The UK Government's Budget

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:08 pm on 21 March 2023.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Huw Irranca-Davies Huw Irranca-Davies Labour 2:08, 21 March 2023

First Minister, as you know, it always takes a few hours, a few days, for the dust to settle on the magic around any budget statement at the despatch box, but we now know that the International Monetary Fund has said we will have, in the year ahead, the weakest position of all G7 nations. We will have, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility, the highest fall in the standard of living since records began, Andrew R.T. Davies—your Government. In real terms, we are £900 million down on what was set out in the 2021 spending review. And to top it all, they've given us the whopping great uplift of £1 million in capital spend. I was standing on the side of an AstroTurf pitch with Sarah Murphy last night where £0.75 million had been spent on that one pitch. We've got £1 million to spend across the whole of Wales. Thank you very much indeed. First Minister, would you agree that this is genuinely, truly, bar none, the worst budget settlement for Wales that we have ever seen?