boost for working people and takes the first steps to rebuilding vital public services. The UK Government has listened to what Wales needs, including providing £25 million towards coal tip safety and an increase in our settlement of £1.7 billion over two financial years.”
“We heard earlier from Peter Fox, and he was making completely fair points about demands on local authorities for investment in transport infrastructure. Everywhere you look in Wales, 14 years of not having the investments we need has left demands that we cannot satisfy in a single year. But next year, quite certainly, we will be able to make a start on that journey in a way that was unimaginable back in March.”
“I thank Carolyn Thomas for that and acknowledge that this development has been one that has been very widely supported by our local authorities, as well as the health board itself. The frustration has not been in the support for the scheme; the frustration has been in the lack of resource for us to be able to take forward so many of the necessary investments across Wales. Next year's uplift in capital will allow us to make a start in addressing the accumulated backlogs that have built up during the period of austerity, and it will make a material difference. It'll make a material difference both in the plans that are now maturing for the community provision and the interface between health and social care at the Rhyl site and in so many other aspects of public life in Wales.”
“And the second piece of good news is that with £235 million additional capital available to us in Wales next year, then the needs of the health service will be much in my mind as I have discussions across the whole of the Welsh Government, and my hope will be that we will be able to see, compared to what we have had, a significant increase in the capital available to the NHS in Wales, so that schemes such as that at the Royal Alexandra can be moved forward.”
“The scheme will, I'm sure, be seeking support both from the Welsh Government's health capital fund and from the rebalancing capital fund that we have between health and social care. We're expecting that that business case will be submitted to the Welsh Government for consideration in this financial year. So, that's one piece of—. I hope you will think that that is of good news, that we appear to have a date by which we will see that new plan.”
“Well, Llywydd, I recognise the frustration that Darren Millar expresses, just as I recognise the consistency with which he has made the case for that investment. He will know that the 11 years since I was first able to identify that work as something the Welsh Government would wish to support, those 11 years have been 11 years of rising costs and falling resource, so that by the time the last full business case was submitted in March 2021, the costs had escalated to over £100 million. However, two bits of better news for the Member: first of all, work has been going on, and I know he'll be aware of this, because there has been a wide range of partners involved in it, to review the scope of the development and to identify a realistic way forward.”
“Well, of course, Llywydd, it's my intention, with my colleagues, to use the extra money we have to be able to go on supporting the third sector and other organisations we are able to fund in Wales. They will have extra money from the Welsh Government, I feel confident, next year. I'm afraid you will have to wait to have a draft budget to see the extent of that, and then those organisations, like any other organisation, will have to look at the demands that they have to satisfy and how they prioritise the funding that is available to them. But the fact that we have £1 billion that we didn't have before 30 October will mean that those sectors will see some benefit from that, even if at the same time they have extra costs that they now need to meet.”
“Now, I will be making the case, not so much on a different definition, but I will be explaining to Treasury Ministers the impact that the rise in employer contributions will have here in Wales on those organisations that we rely on for public services, and beyond that as well. Because my job is to make sure that those who make decisions are as well informed as they can be of Welsh circumstances and Welsh needs, and that is what I will be doing.”
“Well, Llywydd, I'm not the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the decisions on national insurance contributions are not ones made by the Welsh Government. But, if I were the Chancellor, I'm sure I would be saying to you that the £1 billion extra that the Welsh Government has next year has to be paid for somehow, and that what she has done is to return the level of national insurance contributions by employers to where it was in 13 of the 14 years of the last Conservative Government. It's sometimes talked about as though she has done something absolutely extraordinary in increasing employer contributions, but she's put them back to where they were just 12 months earlier.”
“Wel, mae'r posibiliadau yn dod ataf i achos dwi'n bwriadu bod yn Llundain nid yr wythnos nesaf, ond yr wythnos ar ôl hynny, i gael cyfleon i gael cyfarfodydd wyneb yn wyneb â'r Gweinidogion yn y Trysorlys. Wrth gwrs, rydw i yna i roi gwybodaeth a thystiolaeth iddyn nhw am y sefyllfa yma yng Nghymru—rhai o'r pwyntiau rydyn ni wedi eu clywed yn barod am yr effaith ar y maes gofal, ac yn y blaen. So, dyna pam dwi'n mynd, jest i fod yn glir gyda'r Trysorlys am bethau ar lawr gwlad yn fan hyn, a thrwy hynny, a thrwy bopeth arall y bydd y Trysorlys yn ei glywed gan bobl yn Lloegr ac yn yr Alban hefyd, jest iddyn nhw gael y wybodaeth lawn am y sefyllfa rydyn ni'n ei hwynebu yn y sector cyhoeddus, ond hefyd gyda'r asiantaethau rydyn ni'n gweithio â nhw tu fas y sector cyhoeddus.”
“That does mean that we are in a different position going into next year, and with a spring budget that will give us a further three years of capital budgets, we will be in a different position again to marshal the investment that is needed to repair the damage that has been done by resource starvation over the previous decade. I am keen to make sure that local authorities have their share in that new set of possibilities, and I’m prepared to work imaginatively with local authorities, as we have in the past, to think about how we might be able to use some of the opportunities they can create in order to go on investing in their roads, in the maintenance of schools, and the other backlogs that we know have built up while resource has been in such short supply.”
“I thank Peter Fox for that third question. I should just simply say that what he described as 'the narrative' on non-domestic rates was simply a statement of fact. Those are the facts of the matter. Half of businesses in Wales pay no business rates at all, and another 30 per cent of them have their bills reduced by the public, because it is the other council tax payers and other income tax payers who are providing that help to those businesses. On infrastructure, though, he makes some important points. This is where the budget of 30 October does mark a real step-change for public services. Because he will remember that Jeremy Hunt, in his budget in March, gave us £1 million in capital investment, and on 30 October, the Chancellor provided £235 million.”
“Those powers do not become available in Wales until 1 April next year. So, the budget that will come in front of the Senedd on 10 December reflects the current powers that we have, but there will be new possibilities for us as a result of the Senedd’s decision from next year onwards.”
“Llywydd, the first thing to say is that half of small businesses in Wales pay no business rates at all. So, the multiplier has no impact on them because they don’t pay anything in business rates. Over 30 per cent more of businesses in Wales have relief from at least part of their business rates. Only 20 per cent of businesses in Wales pay full business rates. I myself believe that the system is ripe for quite fundamental reform when you get to a position in which only one in five businesses are actually paying business rates as are set. I think it tells you that, over the years, the system has built in reliefs here, added help there, and is ripe for a more fundamental look at it. We took new powers in the Bill that went through the Senedd earlier this year to be able to respond more flexibly on the multiplier front.”
“Well, Llywydd, I give the Member an assurance that the needs of the care sector are being actively discussed as part of the budget-setting process. I was in a conversation with the health Minister and the social care Minister only this morning on that. The budget available to the Welsh Government next year does mean that we will be in a position to reinvest in our public services. That's not to the degree we would like, but the care sector is very much in our thoughts as we do that. We have provided the sector with support ever since the start of this Senedd term to meet the costs of the real living wage for those employed in domiciliary care, and it will be our ambition to continue to do that.”
“It’s clear to me from the UK budget that that relief will not be repeated after the next financial year, because the Chancellor announced a new approach to multipliers for those sectors. We are on a glide path out of the help that has been there to help the sector recover from the COVID pandemic, and I think the glide path we have established in Wales is one that will help the sector to deal with the fact that that help is not going to be there in the long term and was never intended to be so.”
“Llywydd, I thank Andrew R.T. Davies for that. The UK Government has said that it will provide compensation to public services for the additional national insurance contributions that public service employers will incur. The definition they are using of a public sector worker is the one used by the last Government and set out in the Office for National Statistics classifications. I will be discussing with colleagues in the UK Government the impact that the change has on those who fall outside that ambit. I don’t have any plans to restore the level of temporary rate relief to tourism, leisure and hospitality. That is now in its fifth year of a temporary relief.”
“I thank the leader of the opposition for that question. Llywydd, a set of collaborative discussions took place with UK Ministers, focusing on Welsh priorities, ahead of the UK budget. These will continue as we head into the second phase of the UK spending review, which is due to conclude in the spring.”
“I am very anxious, in the spirit of the previous question, to encourage Cabinet colleagues and our public services to use short-term investments as a pathway to longer term sustainability. And there are ways in which capital expenditure, particularly, can be deployed to make the revenue resources that an authority has to be used more effectively and more efficiently. And it is those sorts of short-term steps that we are focusing on as part of that longer pathway into a time when our public services have the investments that they have been starved of for so long.”
“I thank the Member for that question. She's right about the pressures that local authorities face, but, 14 years into an era of resource constraint, public services of all sorts are facing those types of challenges. My aim in the budget next year is to assist our local authorities to move back from the brink of the worst of the challenges that they are facing and to allow them a pathway then beyond that into days when we hope they will have the resources they need to match the needs of their local populations. In the short run, I am in discussions of course with Cabinet colleagues about this year's budget. There is an increase in the resources available to the Welsh Government in the current year. And in the very short run, there are actions that we hope to be able to take to mitigate some of the pressures that our public services face.”
“Why do people present themselves for care in the NHS, particularly when the conditions that they present with are conditions avoidable if different choices are made and different sources of help are available to people earlier in the progression of the difficulty that eventually means you need a secondary care service? So, it's rebalancing the way our public services not only are funded, but in the way they approach the work that they do so that there is more emphasis on helping to deal with demand, rather than simply dealing with the consequences of demand once that demand has crystallised.”
“Well, Llywydd, of course, I agree with the Member that investment in social care is part of a solution to the pressures that the system in the round experiences. From the point of view of the individual, it really doesn't matter whether the money is being spent in the health service or in social care, provided that they get the service that is the one that they themselves need. I think there is a wider point, though, than the one that Altaf Hussain has made this afternoon, which is that, historically, in all public services, we focus on supply—we supply more services, we create more of this, we provide more of that—whereas, in fact, we need to look at demand in services as well.”
“So, ar un ochr, mae arian, wrth gwrs, yn bwysig a dyna beth dwi'n ei drafod gyda nhw, ond hefyd mae'r galw am wasanaethau i bobl yn y gymuned yn newid a dyna beth mae awdurdodau lleol yn ei wynebu hefyd.”
“Wel, Llywydd, diolch yn fawr i Heledd Fychan am y cwestiwn atodol yna. Rŷch chi'n iawn—mae arweinwyr cynghorau lleol yn sôn bob tro rwy'n cwrdd â nhw am y pwysau y maen nhw'n ei wynebu yn y maes gofal cymdeithasol, ond ar draws eu cyfrifoldebau nhw i gyd. Wrth gwrs, mae’r berthynas rhwng awdurdodau lleol a byrddau iechyd yn un bwysig ac rŷn ni'n gwybod bod pobl mewn ysbytai yn awr sy'n ddigon da i fynd yn ôl adref neu i gael gofal y tu fas i'r ysbyty. Dwi ddim yn siŵr os yw’n wir i ddweud mai jest mater o arian yw e pan fydd cynghorau lleol yn symud i gau rhai cartrefi preswyl. Fel dwi'n deall, yn RhCT, mae gwelyau yn wag nawr yn y cartrefi gofal sydd ganddyn nhw.”
“Wel, Llywydd, rwy'n cyfarfod yn rheolaidd â holl gyd-weithwyr y Cabinet, yn unigol ac ar y cyd, yn ystod y broses o osod cyllideb ddrafft. Mynychais yr is-grŵp cyllid gydag Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet ar 22 Hydref, i glywed gan awdurdodau lleol yn uniongyrchol am eu pwysau a'u blaenoriaethau. A chwrddais i eto ag arweinwyr y cyngor a phrif swyddogion ddydd Llun diwethaf.”
“Wrth gwrs, rŷn ni eisiau i bob plentyn, o bob cefndir, o bob cymuned, gael addysg drwy gyfrwng y Gymraeg pan fydd teuluoedd eisiau hynny i ddigwydd. Dyna pam roedd yr adroddiad ar y cyd gyda'r comisiynydd plant a chomisiynydd yr iaith Gymraeg yn bwysig i ni, a dwi'n gwybod bod hwnna wedi cael ei gymryd o ddifrif gan y Gweinidog. I Siân Gwenllian, dwi'n hapus, wrth gwrs, i edrych ar y pwynt roedd Siân yn ei godi am ble dyw polisïau ddim cweit yn cyd-fynd ac i weld beth allwn ni ei wneud. Dwi'n fodlon ysgrifennu at Siân Gwenllian jest i setio mas popeth rŷn ni'n ei wneud yn y maes safonau. FootnoteLink Diolch yn fawr i bob un sydd wedi cyfrannu at y ddadl, Dirprwy Lywydd. Ac, wrth gwrs, dwi eisiau gofyn ichi i gyd i nodi'r gwaith pwysig mae'r comisiynydd yn ei wneud a nodi'r adroddiad blynyddol hwn yn ffurfiol.”
“Fel roedd Heledd Fychan yn dweud, Dirprwy Lywydd, mae heriau yn parhau i ni o ran yr iaith Gymraeg, ac un o'r pethau pwysicaf i ni yw cadw'r ffaith bod y comisiynydd yn annibynnol. Dyna pam mae hi'n gallu adrodd ar y gwaith rŷn ni'n ei wneud fel Llywodraeth. Ac, fel dywedodd Heledd, mae nifer o enghreifftiau yn yr adroddiad ble mae hi wedi rhoi cyngor i ni, fel Llywodraeth, am sut gallwn ni wella safonau'r pethau dŷn ni'n eu gwneud. Dwi'n hapus i drafod y pwynt wnaeth Heledd ei godi am y repeat offenders yn dod mas o'r gwaith mae'r comisiynydd yn ei wneud, i weld os oes mwy y gallwn ni ei wneud i helpu awdurdodau lleol pan fyddan nhw yn y sefyllfa yna, ond hefyd i fod yn glir gyda nhw am y dyletswyddau sydd arnyn nhw. Roedd Rhys ab Owen, Dirprwy Lywydd, yn tynnu sylw at blant gydag anghenion dysgu.”
“Rŷn ni'n gallu cael dadl fel hyn ble mae pob un wedi cyfrannu yn y Gymraeg ac mae hwn yn rhywbeth naturiol i ni. Dyw pobl eraill yn y byd Celtaidd ddim cweit yn yr un sefyllfa. Wrth gwrs, fel yr oedd Tom Giffard yn dweud, mae addysg yn hollbwysig i ni a'n cynlluniau am y dyfodol. Dyna pam rŷn ni'n dod â'r Bil addysg Gymraeg o flaen y Senedd, i gryfhau'r iaith ym mhob agwedd ar y system addysg sydd gyda ni. Dirprwy Lywydd, dwi'n gyfrifol am yr iaith Gymraeg a dwi'n arwain ar y berthynas rhwng y Llywodraeth a'r comisiynydd, ond mae gwaith y comisiynydd yn bwysig i bob Aelod o'r Cabinet, ac mae perthynas uniongyrchol rhwng y Gweinidog dros addysg, y Gweinidog dros iechyd a'r comisiynydd, a'r gwaith mae hi'n ei wneud yn y meysydd maen nhw'n gyfrifol amdanynt.”
“Diolch i bob un sydd wedi cyfrannu at y ddadl, a diolch am yr ysbryd adeiladol sydd wedi bod o ran y cyfraniadau i gyd. Diolch i Tom Giffard am beth y dywedodd e am y gwaith rhyngwladol y mae e wedi'i weld yn mynd ymlaen. Roedd Llywydd Llydaw wedi bod yma yn y Senedd y prynhawn yma; mae e wedi bod lan lofft yn edrych ar y gwaith rŷn ni'n ei wneud fan hyn. Ces i gyfle i siarad ag e yn gynharach a gofynnodd i fi faint o Aelodau'r Senedd oedd yn gallu siarad Cymraeg ac sy'n cyfrannu yn y Gymraeg, a dywedodd e mai dim ond tri o bobl yn y Senedd yn Llydaw sy'n cyfrannu yn Llydaweg. So, mae tensiynau, fel yr oedd Delyth yn dweud—rŷn ni'n pryderu am yr iaith Gymraeg, rŷn ni'n gwybod bod lot fwy o waith gennym i'w wneud i helpu'r iaith i ffynnu yn y dyfodol, ond hefyd, rŷn ni'n lwcus, onid ydym?”
“Mae cynyddu'r defnydd o'r Gymraeg yn flaenoriaeth i Lywodraeth Cymru, ac felly mae sicrhau bod cyfleoedd i bobl ddefnyddio'r Gymraeg yn eu bywydau bob dydd yn bwysig i ni. Mae'r adroddiad blynyddol yn cofnodi llwyddiant ymgyrch Defnyddia dy Gymraeg y comisiynydd, ac yn galonogol yn adrodd bod 23 y cant o ymatebwyr arolwg barn yn credu bod cyfleoedd i ddefnyddio'r Gymraeg wedi cynyddu dros y flwyddyn flaenorol. Mae'n dda gweld enghreifftiau go iawn yn yr adroddiad lle mae cynnydd wedi bod mewn gwasanaethau Cymraeg, diolch i waith y comisiynydd. Er enghraifft, mae mwy o ddeunydd Cymraeg ar dudalennau gwefannau y sector iechyd, a mwy o ystyriaeth i'r Gymraeg wrth ymgynghori ar bolisïau o fewn awdurdodau lleol. Hefyd, mae byrddau iechyd wedi datblygu cynlluniau pum mlynedd i gynnig mwy o wasanaethau clinigol yn y Gymraeg.”
“Mae'r adroddiad yn cynnwys cipolwg defnyddiol iawn ar waith y comisiynydd ar enwau lleoedd—er enghraifft, y gwaith mae'n ei wneud gyda'r Arolwg Ordnans i adolygu mapiau.”
“Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. Pleser yw agor y ddadl yma heddiw a gofyn ichi nodi adroddiad blynyddol Comisiynydd y Gymraeg ar gyfer blwyddyn ariannol 2023-24. Dyma ail adroddiad Efa Gruffudd Jones fel comisiynydd, a chefais y pleser o drafod yr adroddiad gyda hi yn ddiweddar. Mae'r adroddiad yn mynd â ni ar daith drwy waith y comisiynydd yn ystod y cyfnod adrodd. Mae'n cynnwys uchafbwyntiau o beth sydd wedi ei wneud mewn meysydd fel sicrhau tegwch a hawliau i siaradwyr Cymraeg, dylanwadu ar ddeddfwriaeth a pholisïau, cynnal a chynyddu cydymffurfiaeth gyda dyletswyddau statudol, cynyddu defnydd o'r Gymraeg yn y sector preifat ac elusennau, a'r gwaith mae hi'n ei wneud i gynghori ar enwau lleoedd a chydweithio gyda'r Llywodraeth yn y maes yma.”
“Let me conclude, in that case, Dirprwy Lywydd. This was a budget that was never going to solve every problem, fill every hole, right every wrong. But what it has done, it has set the United Kingdom's economy and prospects here in Wales on a different pathway to the future. Of course this Government will continue to speak up for Wales, to be clear about our priorities, but now to work alongside a Government elected so emphatically here in Wales only a few months ago, so that we can create a pathway to a decent life, as Carolyn Thomas said, for the future, and an economy that thrives and works for us all.”
“It’s why the IFS said that the budget’s combination of extra investment, planning reform and greater stability will all help boost growth. And let me just for a moment repeat the point that Lee Waters made. It was the head of the IFS, Paul Johnson, that highly respected independent view of economic matters, who has said that the inheritance tax changes in agriculture will fall on a remarkably modest number of farms. Now, when opposition Members don’t like independent advice, they shake their heads at me, but that is what somebody who has no stake in trying to exaggerate the impact or underplay the impact has to say.”
“Finally, and most importantly, perhaps, of all for the long term, the budget provided investment for growth, £300 million between this year and next for us to be able to invest in the conditions, in the infrastructure, in the machinery, in the equipment that will allow workers here in Wales and businesses here in Wales to succeed. Alun Davies asked me about public service reform. Well, I have been talking with all my colleagues and with other organisations about the way I want to try to use that capital opportunity to bring about reform so that Welsh workers in the private and the public sector can be as productive as those in other parts of the European Union. That is why, Dirprwy Lywydd, the IMF supported the Government’s focus on boosting growth through an increase in public investment.”
“I think the OBR said yesterday in front of a House of Commons select committee that the Conservative Government may have broken the law in concealing—[ Interruption .] The OBR—it was the OBR giving evidence yesterday in front of a House of Commons select committee who said that the UK Government may have broken the law in concealing from the OBR the extent of the black hole in Jeremy Hunt’s last budget. That’s the OBR. You can read their evidence for yourself from just yesterday. [ Interruption .] I’m aware of time, Dirprwy Lywydd. Diolch. I set out yesterday the extent to which Wales now has an opportunity to begin the process of repairing the damage done by those 14 years—£700 million more this year, £700 million more next year, to invest in our public services.”
“What a contrast last week provided, because it wasn’t just George Osborne who set out to shrink the state, but Kemi Badenoch has made that the centrepiece of her Conservative values. She has one remarkable achievement to her credit already, in that she has managed to be too right wing to be supported even by Andrew R.T. Davies. The contrast between Mrs Badenoch and the Chancellor of the Exchequer could not have been clearer. Here in Wales, we now have the opportunity to begin to repair the damage done—”
“Well, this is a fairly heroic attempt, Dirprwy Lywydd, at the rewriting of history. I’m afraid George Osborne himself wouldn’t agree with what the Member has said, because he set out, as he said at the time, to reduce the scope of the state, and in three years’ time the sunny uplands would be there for all to enjoy, except those uplands disappeared ever further into the future. Dirprwy Lywydd, let me give just one example of the way in which the Chancellor used the budget to deal with that £22 billion gap. She found £80 million to support workers in Port Talbot, whereas the Conservative Party simply announced a fund, a fund that it turned out had no money in it at all until last week’s budget. We said two weeks ago that the Chancellor would start the journey of repairing the damage done to public services.”
“No, of course I will not. Alistair Darling responded to the economic circumstances he found himself in. George Osborne—[ Interruption .]. No, no, no—[ Interruption .] Calm down. Calm down. Calm down. George Osborne embarked on a policy of austerity as a matter of policy and choice. It was his determination to shrink the state, a policy I hear echoed by the current leader of the Conservative Party— [ Interruption .]”
“That's why the national living wage was increased by 6.7 per cent in the budget and the national minimum wage by 16.3 per cent, in a budget as well that, here in Wales, righted the wrong done to the miners' pension fund, returning it to the trustees where it belonged. Two weeks ago, we said that the Chancellor would deal with the £22 billion gap between funded and actual expenditure in this financial year. The Chancellor said that she would accept all 10 recommendations of the Office for Budget Responsibility, and she would have to draw together a package of measures that do indeed ask those most able to do so to make a contribution to filling that black hole. In another of those highly inflamed contributions—[ Interruption .] Yes, I will now. Yes, Joel.”
“And in the things that we highlighted two weeks ago, each one of those has been borne out in the budget presented by Rachel Reeves, a budget that, as Hefin David said and Alun Davies echoed, is inherently a political act—a budget that went further in demonstrating that this new UK Labour Government approaches the business of boosting the economy in a way that flies in the face of the failed policies of neoliberalism and makes certain that there is a different future for people here in Wales. I spoke two weeks ago about a Government that will regard workers as key assets in the business of building our economy.”
“And while one after another Conservative spokesperson were sent over the top in variations of Apocalypse Now speeches, what we will do on this side is to vote against their motion because it so clearly fails to represent the facts of last week's budget, facts captured in the amendment in the name of the Trefnydd. And I say, Dirprwy Lywydd, that these are facts, because, two weeks ago, we had a debate in advance of the budget and now we know what actually happened.”
“But we're offered advice by a party responsible for the longest period in our history of anaemic growth, stalled productivity, wage erosion, reductions in funding for public services, and a devastating collapse in capital investment, and all this while engineering the most acute crisis of financial management in the post-war period by a Prime Minister who may have been outlived by a lettuce but whose own legacy lives on in the lives of Welsh citizens, with higher mortgage rates, higher interest rates and eroded living standards. Dirprwy Lywydd, this is the foundation from which the party opposite seeks to instruct others about their responsibilities.”
“Diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Lywydd. It was Prime Minister Disraeli who said that the Conservative Party was an organised hypocrisy, and the motion in front of the Senedd today digs deep into that rich tradition. A series of colleagues here have exposed the basis of the advice that we are offered from the Conservative benches, advice drawn on a 14-year period of austerity, which its author, George Osborne, said would last three years and lasted for 14. The longest period in our history of anaemic growth. [ Interruption .] I'll make a bit of progress, Joel; I think a minute is a bit early for an intervention. I won't detain the Chamber long with this rehearsal, Dirprwy Lywydd, because others have already done it.”
“Joyce Watson is absolutely right that there is a great deal to celebrate in this budget, and there's a great deal to celebrate in the budget for the area that she represents, not simply the hydrogen investment at Milford Haven, but the fact that the Celtic free port has been moved along in the budget. I thank Joyce Watson for what she said about carers, Dirprwy Lywydd. I didn't have time in my statement to draw attention, as she rightly has done, to the increases in the income that unpaid carers will be able to earn without affecting their allowances in future. And I very much welcomed what the Chancellor said in her statement as well about looking to right the wrongs of the past where those unpaid carers have been concerned.”
“The childcare policies pursued in Wales are the policies agreed between Plaid Cymru and the Labour Government. They are there in the co-operation agreement, and that is what we have been implementing. I think that those policies have been a considerable success, with thousands more children in childcare, and in proper childcare, in Wales, as a result of the joint work that we have done. I will look, of course, at what is needed to sustain the childcare sector when it comes to making budget proposals to the Senedd. But I am surprised to hear a Plaid Cymru Member choose to attack the childcare record in Wales when it is the record of her party and this Government working together.”
“Fourteen years of austerity have moved far too many organisations towards the brink; now we have a chance not to put everything right, but to move them back and then in the right direction.”
“Well, Dirprwy Lywydd, the long-term vision is one in which a partnership between the Welsh Government and the UK Government invests in the conditions that create economic growth. What the Conservative Party, and I hear comments from those benches, has always failed to understand is that it's public investment that crowds in private investment, not crowds it out. For businesses to thrive, you need to have public services and public investment that give them the platform from which they can be a success. That will be the long-term ambition of this Government and the new UK Government, even as, in the short run, we have to repair some of the most immediate damage and the challenges faced in our health service, in our local authorities, in our universities, in the third sector—the list is endless.”
“The Welsh Government now has £25 million next year as a result of a Labour Government, and people in Wales will see the difference that that will make.”
“Let me deal with the issue of coal tip safety, as that is the one point I heard a question on in what Janet Finch-Saunders had to say. The figure of £600 million is what is required over a period of 10 to 15 years. The Welsh Government has already invested millions and millions of pounds in addressing the worst risks to local communities. We did so as a result of a committee jointly chaired by myself, as the First Minister at the time, and Simon Hart, as the Secretary of State for Wales. I have no doubt, myself, that Mr Hart made representations to the Treasury so that there would be a contribution from the UK Government to set alongside the money that the Welsh Government has already provided. The Treasury turned him down; that's what the Conservative-led Treasury did.”