Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:32 pm on 11 October 2022.
Well, Llywydd, I give the Member an assurance that the Welsh Government will do everything within our powers to protect people in Blaenau Gwent and in other parts of Wales from the onslaught that is coming our way. Llywydd, I don't think it is possible to overstate the seriousness facing the UK economy today. Last night, the pound slipped further on international markets, and when the Bank of England intervene and put out a statement to say that the reason they are having to intervene is because there is a 'material risk' to the UK's financial stability—the Bank of England chooses every single word with the utmost care and caution—that is not an off-the-cuff remark, Llywydd; that is a statement of the Bank of England signalling to everybody else just how serious the position is for the United Kingdom economy.
Jim Pickard, the very respected journalist for the Financial Times, who used to cover Wales as part of his beat, summed it up last night, when asked what does all this mean, and he said it will mean these three things: mortgage rates will keep soaring, Government borrowing costs will spike, and pension funds will head back into the crisis zone. And the IFS's estimate this morning of a £60 billion cut in a single year in public expenditure means real, real cuts here in Wales. They estimate a 15 per cent cut in departmental budgets. Llywydd, a 15 per cent cut to the Welsh Government budget would be something unheard of in the deepest days of austerity, and I just want to say as seriously as I can today that if we face cuts on that scale, we are talking about thousands and thousands of people losing their jobs in public services across Wales, with all the impact that that will have on the lives of those people who rely on those services. We are facing the most serious consequences of the decisions made only a couple of weeks ago. And the answer is that the UK Government must—must—change course. It must do what Rishi Sunak said needed to be done during the leadership election with Liz Truss. What did he say? 'If we are not the party of sound money, I don't see the point of the Conservative Party.' And there's no sound money anywhere to be found under the Liz Truss Government.