Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 1:46 pm on 28 September 2022.
Well, just to, I suppose, finish the picture on the last question, because you did mention free ports, I should have added as well that any discussions and any agreement that we might come to, of course, would be in the same vein as our approach to free ports, where we were not willing to accept any dilution in our environmental standards or our approach to fair work. So, those things will be absolutely fundamental in any discussions that take place following the announcement by the UK Government.
But I share your concerns about the impact of the energy crisis, and the wider, now, economic turmoil, on businesses across Wales. The UK Government's announcement will go some way to supporting businesses, but I just think that giving a guarantee for six months just doesn't go, by any means, far enough, and there's a lot of uncertainty in terms of what comes after that six-month period.
Ahead of the Chancellor's mini statement, I did write to him asking for some urgent action to address the significant gaps in support for businesses, amongst other sectors, and obviously there was really nothing forthcoming for business, beyond that announcement on the energy cap from the UK Government. I think they reannounced something on the freezing of the multiplier, which was already built into their plans and our plans, so that was obviously disappointing.
Of course, we'll continue to have discussions. The representative from the CBI was at a social partners meeting on the cost-of-living crisis just this morning, with myself, the First Minister, Minister for Social Justice and others, and that was a really, really important and useful meeting. I know that my colleague Vaughan Gething meets very frequently with representatives of business as well. And of course, support for business will be right at the front of our discussions again when we meet as a group of Ministers in our next inter-ministerial group.