7. What discussions has the Minister had with her UK Government counterparts regarding cost-of-living support for local authorities? OQ58420

I have written to the Chancellor and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury setting out that cost of living and the energy crisis must be the foremost priority. There was nothing for cost-of-living support for local authorities in last week’s mini budget.

Diolch, Minister. Over the summer recess, I worked with the team at Canolfan Pentre to set up a top-up shop to support residents across Rhondda through the cost-of-living crisis. It's been heartwarming to hear that the support provided by the Welsh Government via local authorities is making a real difference to families when they visit the shop. We've heard stories in the media of children pretending to eat out of empty lunch boxes because they didn't want their friends to know there's no food at home. The new Tory Prime Minister, through the mini budget, believes the answer is to cut tax for millionaires, not to scrap bankers' bonuses, and to let energy companies keep their extortionate profits. The mini budget also does nothing for local authorities. They now have £200 million less to spend next year. It will be impossible to keep the same level of service without intervention. Will the Minister please continue to make representations to the UK Government, alongside the WLGA, for support for local authorities in Wales?

Absolutely. [Inaudible.]—the WLGA also does an excellent job in terms of trying to impress upon the UK Government the significant and very real challenges that local authorities are facing, and those challenges of course then feed into their communities and the real-world everyday lives of the people who they serve in those communities. The budget was absolutely devastating for ordinary people, and it just pushed more money to those people who just don't need it at the moment. It's a cost-of-living crisis. It was an immoral budget and I think most of us were surprised by the budget. I mean, the Conservatives behind me are moaning and groaning because they seem to think it was a good budget. They must be the only ones. I mean, we will have all seen the intervention by the Bank of England this lunch time, actually stepping in to protect the UK from its own Government. I mean, how that can be supported by the benches behind me I have no idea. And, of course, the verdict of the International Monetary Fund. Obviously, that's clearly extremely serious. It's almost unprecedented for it to make an intervention of that kind in the affairs of a G7 nation. They're absolutely extraordinary times, and it's just a shame that it is just so serious.

What you forgot to mention, finance Minister, is the £50 billion-worth of support that the UK Government announced on Wednesday of last week that local authorities will be able to benefit from, from the energy price cap. What efforts are you making available to local authorities so that they can draw down this money? And would you agree with me the best way that the UK Government can pay this money to local authorities is directly to local authorities and not, obviously, handing it over to the Welsh Government, who might end up top-slicing that money?

I'm not sure where the Conservative leader thinks that this money is coming from. There's not £50 billion being handed down by the UK Government to anyone. It's £50 billion that the UK Government is offsetting in terms of providing additional funding to the energy companies, which don't need it, which is going to be borrowed and it's going to be low-income workers who are going to be paying for that for a long time. So, it's not a case that local authorities will be drawing down any money; there is no additional money. A price cap isn't additional money.