Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, week after week the Conservative Party in this Chamber runs down the tourism industry in Wales. It’s never got a good word to say for it. If there was a lack of confidence in the industry, it’s because it’s listening to people like Tom Giffard. Now, the real problem that the tourism industry in Wales faced over this summer, a summer of fantastic weather, was that it was unable...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, the latest UK Government has refused to rule out cuts to benefits, while confirming its intention to cut public services. Such perverse priorities will impact adversely on our ability to discharge devolved responsibilities, and penalise the poor to pay for bankers' bonuses.
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, I thank John Griffiths for that, and I'll make two points if I could. First of all, to endorse what he said about the importance of the work of the commission, chaired by Professor Laura McAllister and Archbishop Rowan Williams. Members here will know that, jointly with the Senedd authorities, the Welsh Government is sponsoring a lecture series in which we will hear voices from...
Mark Drakeford: COVID regulations have prevented other than essential visits to hospitals across Wales for nearly half my time as First Minister. These opportunities are now starting to resume. In a personal capacity, I have visited Welsh hospitals on a number of occasions over the same period.
Mark Drakeford: We will continue to support businesses to grow throughout Wales with our partners and stakeholders as set out in our regional economic frameworks.
Mark Drakeford: Degree apprenticeships are an important part of our skills and qualifications offer, designed to address key skills shortages and support employers to diversify their workforce. Our degree apprenticeship programme is fully funded and occupationally focused. A direct comparison with higher education participation is superficial.
Mark Drakeford: While we work closely with the police on matters relating to policing in Wales, firearms licensing is a reserved matter. The police are the licensing authority for firearms and use both local information and Home Office guidance to inform their judgment.
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, the reform of building safety legislation has already started through the Welsh clauses in the Building Safety Act 2022. Consultation is currently taking place on further legislative changes, and primary legislation in this field is planned for this Senedd term.
Mark Drakeford: I thank the Member for that question. She will know that the Building Safety Act 2020 does already contain several provisions to add to the protection of leaseholders here in Wales. So, we were able to secure those additional protections through the 2022 Act. The UK Government brought forward a whole series of very late amendments to the Act—to the Bill, as it was then—which we were not...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, it is important, as I explained, to keep the two issues separate. When we're talking about legislation, we're not talking about what we are doing for people in the current situation; that is responded to through the funding that we have allocated and put on the table and the system that is currently ongoing. That doesn't depend on a change to the law. We are changing the legislation...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, I thank Ken Skates for that question. The recent turmoil in UK financial markets, for which the UK Government’s fiscal statement was the catalyst, has increased the cost of borrowing for Government, businesses and ordinary citizens. It will damage growth, worsen the public finances and make life harder for borrowers, including homebuyers.
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, of course, it's not fair that we have all been subjected to the failed experiment—a failed experiment that took less than a month to collapse in front of us. And the reason it's particularly unfair is that the experiment was doomed to failure from the outset. It didn't need to come in contact with the reality of the markets for people to have understood that. An economic...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, the Member deserved better from more senior Members of his group who ought to have advised him, before he stood up, not to offer a contribution of that sort on the floor of the Senedd. 'It's all the fault of Gordon Brown and the United States of America.' Well, even in a week in which the most extraordinary explanations have been offered, I don't think anybody has attempted to...
Mark Drakeford: It's an important point that the Member makes, and I want to repeat it again this afternoon, as I did last week, because these are absolutely serious times in the lives of citizens in Wales. The Welsh Government's budget is already worth, in purchasing power, £600 million less than it was in November of last year at the time of the comprehensive spending review, and the Chancellor has said...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, I agree that the Welsh ambulance service is under enormous pressure. It’ll be under far greater pressure when his party has finished cutting the budget of the health service, as Jeremy Hunt has said he intends to do. Yes, you can groan and you can moan, but the responsibility lies where it lies, and people out there understand that too. Yes, the system is under huge pressure; we...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, I understand the pressure that the Conservative Party is under. I understand how difficult it must be for the leader of the opposition to come here and ask questions today. But don't let him believe that by shouting at me he will persuade anybody outside this Chamber that his responsibility—I've not heard ever a single word from him assuming responsibility for the actions of his...
Mark Drakeford: Yes, he supported Liz Truss. We know that. He is partly responsible for the mess we're in. Just shouting at me about the difficulties that are there in the ambulance service, which I acknowledge, and we are working very hard with people who work in the ambulance service to get that service where it needs to be. There's no solution to that by shouting at me as though all the right in this...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, the prescription of the Welsh Government is to invest more money in the ambulance service, to have more staff working in the ambulance service, to have a wider range of people able to provide those services and for ambulances to know that, when they arrive at hospitals, the hospital will be in a position to receive that patient so that the ambulance can get back on the road again and...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, the next Labour Government will inherit the difficulties that have been created in the last three weeks. The last three weeks have changed the context in which decisions have to be made. I heard the shadow Chancellor explain that very cogently on the radio this morning. Something that was right three weeks ago can no longer be sustained, given the turmoil and the billions and...
Mark Drakeford: I agree with the principle, Llywydd, of course, that those who have the most should contribute the most. We will do, as I explained last week—. Last week, the Member was urging me to raise income tax rates here in Wales, and we'd be looking very foolish today if we'd followed his advice then, because, as I explained to him, we will make our decisions when we have the full facts available to...
