2. Statement by the First Minister: Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:19 pm on 29 April 2020.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:19, 29 April 2020

Llywydd, I thank Mick Antoniw for those questions. I'm very pleased indeed to associate myself with what he has said about the fantastic work that postal workers do every day and have sustained during the coronavirus emergency. They are workers on the front line, as Mick Antoniw said, and we're really grateful to them for the way in which they have kept that part of normal life going through the whole crisis.

Mick Antoniw is absolutely right, of course, about the pressures on local government, and let me too say that I think that local government in Wales has demonstrated its strength during the last weeks in providing services at that local level to people where the need is greatest. We've been very fortunate, I think, to have local government in Wales led by Councillor Andrew Morgan, both as leader of RCT, but also as leader of the Welsh Local Government Association. The Welsh Government has already provided £110 million directly and additionally to local government in Wales, exceeding the £95 million we've had in consequentials from the UK Government for the same purposes in England. We are working with the WLGA who, together with the Local Government Association, are jointly making representations to the UK Government for further funding to take account of the lost income issue—a very serious issue for local authorities—and we as a Welsh Government are playing our part in making those points to UK colleagues too.