Energy Advice

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:16 pm on 18 January 2022.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:16, 18 January 2022

(Translated)

Thank you very much to Jane Dodds, and I agree, of course. The things that we can do in the short term—and we have worked hard with local authorities in order to create the scheme that I referred to in my response to Carolyn Thomas—. It is important that that goes hand in hand with those other things that we can do in the longer term, and most of that is in the hands of the UK Government.

I said, in the letter from Julie James and Jane Hutt, that there were a number of practical steps that we suggested to the Westminster Government that they could implement, in order to help families with the problems that have arisen under their Government's stewardship. Cutting VAT on fuel is one of the recommendations contained within that letter. Some things are so long term—. In my view, it's not reasonable in the long term to increase charges in energy by raising bills that come through people's letterboxes. It's far better to pay for social and environment measures through the general taxation system. That is much fairer and much more sustainable in the longer term too.