Mark Drakeford: Levels of prosperity in Wales are best judged by a basket of indicators that includes GVA, employment, income and poverty. Taking the basket in the round, since devolution, Wales has broadly kept pace with the UK, a period over which the UK has grown faster than the EU average.
Mark Drakeford: The Welsh Government remains fully committed to increasing the use of the Welsh language. Our challenging vision for a million Welsh speakers by 2050 is currently subject to public consultation and we will consider all responses in due course.
Mark Drakeford: Life sciences is an important driver of economic growth and improved well-being. It is vital to the economy, for creating jobs, increasing wealth and developing high-end skills. Weekly earnings have increased by 8.3 per cent, over 5 percentage points more than the increase of any other sector.
Mark Drakeford: Working conditions and workers’ rights are reserved matters and remain with the UK Government.
Mark Drakeford: Maintaining a strong Welsh business climate, including the advanced materials and manufacturing sector, is important for our steel industry. I was in the States to remind them Wales means business. I will publish a full statement on my visit shortly.
Mark Drakeford: Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Yesterday, I laid the Land Transaction Tax and Anti-avoidance of Devolved Taxes (Wales) Bill, together with the explanatory memorandum, before the National Assembly for Wales.
Mark Drakeford: The introduction of this Bill marks a significant step in our tax devolution journey and progress in preparing for the first Welsh-specific taxes in almost 800 years. The Bill follows the passage of the Tax Collection and Management (Wales) Act 2016, which received Royal Assent in April. The Act provided the legal framework to collect and manage devolved taxes, including the establishment of...
Mark Drakeford: Well, thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you to the Member for those comments and questions. Byddaf yn ceisio ymateb i dri o'r cwestiynau mawrion a ofynnwyd. Cytunaf yn llwyr â'r hyn a ddywedodd Adam Price, sef ein bod yn ceisio cael cydbwysedd yn y Bil rhwng parhad uniongyrchol—gan fod yna system y mae pobl yn gyfarwydd iawn â hi, system a chanddi hefyd lawer o...
Mark Drakeford: I thank Mike Hedges for all those questions. I’m grateful for what he said about the general anti-avoidance rule, and those who will be looking at the Bill closely will see that we have adopted the Scottish test for the GAAR, which is that tax arrangements that are artificial will be captured by the GAAR, whereas, in the stamp duty land tax, they have to be abusive before the GAAR applies....
Mark Drakeford: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. I’m always glad to hear Nick Ramsay say those things about the fiscal framework; I quoted him in my meeting with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury to let the Chief Secretary to the Treasury know what pressure I was under from the Conservative benches here in the Assembly to make sure that the fiscal framework was properly negotiated from the Welsh perspective....
Mark Drakeford: Turning to the last question first: the rules for how cross-border properties are to be treated in devising the new tax strategy are set out in the 2014 Act. They’re not something that we have the freedom to manoeuvre over, even when there are sensible suggestions about how it might be done differently. We have a rulebook; we are trying to design the best system we can within it. Do I...
Mark Drakeford: I move formally.
Mark Drakeford: Diolch yn fawr, Ddirprwy Lywydd. Can I begin by thanking all those who’ve taken part in what has been, I think, a thought-provoking and constructive discussion, which will be helpful to us all as we struggle together to think our way through the circumstances in which we find ourselves in Wales in the post-Brexit era? I’ll begin by thanking Adam Price for his contribution. I enjoyed the...
Mark Drakeford: Yes, of course.
Mark Drakeford: Well, I think the First Minister made it clear yesterday, Dirprwy Lywydd, that in the run-up to the referendum the Welsh Government unambiguously put in front of the Welsh people our belief that Wales’s future was best secured within Europe, and the terms of trade in Europe are that you have free movement of goods, services and people. Those terms have changed. The vote on 23 June means...
Mark Drakeford: Of course, anybody would be willing to look at that research. We will never know, in a definitive ranking sense, what were the reasons that motivated people to vote the way they did on 23 June. My own more sobering experience of knocking doors in parts of Cardiff—
Mark Drakeford: There’s more than one sort of evidence, Dirprwy Lywydd, and evidence of what people say to you directly when you’re in conversations with them is not to be dismissed. On the doorstep, when I am trying to persuade people to vote for Wales’s future to be in Europe, then I can assure you that issues of immigration and free movement were very, very regularly and very prominently reported to...
Mark Drakeford: Maybe for the last time.
Mark Drakeford: The Member is wrong to put it in those terms. The position of the Welsh Government is that we have to evolve the position that Wales takes in response to the developing debate. I’ve been the Minister of health in this Assembly. I don’t need anybody to convince me that our ability to go on providing core services for people in Wales depends on our ability to attract people from around the...
Mark Drakeford: With the fastest growing digital economy outside London, Welsh Government recognises the value of the tech sector. By supporting the commercial exploitation of digital and other technologies we continue the development of a modern economy that nurtures further growth in this important sector.
