The Cost-of-living Crisis

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:48 pm on 11 October 2022.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:48, 11 October 2022

Llywydd, the nonsense that we are somehow—although we are on a very, very long list of other people the Prime Minister has identified as apparently not sharing her view of the world. The Welsh economy, in the figures that the Office for National Statistics published in September, grew faster last year than any other nation of the United Kingdom. So, by what possible yardstick the Prime Minister believes that we are opposed to growth, I have no idea at all. We know—and certainly Ken Skates, in his previous responsibilities, did a great deal to contribute to this—the ingredients that make for growth. It's investment by the public and the private sectors to make sure that people who are carrying out jobs in the Welsh and the UK economy have the best possible equipment at their disposal, and it's investment in skills so that the people we have are as equipped as they can be as well to make their greatest contribution to the economy. 

The idea that the United Kingdom, which is already a low tax, deregulated economy, far in excess of much more successful economies elsewhere, needs more of that as a path to growth—there is no evidence for it and there's no confidence in it, not just by opposition political parties but by markets right around the world.