6. Welsh Conservatives Debate; Local Authorities

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:28 pm on 27 November 2018.

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Photo of Alun Davies Alun Davies Labour 5:28, 27 November 2018

I would suggest, in many ways, it's a failure of the political class rather than any particular political party, because let me say this: because things are going to get worse. Because things are going to get worse. We all saw, and I'm sure many of us read, the report of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research yesterday, which discussed the impact of Brexit. We could see the UK economy fall by anything from 2.8 per cent to 5.5 per cent. We know that will lead to a significant reduction in tax take; we know that it will lead to a significant reduction in the funding available to us; and we know that if we're serious about the sorts of spending increases that are being discussed this afternoon, we would have to increase Welsh rates of income tax by 5, 6 or 7 per cent in order to make up for those reductions, and are you prepared to argue for that? Are you prepared to argue for it?

What I will say, and I'll say this to Members on all sides of the Chamber this afternoon, is that a sterile debate about how we allocate funding is not an adequate response to the challenges being faced by local government or by other areas of spending within the Welsh Government. We have to ask far harder and far tougher questions, because in the future we will have significant reductions in the funding available to us, and that means asking the hard questions about the structures of governance. It means asking the difficult questions about how we deliver services. It means asking the really searching questions of ourselves and our colleagues about how we are able to create the structures of service delivery and local accountability and governance that can deliver and protect those services, not just in the age of austerity but the age of Brexit-fuelled austerity. By walking away from that debate, we walk away from the responsibility that our offices give us. I know I am testing your patience, Deputy Presiding Officer—I'll finish with this point: I do not need any lectures at all from the Welsh Conservative Party and their crocodile tears about cuts to public funding and their impact on public services. Nobody needs those crocodile tears. Nobody wants those crocodile tears. What we want—[Interruption.] What we want—and what I will lead, and what this Government will lead—is a debate on how we deliver and protect our public services at a time when the people behind me, who are happy to shout, offer no new ideas but offer more of the same. We will lead change in Welsh Labour, and we will lead fair change for everyone across the whole of this country.