We're a Government that allocates funding where it can deliver the greatest impact. This pandemic has shaken our economy's foundations, and we recognise the need to act now to inject jobs and demand into a recovery that takes root today. Our final budget includes a capital stimulus of more than £220 million to move this work forward. This includes an additional £147 million to ramp up house building programmes and an extra £30 million to accelerate the ambitious twenty-first century schools and colleges building programme, helping to support economic growth, sustainable jobs and training opportunities across the sector.

We know that our hardest hit businesses need certainty too. I am setting aside £200 million in reserves for additional business support next year if it's needed to respond to the evolving challenges of the pandemic. Ahead of the budget, I called on the UK Government to extend the business support package in England, and it's why I took the immediate decision following the UK Government budget, once we had certainty on the funding available, to announce an extension to the retail, leisure and hospitality rates relief, with a cap for properties with a rateable value of over £500,000, and the enhanced leisure and hospitality rates relief scheme for 12 months.

The UK budget was presented at a critical juncture for the economy, and, while we welcome the additional £735 million revenue for Wales, we did not receive a single penny extra in capital next year to support the economic recovery. Disappointingly, there was no sign of real long-term help for the most vulnerable in our society. The Chancellor had the opportunity to make permanent the additional universal credit uplift, but he didn't, and the longer term changes to personal tax allowances are a stealth tax that will hit the lowest paid hardest. Of equal concern was the silence on spending pressures for public services, with no extra funding support for recovery in the NHS and other strategic priorities, including wider social care reform.

The UK budget did nothing to provide confidence about the future path of public finances beyond 2021-22. We face a reduction in our budget from 2021-22, partly driven by the withdrawal of COVID support, but also by underlying reductions to planned public spending built into the UK Government's medium-term plans. As noted by the Institute for Fiscal Studies:

'The Chancellor’s medium-term spending plans simply look implausibly low.'

Unlike the UK Government, we have continued our targeted and responsible approach, providing effective support in the course of this fast-moving pandemic, taking timely decisions and providing support when it's needed. To provide homebuyers with extra time to complete transactions, I announced last week an extension in our land transaction tax reduction period in Wales until 30 June. We announced yesterday a package of funding worth £72 million, taking total investment to over £112 million, to support teachers and learners impacted by the pandemic over this year. Building on funding we announced in the final budget, and to support our recovery, I am today announcing a further £8.7 million as part of a total additional investment of £18.7 million to support the extension of our employer incentive scheme and to bolster our flexi-job apprenticeship offer.

While we can't underestimate the scale of the challenges we are facing, we have provided certainty for our vital public services, are helping rebuild our economy with real social and environmental purpose, and protecting Wales from the worst effects of the pandemic. I am proud that we have provided sound foundations for the next administration to deliver a more prosperous, more equal and a greener Wales. Thank you.