A 'No Deal' Brexit

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Trefnydd – in the Senedd at 2:07 pm on 6 March 2019.

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Photo of Huw Irranca-Davies Huw Irranca-Davies Labour 2:07, 6 March 2019

I welcome the fact that both the Minister in front of us and her Scottish counterpart have both now raised it directly with Liz Truss, the relevant Minister, in their discussions, but I'm very disappointed with the response. Back on 28 October last year, Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, made it clear in response to an interview that there would indeed be need for an emergency budget in the case of a 'no deal' Brexit. Because the economy is expected to contract—we don't know how much, but it will contract—there will need to be an expansionary budget. It is not for the Welsh budget to pick up the pieces of that; it's for the UK Treasury to pick up those pieces. Now, if Philip Hammond feels that—and he surely would be the person that knows, although I note that within 24 hours No. 10 had slapped him down—then, surely, as part of the 'no deal' planning, the UK Government, the Treasury, Ministers and others must be working through the options of a 'no deal' could also mean the case that they have to pump money into the economy. It seems ridiculous that they're not considering that possibility.