The Cost-of-living Crisis

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 2:12 pm on 9 March 2022.

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Photo of Huw Irranca-Davies Huw Irranca-Davies Labour 2:12, 9 March 2022

I'm going to—to the disappointment of many, I know—strip out the politics entirely for this. In a mature democracy across the UK, when we are faced with several crises at once—we have the climate change crisis; we have the crisis we see involving now international issues within Ukraine and the humanitarian disaster there; and we have the cost-of-living crisis, which is going to get worse, not better—it would seem to me that there is a real need for Parliaments and Governments across the UK to engage constructively, collaboratively and meaningfully, so that ideas can flow back and forth, and that there is a genuinely interactive process.

I'm just seeking from the Minister an understanding of the quality of engagement, knowing that, I have to say, even in Whitehall itself, there were difficulties as UK Ministers in speaking to the Treasury—they're quite a cold and calculated bunch—is there that quality of engagement that can give my constituents assurance that, actually, Governments are working together to resolve this cost-of-living crisis?