5. Debate: The Draft Budget 2018-19

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:49 pm on 5 December 2017.

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Photo of Hefin David Hefin David Labour 4:49, 5 December 2017

There's no point getting angry about it. I heard what he said, and I think some of what he said should be directed towards the UK Government, actually. I think that some of the things that Nick Ramsay said reflected that, too. We can only do what we can do, and what we want to do, if we have the resources given to us by the UK Government. I'd say to Mark Isherwood: come and take a walk around Caerphilly; come and see the direct impacts of UK Government cuts and see those things that the Welsh Government has done to limit the impacts of those cuts.

I've received correspondence from constituents, particularly Sheila Jones, who has pleaded for AMs not to pass a budget that makes any further cuts to public spending. But you have to act responsibly. I understand my constituents' frustration with ongoing austerity, but the blame for that cannot lie—cannot lie—at the door of this Government. I think the Cabinet Secretary has done superbly well to deal with the resources at his disposal.

On the other things—and I again return to Mark Isherwood—perhaps the way things are done can be better within a limited budget. Universal credit, for example, is a policy that is non-devolved, but the botched introduction by the Tory UK Government is having a very worrying effect on our communities. The UK Government needs to take mitigating steps to speed up universal credit payments to avoid unfair sanctions over Christmas, but, unlike some who want to devolve for the sake of devolution, I don't believe it's for the Welsh Government to use its budget to clean up the mess that's been created by the UK Government. If the Welsh Government were to take on administrative responsibility for benefits and welfare policy without the necessary additional funding from Whitehall, it would potentially worsen the situation by imposing new financial burdens—[Interruption.]—on an already stretched Welsh Government and create unrealistic expectations of more generous payments in Wales.