Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:56 pm on 22 November 2022.
I welcome the Minister's statement. I sum the Westminster Government's autumn statement up as very disappointing, but not disastrous. After 12 years of Conservative Government in Westminster and a decade of austerity, the UK is in a deep recession and households are facing the biggest fall in living standards on record—the 'just managing' have become the 'just not managing'. The £1.2 billion over two years additional funding for the Welsh Government will not fill the big budget gaps. Does the Minister agree that the challenge for Welsh Government is to use the money wisely, concentrating on key outcomes, not on fiscal inputs? In a recession, the challenge is to grow the economy. That means greater concentration on high-skill, high-wage sectors and increasing skills, a move, I would suggest, to implementing endogenous growth theory. Finally, on capital, has the Minister thought of using capital receipts?