Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance – in the Senedd at 1:41 pm on 18 July 2018.
Diolch, Llywydd. Yesterday, we saw the publication of two documents that are significant to Wales's fiscal and economic well-being. The first one was the document from the Office for Budget Responsibility—the fiscal sustainability report. The second was the Welsh Government's paper on reforming UK funding and fiscal arrangements after separation from the European Union.
The OBR's report was a stark warning, a further warning if we needed it, that we can expect unsustainable public finances in the UK for the short to medium term at least, and that that would put significant further pressures on budgets, and that we could expect further fiscal contraction. In the Welsh Government's document, which Plaid Cymru welcomes broadly, particularly those elements that relate to fair funding for Wales, it states that Wales should not lose a single penny as a result of leaving the European Union and that future regional policy should remain devolved fully to the Welsh Government. I wonder, within the context of the OBR's forecast, if the Cabinet Secretary can update the Assembly on whether or not the UK Government has conceded the financial implications of future devolution of regional policy, and the fact of the principle that it should remain devolved.