What does the budget mean for Wales?
Speech in the Senedd, November 6th 2024 Llywydd, Rachel Reeves inherited a broken economy and has begun the work of repair. This was a necessary budget. Necessary, because austerity failed. And again it has been left to a Labour Government to repair the damage. And let's remember the policy of Austerity was a political choice. Other choices were available in 2010, but the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Government chose an approach that history will show caused real harm to our country. They not only shrunk the State, but they shrunk the economy - a fall in GDP of 2% Their austerity policy made us poorer. And made key services poorer. Spending fell in real terms, per person, every year between 2010 and the start of covid. At the time an ageing population demanded greater investment in the NHS and social care, Tories flatlined spending budgets. And it was the key workers who had to absorb that through frozen wages. This Labour budget has thrown a lifeline to our frontline service...