6. What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the impact the UK Government's budget will have on the ability of Welsh local authorities to deliver public services? OQ59337

Llywydd, I thank Carolyn Thomas for that question. The UK Government’s budget contained almost nothing for public services. Following a decade of Tory austerity, the latest budget continues to let down the people, communities and businesses across Wales who rely on the essential services local authorities provide.

Thank you for that answer, First Minister. Local authorities are dependent on the dedicated staff who manage and provide front-line services, day in, day out. But they are not immune to the cost-of-living crisis we all face. The Resolution Foundation has said that wage stagnation over the last 15 years means that an average household in the UK is now £11,000 worse off thanks to successive Conservative Governments. First Minister, do you agree with me that UK Government should be growing the economy by putting money into the pockets of our workforce, encouraging people into public sector jobs, and creating better working conditions with better hours? After all, the economy cannot grow without public services, planning, housing, transport and all the support services they deliver, which also take the pressure off our NHS. Thank you.

I thank Carolyn Thomas for that very important supplementary question, because she puts her finger exactly on the flaw at the heart of the current UK Government's prospectus. The Chancellor said that his was a budget for growth, but he failed to do the most basic things on which growth depends. It tells us why, since 2010 and the current run of Conservative Governments, growth in the United Kingdom economy has collapsed compared to anything that was achieved in the previous 60 years.

The two basic components of a genuine growth strategy, Llywydd, are investment in people and investment in the infrastructure that allows an economy to grow. Far, far from investing in people, as Carolyn Thomas says, families in every part of Wales are thousands of pounds worse off than they otherwise would have been had the failed and flawed policies of austerity not been followed. There was nothing for those people in the budget, the spring statement of 10 days ago.

As for investment in infrastructure, the derisory £1 million of capital investment that's been offered here in Wales means that those things that would create growth in the economy—investment in digital infrastructure, for example—all of that will be far more difficult. Carolyn Thomas has highlighted and exposed this afternoon, Llywydd, the flaws at the heart of the UK Government's strategy, and the fact that there is a prescription available for them were they to be serious about reversing the 13 years of Tory decline.