6. What assessment has the First Minister made of the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on people in Wales? OQ61321

Research and analysis has shown that communities across Wales have experienced the biggest fall in living standards since records began as a result of the cost-of-living crisis. This analysis has informed how the Welsh Government has prioritised its spending to target support for the most vulnerable households. As I set out in response to John Griffiths earlier, that has meant approximately £5 billion of support over the last two years here in Wales.

Diolch, First Minister. I'm a member of the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers, which has recently released results from its latest cost-of-living survey, highlighting how the Tories' cost-of-living crisis has hit working people. Three quarters of respondents feel worse off than they were at the last General Election, with 72 per cent struggling to pay energy Bills, 62 per cent having taken out loans to pay everyday bills, and 45 per cent unable to keep up with repayments. This Welsh Labour Government is doing all that it can to help people in Wales, but with so many being unable to make ends meet, how would you work with an incoming UK Labour Government to deliver that new deal for working people our country so desperately needs?

I thank the Member for the question and for highlighting the USDAW cost-of-living survey. I go back to some points that I made earlier: food prices are still up 31 per cent compared to three years ago, energy prices are still up 53 per cent compared to three years ago. As I say, for families in middle income groups, that's a challenge; for our lower income families, that's an extraordinary challenge and it highlights why so many people are taking extraordinary measures to try to cope with day-to-day expenditure.

It again highlights, though, the need to not just have more work, but to have better work, and that's why the new deal for working people, the plan to make work pay, is so important. We need to grow the economy and grow the quality of work within our economy. It's why I'm so excited about our renewable opportunities, because it is the right thing to do for the planet to help to generate more of our own renewable energy. But actually, it's the jobs that go alongside that in communities, the wider supply chain, that is so much of an exciting opportunity around this. That's why I brought energy into the economy department, because I think it makes sense to have the two together. That work and cross-over should inform what we are able to do and the partnership of what we could do with a UK Labour Government. That national wealth fund proposal would have huge significance—the investment in ports would quadruple the current offer. I think all of these things don't just matter to coastal communities; it's how we build an economy for the future where we really can make work pay.

And also—I'll make this final point—social care is a challenge for all of us across the UK. One of the areas that we are committed to, in the UK offer of a new deal for working people, is to try to have fair pay agreements, with social care being the first area. Because if we can do something on a much broader basis to have a bigger agreement on what pay could and should look like in that sector, it'll raise the bar for hundreds of thousands of workers—well over 100,000 workers in Wales. We've already implemented the real living wage here in Wales; we need to make sure that is then kept pace with. Extra spend in England will make a big difference for us, but crucially, it'll make a big difference to those people, most of whom are women, in relatively low-paid work, the dignity in their labour, in the labour of people in the retail sector and more, and in making sure they're properly paid. That is another reason why it is well worth voting for change on 4 July.