Borrowing Powers

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:25 pm on 18 October 2022.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:25, 18 October 2022

Well, Llywydd, I was glad that there was a telephone call from the Chief Secretary to the Treasury to our finance Minister earlier this week, explaining the series of changes that the Chancellor has made to the things that we were being told would happen only last week. And I'm told that the Finance: Interministerial Standing Committee—the meeting of finance Ministers—planned for 20 October, is going to go ahead. So, I think that is a good sign of a more positive approach to engagement by the new team at the Treasury. Where we're able to, we will, of course, go on making the case that we've made for some time. I was responsible for the negotiation of the fiscal framework with the then Chief Secretary to the Treasury, David Gauke. Since then, the cash in the Welsh Government's budget has gone up by 40 per cent, but all the figures that were negotiated in 2016 have remained fixed where they were then. So, they were designed to enable the Welsh Government to handle better the fiscal responsibilities that they have—it's the annual borrowing limit, it's the aggregate borrowing limit, it's the amount of money we can put into and take out of the Welsh reserve. These are absolutely practical things designed to make best use of public money, and yet, we are stuck with figures that were right over five years ago, but certainly, are not right for the budget that we have today.

The IWA's publication draws attention to all of that and suggests a different basis for Welsh Government borrowing. Our ability to borrow is capped on an annual basis and on an aggregate basis by the UK Government. The IWA paper suggests a prudential borrowing approach for the Welsh Government, which would mean that we would be in the same place as Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council—it doesn't have an artificial limit on the amount of capital that it can borrow; it has to demonstrate that its borrowing is affordable and prudent, and then it's allowed to borrow what it can afford. It just doesn't seem sensible that that ability is there for local authorities but denied to the Welsh Government, and we go on making the case for reform, and we'll do it with the latest set of Ministers at the Treasury.