Speeches by Ranger.

“This Labour Government understand the importance of partnership in power. One year on, I welcome that this partnership has delivered record funding for Wales to improve our railways, protect coal tips, and boost our economy and our public services. At the general election, we rightly recognised that the Welsh fiscal fr…”

“12. What steps he is taking to improve co-operation with devolved Governments.”

“That is really good to hear. It is really important that all those voices are heard in that process, because of the learnings over the last few years, as you said. Has thought been given to the interplay of those growth funds? In my Wrexham patch, we have an investment zone, a plan for neighbourhoods, a growth zone and…”

“Thank you both for being here today. Another part of the spending review was the announcement of the replacement of the SPF with local growth funds. I know that there are discussions going on between you, MHCLG and others. I wonder where we are with those discussions, how that growth funding will be allocated, how the …”

“You were just talking about the excellent trade deals that the UK Government have done with India, the USA and the EU. Has an assessment been made of what opportunities and challenges are posed to farmers in Wales by those deals?”

“That is all excellent, positive news for our farmers. Has it presented any challenges, or are we unblocking the challenges for farmers? Is that what is happening?”

“You have touched on this, but how does the Wales Office work effectively to ensure that Welsh interests are represented in the trade deals that are done? Are you satisfied that those interests have been protected in the said deals?”

“I am really pleased to hear you mention SMEs. We are all probably hearing about the support they need to make our communities have vitality and improve our high streets. It is really good to hear that that is a strong focus. Thank you very much.”

“That comes neatly on to a point I want to ask about. Given the complex nature of how we collect taxes across the UK and in the devolved nations, do we have any kind of accurate picture of the tax revenue generated in Wales as a whole, regardless of where it is collected and where it ends up? I will start with you, Davi…”

“Great, thank you. Guto Ifan, please?”

“Just to add to that, in terms of the impact on the Welsh Government from those events, most of their funding comes from the UK Government, but obviously there is an impact from the ageing population in Wales in particular. That always gets talked about—the older, sicker population in Wales. What will the continuing eff…”

“You touched on the next point there that I wanted to address. We have had events such as the covid-19 pandemic. We have had to increase defence spending in reaction to world events that have happened recently. Those are massive changes to Government fiscal plans at quite short notice. How difficult are the choices the …”

“On the second part of the question, will it give the Government the ability to deliver the public service improvements? They have clearly started on them; the improvements are already starting to be delivered. Does the window give them the chance to do that in the long term, or are there the same constraints that you m…”

“The spending review sets out funding for the Welsh Government up to the ’28-29 financial year for day-to-day spending and up to ’29-30 for investment spending. Does that timeframe afford the Welsh Government sufficient opportunity to plan and deliver their objectives, and is a four-year window for spending adequate to …”

“Thank you all for joining us today. The spending review sets out day-to-day funding for the Welsh Government up to the ’28-29 financial year and investment spending up until ’29-30. Does that timeframe give the Welsh Government sufficient opportunity to deliver their objectives? Is the four-year window for spending ade…”

“Let’s say that we approach those things that you have just spoken about and increase Wales’s economic output to close that fiscal gap. As a rough guess, how long would it take to close the fiscal gap?”

“All right, thank you. Dr Evans?”

“Good afternoon, all of you. Thank you for joining us today. I want to look at the replacements for the EU structural funds that we used to receive in this country. We have had a very tumultuous period of funding changing, with the SPF coming in and the current Government now announcing the local growth funding. I would…”

“That is great. Thank you very much.”

“We have discussed in quite some depth today the challenges that are being faced across the higher education sector and the particularly concerning decline in participation of Welsh young people in higher education. How confident are you that the current financial crisis is temporary and the sector can recover? How do w…”