First Minister Mark Drakeford has issued a scathing response to Jeremy Hunt's budget statement, in which the new Chancellor overturned almost all the policies announced by Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng when they came into power. His comments followed the announcement that the energy support scheme would be cut back from April 2023 and that the planned income tax cuts would be scrapped. You can follow the latest from the House of Commons this afternoon with our live blog here.
The First Minister tweeted: "The Chancellor’s actions will shrink the economy causing a deeper, longer lasting recession. We will all pay the price for their failures." He added: "Although we're unable to protect people fully against these proposed cuts, we'll continue to do all we can to help you through this crisis."
The Welsh Government has announced policies previously including a £200 winter fuel payment. When the mini budget measures were first announced, Mr Drakeford didn't agree with them, saying: "The UK Government should be offering meaningful support to those who need it the most. Instead, they’re giving tax cuts to the rich, bonuses to bankers and protecting the eye-watering profits of energy companies."
Some of the policies he criticised, such as the scrapping of the additional rate of income tax, had already been rolled back by Ms Truss' government. Additionally, the Mirror reported shortly after Mr Hunt's announcement that the cap on bankers' bonuses, not mentioned in the statement, will still be scrapped.
Rebecca Evans, the Welsh Government's minister for finance and local government, also hit out at the UK Government's "reckless and flawed" approach. She said: "The complete unravelling of the mini-budget shows the chaos at the heart of the UK Government.
"In the space of six short weeks the UK Government’s reckless and flawed economic policy has caused mayhem in the financial markets, pushed up mortgage costs and stretched household budgets even further. Now the UK Government is rolling back on its energy price support scheme for households, something that will only add to the uncertainty people are facing as they worry about paying their bills."
The word "austerity" wasn't mentioned in Mr Hunt's statement, but he did say that every Government department will need to "redouble their efforts to find savings," and said that "some areas of spending will need to be cut." Ms Evans added: "The new Chancellor has signalled a new era of austerity to start to fill the hole in public finances.
"We will all pay for the government’s mistakes. But this is a crisis made in Downing Street and one it needs to address.
"The Chancellor needs to use his next financial statement to provide reassurance we will not see the deep spending cuts that will affect jobs, services and our economy – and to provide support to vulnerable households who have been ignored today."
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