Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:41 pm on 7 March 2017.
Carwyn Jones
Labour
1:41,
7 March 2017
That is a very strong case indeed for borrowing now to invest for the future. It’s never been cheaper to borrow money on the world markets. We know from the experience after the end of the second world war, when the UK was in a far worse position than it is now financially, that the Government of the day took the position that it would seek to borrow money in order to invest for the future. Then, we saw, of course, the economic growth of the 1950s and the 1960s. So, I am unashamedly Keynesian in this regard. I take the view that Government should be borrowing now in order to invest, in order to create the income that will pay back the cost of that borrowing and more in the future.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
