First Minster questioned over funding ‘shortfall’

Local TV

The relationship between UK and Welsh Labour is growing more and more complicated. Eluned Morgan is increasingly having to either argue against or stick up for the Prime Minister over decisions that are creating funding problems here in Wales, and opposition parties are pressing her hard.

Transcript

00:00A little under a year ago, Labour was voted into power in Westminster, and for the first time in

00:06over a decade, we had the same party leading on both ends of the M4. It was supposed to be a great

00:11deal for Wales, with two governments supposedly working alongside each other, and a voice for

00:15Wales in the Prime Minister's ear that we hadn't had for some time. Fast forward to now, and it

00:20seems that that certainly hasn't come to fruition, with the Welsh Government seemingly constantly

00:25having to either argue against the UK Government, or take the brunt of their decisions here

00:30in Wales. Recent national insurance hikes have meant, in simple terms, Wales is paying more

00:36out of our budget than England, as we have a higher proportion of public sector workers.

00:40Something, alongside a few other issues that have arisen, the Plaid Cymru leader, Sreenath

00:45Yodworth, isn't happy about. We now face a shortfall of more than £70 million. It's a Labour tax

00:52on Wales. And secondly, confirmation that we have another HS2 on our hands, with the Labour

01:00UK Government designating the new, multi-billion pound Oxford to Cambridge rail project as an

01:06England and Wales project too. You could not make this up.

01:10I made it clear to the Chancellor, I made it clear to the Prime Minister that we will continue

01:14to make the case for the entire costs of national insurance to be covered for the public sector

01:21in Wales. When it comes to rail infrastructure, I think he probably needs a little lesson on

01:25how the Welsh devolution settlement works. So, rail infrastructure is not devolved to Wales.

01:33You might want it devolved, but that is the situation it is in at the moment.

01:38It feels like all of the issues that have been building up over the last few months are coming

01:41home all at once, including some fresh problems arising in rail funding.

01:45Elyna Edmorgan, though, says she's speaking up for Wales against her UK party.

01:49Let's call it this week a quadruple whammy. Saying one thing and voting another way on the

01:55two-child benefit cap. Leaving Wales short-changed to the tune of £70 million on national insurance.

02:02Designating the Oxford-Cambridge railway project, an England and Wales scheme denying us hundreds

02:08of millions of pounds in funding. Again, another HS2. And finally, we've also now seen the cancelling

02:15of the only public consultation session in Wales on the future of personal independence payments.

02:21It seems that Labour has utterly given up on Wales, so it's little wonder that Wales is giving up on Labour.

02:29I've made it clear where I am disappointed with the UK government, but I will say once again,

02:36that actually we've had the biggest uplift we've ever had in the history of devolution,

02:40and you, and you voted against it. You voted against that additional money for pot holes,

02:48additional money for the NHS, additional money for education, all of those things.

02:54You tried to block that money going into your communities.

02:58Please.

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