, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Minister for Economy
Yes. I noticed you were wearing a friendship badge between Wales and Germany at yesterday's—.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Minister for Economy
I hope you're not following her example.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Minister for Economy
—than at any other time in our lifetimes. We've seen decades of trade liberalisation promoted by reducing barriers to trade, and now we're seeing barriers erected. That's going to have an impact, of course, on Welsh exporters, but also people who import from…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Minister for Economy
I'm interested in your approach to trade. Brexit, of course, has erected more barriers to trade—
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Minister for Economy
Of course they do. Eventually they do.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Minister for Economy
My concern is that you're able to give a more thoughtful response in terms of considering the issues, rather than simply pursuing a conversation this afternoon, in looking at some of the consequences of this. That's probably best handled by correspondence…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Minister for Economy
I'm interested in this subject. I think it's really important to understand the real-world impact of spending decisions. And it might be useful, rather than continue along this conversation this afternoon, if the Minister were to write to the committee…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Minister for Economy
It is, it is. Let me ask you two questions, to test that a bit further. You've already said that, I think it is, the green business loan scheme is oversubscribed, so that's clearly going to have an impact, given some of the decisions you're looking at taking…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Minister for Economy
And I would agree with you on that. I think it has been a success, and I think the programmes you've just described have all been successful, but we are seeing reductions, of course, and my question was, 'How do you see the future?' Because it is difficult, I…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Minister for Economy
Thank you very much. What's the future for business support in this budget?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Minister for Economy
—I certainly will, don't worry—in terms of property investment and other sorts of infrastructure investment, if you like, to create a business environment that is viable in and around the Heads of the Valleys. But the whole investment in that road, as you…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Minister for Economy
The Minister's pre-empted my question to him in next Tuesday's statement on the Heads of the Valleys—[Laughter.]—
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Minister for Economy
—there are parts of the country that require greater support than other parts of the country; that's accepted. So, how are you ensuring that those parts of Wales that have greater economic need, where the market is not delivering the sort of investment that…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Minister for Economy
I'm grateful to you, Chair, thank you. Thank you, Minister. I'm interested in how you have looked at the impact of these spending decisions. You referred, in one of your answers to the Chair, to the support that the Welsh Government is providing to a company…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
But it's also true to say that we've allowed the UK Government to get away with being an England Government, I think, historically. You look at VisitBritain. It's largely visit London, Stratford and Edinburgh, possibly—it's not VisitBritain at all. And in the…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Thank you. I'm grateful to you. I understand the context of difficult decisions and the rest of it, but it's really worrying to hear the description of the sorts of cuts that you're looking at making in some of these areas. I'm not convinced that you can do…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
That's why I think correspondence is a better way to do it.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Yes. I was interested by the point that Sam made, actually, about inflation, because, looking through the budget, it's clearly influenced by the wider macro-economic climate and it may be easier, I should say at the beginning, if this is dealt with by…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
I was quoting.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
I'm grateful to you for that, Minister. I've got an e-mail in front of me from a farmer in my constituency. I won't read the whole e-mail, Members will be pleased to hear, but what my constituent says is, he's asking the question how much of the public…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
—under European payments. So, the impact of Brexit, of course, has put farmers on the front line in a way that they never have been in our memory, really. So, there are debates taking place today, and we see them in the Chamber and we see them elsewhere, that…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd
Thank you, Chair. The Chair asks a really interesting question, doesn't he—how are you fighting for the budget? When I was the agriculture Minister, of course, I didn't need to fight for a budget because it was protected—
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: evidence session with the Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism and the Minister for Economy
[Inaudible.]
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: evidence session with the Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism and the Minister for Economy
So, what is the plan?
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: evidence session with the Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism and the Minister for Economy
I'm not disputing that. We had that conversation yesterday in the Chamber, to some extent. But I do think that the Government as a whole, and not simply this department, has a wider, more profound responsibility for these matters.
