Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Trefnydd – in the Senedd at 1:42 pm on 18 September 2019.
Well, the nerve is quite incredible. The fact that Welsh Government has had budget cuts for a decade—. People have been living with austerity for a decade, and the buck stops firmly in the UK Government's responsibilities there, I have to say. But, that said, I think it's important to recognise as well that Welsh Government has been quite clear in our early discussions about the budget that health will continue to be a top priority, but we are really, really keen to ensure that we can offer the best possible settlement to local authorities.
As far as the local authorities funding formula is concerned, that's decided in partnership with local authorities, and the Minister for Housing and Local Government and I have been very clear that we are open to ideas of other ways to deal with the formula, but the local authorities themselves haven't pressed us for changes to that formula.