Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 1:49 pm on 22 March 2023.

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Photo of Rebecca Evans Rebecca Evans Labour 1:49, 22 March 2023

I'm really keen to impress upon UK Labour the same argument that we've been making to HM Treasury in terms of the fiscal flexibilities that Wales needs. Our borrowing powers are not fit for purpose, really, in the sense that we have such a limited annual ability to borrow. I think that that obviously needs to be addressed. The year-end issues really need to be addressed in the sense that our budget often changes very late on in the year and there are some real limitations on carry-over, so it does potentially lead you to taking spending decisions at the end of the year that might not be the decisions that you would make if you had the ability to carry that funding over into the next financial year. Again, that's just a simple thing I think that the UK Government could do, which would be a common-sense approach to the issues that we're facing. Obviously, we're having the opportunities to make representations to the UK Government. I don't think it's going to be making piecemeal announcements. As the First Minister said yesterday, they will obviously be considering the production of the manifesto for the next election. Certainly, I don't think that this would be the appropriate place for me to be making announcements on behalf of UK Labour in terms of what they would intend to do for a future UK Government.