Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:03 pm on 25 February 2020.

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Photo of Mark Reckless Mark Reckless Conservative 2:03, 25 February 2020

First Minister, you were interrupted, but I will also just remind you of the point about the division of responsibilities between local government and NRW and the coal authorities in terms of those inspections.

One thing struck me about the RCT-based letters: it was a request to draw supplementary funding above the block grant in a devolved area, and as such could represent a change from the Barnett formula. If we are to see that as a template for future co-operation between Welsh Government and UK Government, would Welsh Government consider writing a letter of that sort, perhaps to draw capital from the shared prosperity fund for infrastructure projects, such as improvements to the A55 in north Wales or even the M4 relief road that you had promised to build? Also, Wales has an overall fiscal deficit this year of £13.7 billion, or 19 per cent of GDP, and we're asking UK Government for additional funding above that. Doesn't that show the danger of always demanding more and more powers and devolution and separation of Wales from the UK?