Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:02 pm on 13 December 2022.
The difference between us, Llywydd, is not philosophical at all; it's simply practical. He wants to take £120 million out of activity that the NHS in Wales is committed to undertake, and would use that money to pay people. That's a practical choice; our choice has had to be different because we see the enormous pressures that the NHS faces every single day. Now, I repeat what I said: all disputes in the end end by negotiation. I urge the Westminster Government to negotiate in a way that allows us in Wales to be able to do what we would wish to do, and that is to make sure that the people who carry out those front-line services, the things we rely on all the time, are properly rewarded for their service. But, without the funding that we need to be able to do that, the idea that you can dream up—and we've had it dreamed up on both sides of the Chamber this afternoon—magical solutions that say that somehow we are in a position in Wales to do something uniquely that isn't available across the border—. By raising taxes, according to the Tories—astonishing, absolutely astonishing. 'Use the powers you've got', I keep hearing from the leader of the opposition, and the powers we've got, that he points to, are to take more money in taxes from people in Wales. So, it's 'raise taxes' on one side of the Chamber, and it's 'take money away from services in the NHS' on the other. This Government has made its decision. We support all those people whose working lives have been so badly affected by a decade of austerity and the profound economic mismanagement that has led us to the position of the economy in the UK today. And when fair pay is available through the UK Government, then we will make sure that we use any of that money to advance the cause of fair pay here in Wales.