7. Plaid Cymru Debate: A four-day working week

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:15 pm on 22 September 2021.

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Photo of Gareth Davies Gareth Davies Conservative 5:15, 22 September 2021

Thank you very much, Llywydd. It's a pleasure to take part in this debate this afternoon. Although I don't agree with it, I think it's important to bring all aspects of the debate to the table. I think it's interesting that in the midst of a global pandemic, a European energy crisis and worldwide food shortages, not to say anything about domestic health and care problems, Plaid Cymru have chosen this debate on the merits of a social experiment—or I might have to say, a socialist experiment. Not that this place could implement Plaid's four-day week utopia, as this is a matter reserved for the UK Parliament. I read the TUC briefing yesterday, and it essentially asked what the potential pitfalls of a four-day week were, and it said that the Senedd doesn't have the power to legislate over the maximum hours someone can work, nor can it raise the minimum wage to balance out the financial loss if an employer lowered their employees' hours without a corresponding rise in hourly pay, and the Senedd doesn't have the power to change any of the rules around universal credit, which requires many claimants to work or search for work for 35 hours per week or risk sanction. But—