Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:51 pm on 15 November 2022.
Sir Keir has said that the single most important thing he could do for striking workers is to usher in a Labour Government. And, yes, if that was a radical Government that can help deliver fairer funding for Wales and greater fairness all round through the kinds of progressive changes that our party's Westminster leader, Liz Saville Roberts, is proposing through her Tax Reform Commission Bill, it could make a very important difference to our lives. But in Wales, we need not usher in a Labour Government, we already have one. And it's the Welsh Labour Government that nurses, in a few weeks, joined soon by teachers, probably, will be striking against. To avoid the labour movement effectively being in dispute with the Government led by a party that shares its name, can the First Minister say if the option of using the income tax powers that we have in a progressive way, including, if necessary, the basic rate, is something that you will at least explore to avoid the hyper austerity that is quite probably soon to be meted upon us?