Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:55 pm on 23 March 2021.
Llywydd, the fundamental difference between my party's manifesto and his is that ours is credible and his is incredible. When I said to him four weeks ago that it was vitally important that any promises that any party makes to the people of Wales can be afforded and delivered, I meant what I said. And the work that my party has put into our pledges guarantees that every one of them can be delivered and can be delivered in a way that is affordable. It does nobody any good, Llywydd, just to pour out promises, one after another, without any possibility that those promises can actually be delivered in reality, because they all add up. His promises, just in a very conservative assessment of them, amount to well over £2 billion-worth of revenue and £6 billion-worth of capital that he hasn't got. I will not go into an election promising people things that I know are simply not possible.
On free school meals, this Government has a very proud record indeed. The first Government in the United Kingdom to guarantee free school meals during school holidays during the pandemic. The first Government in the United Kingdom to guarantee that that will continue through the whole of the next academic year. The first Government in the United Kingdom to make sure that the weekly sum available for free school meals during the pandemic is at a level that avoids the sort of scandalous things that we saw in England. Our record is proud, our record is deliverable and the promises we make will be affordable, credible and deliverable as well.