Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 1:44 pm on 22 March 2023.
Diolch yn fawr iawn, Llywydd. Minister, the Barnett formula all too often ends up being a rather convenient reason, some would say, for the Welsh Government to delay implementing transformative policies. The most recent case in point, maybe, relates to public sector pay here in Wales. Because we do know that, very often, the lack of action in England leaves Welsh Ministers sitting on their hands—you would say, 'having to sit on our hands', I'd imagine. Do you agree that the recent UK Government budget and the continued fiasco around HS2 funding, and now the even more absurd decision on no consequential funding to Wales from the Northern Powerhouse Rail work, has again underlined what Plaid Cymru has long advocated—that we need to move away from the current arrangement to a needs-based funding formula, delivered through an independent office of fair funding, which would have a legal obligation to deliver a fairer economic balance across the nations and regions of the UK, legally bound to ensure that public money delivers equality of outcomes right across the United Kingdom?