6. Statement by the Minister for Finance and Local Government: Response to the UK Government Autumn Statement and Economic and Fiscal Forecasts

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:04 pm on 22 November 2022.

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Photo of Rebecca Evans Rebecca Evans Labour 4:04, 22 November 2022

I agree with Joyce Watson on that particular point. But, yes, I think that it's all very well quoting some selective facts, but, no, it is an absolute fact that the mini-budget cost this country, cost all of us, everybody in Wales, billions of pounds, and that is an absolute fact. That was just a direct result of the absolute arrogance of the people who were making those decisions at the time. We all have to make—[Interruption.] They're gone, but they've left an awful long tail of trouble behind them. And, you know, the International Monetary Fund had plenty to say about the UK Government's mini-budget as well. It's absolutely extraordinary for them to intervene in the way that they did, so I think that that judgment there is very clear as well. We can look at the way in which the various economies have been moving, but we're entering a recession now in a worse place than any other G7 country; we're the only one that hasn't recovered its pre-pandemic levels of national income and employment, so clearly we're in a much worse place to ride out what is a storm that is being felt in different ways in different places.