Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:58 pm on 13 May 2020.
Minister, a leaked internal Treasury report contains reference to freezing public sector pay for two years as one measure that's being considered as a response to coronavirus expenditure. That would be a betrayal of the sacrifices made by dedicated public servants during the crisis—a point that was made by the chair of the Police Federation today. And if there's one lesson that we should learn from the pandemic, it's that austerity left us under-prepared to deal with a crisis of this magnitude. Minister, we don't yet know what the UK Government's plans are for certain, so this is only speculation at this point. But I'd like to ask you, do you agree that further austerity should be ruled out as a response to the pandemic, and, if so, what economic and fiscal levers does the Welsh Government think should be devolved so that we in Wales have the option of taking a different financial route from England?