Budget Resolutions

Llinos Medi Excerpts

Wednesday 30th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Llinos Medi (Ynys Môn) (PC)]

Diolch, Dirprwy Lefarydd. Today, the Chancellor had the opportunity for a transformative change, but she decided to give with one hand and take with another. Plaid Cymru recognises the terrible financial legacy inherited from the Conservatives, but this was not the way to fix it. There was no fairer funding formula for Wales, no sign of the £4 billion-worth of High Speed 2 consequentials owed to Wales, no devolution of the Crown Estate and no U-turn on the winter fuel allowance or an end to the cruel two-child benefit cap.

The Government could have tried to spread the pain with a bigger contribution by the very richest through a wealth tax, for example. Instead, the increase to national insurance will punish businesses and make it harder for them to create well-paid jobs. The Budget document suggests that there is an allowance for public sector organisations. I would appreciate some clarity from the Minister as to what that allowance entails and what constitutes a public sector organisation. Crucially, austerity will continue for some of the most vulnerable in our society, through failing to help the 540,000 pensioners in Wales to keep warm this winter and refusing to bring an end to the two-child cap in Wales, where a third of our children live in poverty.

There is little in the Budget that fixes the foundations for Wales. The uplift to the block grant will not rebalance Wales’s fiscal settlement. Welsh councils alone face a £559 million budget gap in 2025-26. I am afraid that the changes to rules on inheritance will seriously threaten Welsh family farms, which are the backbone of our rural economy. In opposition, the Labour party supported Plaid Cymru’s call for the £4 billion owed to Wales in rail funds. It criticised the previous Government for failing to give clarity on the Wylfa project in my constituency, yet in government it is repeating the same errors.

We welcome that Westminster is finally beginning to address coal tip safety. This is a long-standing issue that pre-dates devolution. This is an important first step in tackling its environmental impact, but communities will continue to suffer without meaningful efforts to create jobs and prosperity. I urge both the Welsh and UK Governments to develop a strategy that not only addresses safety and environmental concerns, but breathes life into local economies. That would be true, lasting co-operation.

Plaid Cymru will scrutinise every line of Labour’s Budget, because Wales deserves more than broken promises. We demand a fair deal.