Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:38 pm on 4 October 2022.
Mark Drakeford
Labour
1:38,
4 October 2022
Llywydd, of course the Welsh Government will do that, but the whole of this Senedd should do that. There are real questions for the Conservatives in this Chamber this afternoon. Do they defend the Prime Minister's wish not to increase benefits in line with inflation? What will that do to people in Blaenau Gwent, already living on bare-bones benefits, when she is prepared to lift the cap on bankers' bonuses but not prepared to provide a guarantee that the manifesto, on which those MPs were elected, that manifesto promise, she will not guarantee that that will be kept? [Interruption.] I look to you this afternoon—I look forward to hearing from the Leader of the Opposition when he has his chance to be on his feet rather than shouting from where he is sitting. Let him tell us this afternoon that the Conservatives in this Chamber will add their voice to Penny Mordaunt's, and other Conservative MPs, refusing to sign up to the Prime Minister's ambition to cut the benefits of people who already have almost nothing to live on. Llywydd, will they say it this afternoon? We'll say it, and other people in this Chamber will say it. Will they say this afternoon that they are not prepared—that they are not prepared—that the cost of funding unfunded tax cuts will be in cuts to public services—. Are you prepared to say this afternoon that, for people in Wales who rely on public services, teachers in the classroom, nurses in the wards, people waiting on housing lists, are you prepared to say this afternoon that you will add your voice to protect them? I see that you don't. I see that you don't. Alun Davies, I'll tell you this: this Government will raise our voice to make sure that those people are defended—people in Blaenau Gwent and people right across Wales. They will look to see whether there is any opportunity that Conservatives in Wales will do the right thing by them, but I can see already this afternoon that they're likely to wait a very long time before there's any sign of that.
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.
The "Leader of the Opposition" is head of "Her Majesty's Official Opposition". This position is taken by the Leader of the party with the 2nd largest number of MPs in the Commons.
The Conservatives are a centre-right political party in the UK, founded in the 1830s. They are also known as the Tory party.
With a lower-case ‘c’, ‘conservative’ is an adjective which implies a dislike of change, and a preference for traditional values.