Plaid Cymru secure meeting with UK Government to discuss Chancellor’s Autumn Budget
Emily Price
Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader has secured a meeting with the UK Government to discuss the Chancellor’s upcoming Autumn Budget and how it will impact Wales.
During Wales Questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday (October 29), Dwyfor Meirionnydd MP Liz Saville Roberts called for next month’s UK Budget to meet the appetite for “real change” shown in the recent Caerphilly by-election.
The contest was won by Plaid’s Lindsay Whittle last week, pushing Reform UK into second place and the Labour Party into a distant third.
Tribute
Saville Roberts paid tribute to the late Hefin David whose sudden death triggered the October 23 contest for his Senedd seat.
The seat had been held by Labour in Westminster since 1918 and in Wales’ Parliament since devolution.
Plaid Cymru’s historic win saw Whittle gain 47.4% of the vote, ahead of Reform UK on 36%, while Labour’s vote share collapsed to 11%.
Speaking in the Commons, Ms Saville Roberts warned that the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget risked falling short of tackling poverty and lack of opportunities in Wales.
She said: “Please allow me first to congratulate Lindsay Whittle on his seismic victory in Caerphilly.
“And in doing so, I pay tribute to the late Hefin David, whose service to his community was deeply respected. As Mr Whittle has said: ‘He will be a hard act to follow. I will never fill his shoes, but I promise I will walk the same path that he did.’
“The result, Mr Speaker, showed that people in Wales seek real change. In her capacity Secretary of State of the Wales Office, what measures is she taking to press the Labour Chancellor to include measures that benefit Wales in the Autumn Budget?”
Cuts
The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has hinted that both tax rises and spending cuts are options as she aims to give herself more financial breathing space in her November Budget.
In response, Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens congratulated Lindsay Whittle, adding she wouldn’t “comment on discussions between myself and the Chancellor”.
Plaid’s Westminster leader added: “Nonetheless, we all know that the autumn budget risks falling short of tackling the deep poverty and the lack of opportunities that still scar far too many Welsh communities.
“We need to tax income from wealth fairly, scrap the two-child limit, and ensure that families have the support they need to cope with rising costs.
“She tells me to wait for the Budget, would she therefore be prepared to meet with me to discuss Plaid Cymru’s proposals for a fairer, more ambitious UK Budget – one that actually works for Wales?”
The Secretary of State responded: “I’m very happy to meet the Right Honourable Lady.”
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Not sure what talks Jo is having regarding Wales, but I think it will be no more than 3 words around the gist of ‘can’t be bothered’.
Amir, all the discussions centre on more funding for Wales, even Plaid https://www.partyof.wales/manifesto Cardiff has too much funding that it has not utilised https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cardiff-capital-region-backed-by-30m-to-unlock-innovation-and-growth Globally there are massive shortages of well-paid engineering roles in engineering that can be based anywhere in the world. Network Rail funded the creation of one of Indias largest project management organisations https://mpplindia.in/ The lead now works for https://aarvee.co.uk/ who are delivering projects in South-East Asian Australia and Sub-Saharan Africa; they are struggling to cope with workload. Wales needs to look at non-UK opportunities; Republic of Ireland has a Euro 29 billion upgrade of its’ rail… Read more »
Get APD devolved. The Internal Market Act now protects Bristol so there’s no excuse.
Buzby, APD focuses on holiday makers. The last thing the Welsh economy needs is dozen of daily flights to holiday resorts; well-managed airports attract airlines from outside their region to bring business people on city breaks / attend networking events / invest in the region. Doubling the capacity on KLMs Cardiff to Amsterdam / attracting a flight to another European city is crucial to Wales growth. Bristol Airport has lost all Star Alliance flights to Frankfurt, Zurich and Athens if I recall correctly. Airlines look at which regions are expanding. April 1999 I supported Air Canada selling assets to Lufthansa,… Read more »
APD applies to all flights. It’s likely that there wouldn’t be any deviation from the current arrangements for short-haul to avoid unfair competition with Bristol so you’re safe from economically useless Balearic destinations. The opportunity is in long haul, to attract visitors and investors from further afield including Canada.
Agreed on Canada. June 1999 Air Canada launched flights from Montreal to Lyon and Canadian organisations opened offices in Lyon. Now Lyons economy is growing. June 1999 Air Transat (not a leisure airline, as has a business class and lots of wealthy clientele) launched Montreal to Nice and bought hotels (with Delta Airways – launched Nice flights June 2000 and Nice’s best hotel) mid-way between Nice and St Tropez. Nice has a strong leisure and business economy. Wales’ Terry Matthews has businesses in Canada and Wales; he could sell a stake of Celtic Connections hotel chain to Air Canada, Senedd… Read more »
It will come to nothing Liebour do not care about Wales same as the Tories can you remember the H S 2 debacle Scotland and Northern Ireland had a couple billion pounds each Wales got ZERO liebour in oposistion Walesshould have it they said move foreword they then said no Liebour have more faces than big Ben they are all WEE AND WIND Liebour M P,s are supposed to fight for Wales in Parliament WELSH LIEBOUR M P,s ARE COWARS TRAITORS AND QUISLINGS vote PLAID and get out of the disunited kingdom
“Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader has secured a meeting with the UK Government….” Wow, I’m really surprised the UK government can spare the time to discuss Welsh issues! Whatever is discussed we can almost guarantee the answer will be a “No”.
Liz does know that whatever Jo Stevens says has to be taken with a severe pinch of salt right? She’s effectively the enemy as she’s demonstrated on countless occasions.
It’s like when you have a disagreement at work, you don’t run to HR (Jo Stevens) you run to your Union rep instead (in this case it’s supposed to be the First Minister of Wales) and get direct talks with the Chancellor. Like HR, Jo Steven’s interests are only in benefiting either her re-election chances or Westminster.