Part of 1. 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 1:57 pm on 15 March 2017.
I’m sure the First Minister was right to point to the fact that there are many ways in which Scotland can be a model for Wales, just as there are many things that we do here that Scotland regards as a model that they can learn from as well. So, there are no points to be made of a sensible nature from that remark. What there is, as the Member says—and, from this Government’s point of view, we are a devolutionist Government that believes in being part of the United Kingdom. The reason we believe in being part of the United Kingdom is that we regard it as an insurance policy in which we pool our risks and we share rewards. I don’t believe that questions that appear to pit one part of the United Kingdom against another and to say that one part is being subsidised by another—I don’t think that’s a helpful way of thinking about things. The Member will be aware that the same report from the Wales Governance Centre says that Wales makes a greater fiscal effort per head of the population that any other part of the United Kingdom. We all make contributions, we all have needs that we are able to address, and I think that that is the most sensible way of trying to think about these matters.