<p>Borrowing to Invest</p>

Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:56 pm on 2 May 2017.

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Photo of Carwyn Jones Carwyn Jones Labour 1:56, 2 May 2017

Absolutely. All Governments borrow. Margaret Thatcher borrowed every single year. In fact, borrowing went up under the Tories, but they used that borrowing to pay for tax decreases. That’s how unsustainable that was. The current Conservative Government have borrowed money. I don’t criticise them for that, because I know it’s part of government. The issue is: borrow money to invest in capital infrastructure, and, secondly, borrow money in a way that’s prudent so that the debt doesn’t become unmanageable. The problem we have at the moment is that we have a Government in London that’s completely without vision, doesn’t know what it wants to do and has no vision for investment in infrastructure. We were promised electrification of the south Wales main line. Where is it? That’s disappeared off the horizon. No decision on the Swansea bay tidal lagoon, no decision on HS2, no decision on Heathrow. We’ve had absolute dithering—complete and utter dithering for the past year from the UK Government when it comes to funding essential capital infrastructure. Countries that do not invest in their infrastructure decline. They cannot compete with other countries around the world, and the problem we have with the current UK Government is that they’re just not willing to invest.