Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:38 pm on 22 November 2022.
Okay. So, I would be interested, Minister, if you could outline exactly what Labour's plan is. How would a Labour Government tackle the erosive effects of inflation, which make the cost-of-living crisis worse, and bring down the national debt? Deputy Presiding Officer, there are, of course, things to be welcomed in the autumn statement, which will very much help people in these difficult times. Because, listening to the Minister's statement, you'd never think that there were positives, which people would welcome, and that the Welsh Government actually wanted. No reference at all in the statement, in these announcements, is there to those helpful things that can help the most vulnerable in society, such as the uprating of benefits and the state pension in line with inflation, as well as the significant increase in national living and national minimum wages; the £900 payment to those on means-tested benefits; the £300 payment to pensioner households; the £150 for those on disability benefit. But whilst the Minister says that the UK Government could have proposed more cost-of-living support, so too could the Welsh Government, and this is another thing that was missing from the Minister's statement.
So, Minister, what consideration have you given to using some of the consequentials provided to Wales through the autumn statement to uplift devolved grants to give people additional support? And, on the subject of consequential funding, could you explain how you are planning to allocate this in the upcoming budget? For example, will you direct the majority of further support for health and education and local government sectors, which, as you know, are under significant strain at the moment, or are you planning to spread the additional funding more evenly across departments?
Finally, Deputy Presiding Officer, I would like to briefly touch upon the supply side reforms that were announced by the Chancellor, which are important to get our economy moving once again. That is, changes to regulations in the five growth industries, including advance manufacturing and green industries, to better support the introduction of growth of new and emerging sectors, as well as looking at using investment zones to encourage research and development growth.
I would be interested to know what discussions you are planning on having with the Treasury on the role that Wales already plays in hosting and growing such technologies, and how both Governments can work together to ensure that any such reforms work in the Welsh context as well as a UK context, so that we can better direct investment and ensure that all our communities can feel the benefits of this. Thank you.