2. Business Statement and Announcement

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:40 pm on 3 November 2020.

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Photo of Rebecca Evans Rebecca Evans Labour 2:40, 3 November 2020

Welsh Government has had some discussions with the UK Government and Treasury over the past few days, and I do hope that in the coming days I will have more information from the Chief Secretary to the Treasury in terms of any additional consequentials that might be coming forward to the Welsh Government as a result of the recent changes across the border in England. And, of course, if we are able to say more on that we will, and we do have the economic recovery plan statement, which, unfortunately, has had to be postponed, but that will be brought forward.

Just for a point of clarity, we don't have billions of pounds that we haven't allocated. Unfortunately, the reserve is much smaller than that, but, as I say, we're keen to keep supporting businesses as well as we can. And, of course, the First Minister has made the point that businesses in Wales do have access to the most generous package of support. Now, I appreciate we haven't managed to get every business, and we're not going to be able to support every business, but I think that it does need to be recognised that we have gone above and beyond what's available elsewhere to try and support as many businesses as we possibly can.