The Welsh Government's Annual Budget

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:23 pm on 23 March 2021.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:23, 23 March 2021

Well, Llywydd, I'm very happy to confirm that, if this Government is returned to office, those 500 police community support officers are secure in all parts of Wales and that we will add to them as well. As the Member said, the approach of the Welsh Conservatives is crystal clear. They laid it out at their conference: if it's not devolved, they won't fund it. That's what the then leader of the party said. I heard Mark Isherwood try to deny that earlier this afternoon, but I'm afraid that people in Wales heard what his party said—'if it's not devolved, we won't be funding it.' Police community support officers are not devolved; they are part of the justice system that his Government refuses to devolve, in any part, to Wales. We will fund them here in Wales. It's no use, Llywydd, Conservative Members looking at me like a set of superannuated goldfish on the screen here, a sort of lumpendinosauriat of Welsh politics. This Government is clear; we will go on making sure that people in Wales are safe. The Conservative Party not only removed 40 per cent of police and crime officers, they robbed us of 500 police officers as well.