 Rhaid i gael, Moridag. Thank you very much for joining me this morning. Ydyma'n gwneud ychydig i fy mod i gael ychydig i'r cychwynedd yn ychydig ar gyfer y maen nhw'n gweithio ychydig o arddangos y tirmoyol ar y UK Government's mini budget o'r gwaith. Rhaid i'n gweithio i chi gwybodaeth, cwrs mae'n credu ei wneud, ddiolch i ddweud i gwybod i gŵl yma wnghwyl. Roedd y budget yn gweithio'r gweithio cyflawni, roeddwn i'n gweithio i wneud i gweithio'r economi, ac yn ymchwil argynno'r cyfrannu. Mae'n bwysig o'r bwysigol ar gyfer o'r gyfnod ac mae'n bwysigol yw'r cyfrannu i gael yma oherwydd y cyfrannu cyfrannu. Ymwneud o'r gyfrannu gyfrannu o bwysigol yn ei gael y process yn hynny, ac mae'n gweithio gael eich bod yn y bwysigol yma. Ond yma, wrth gwrs, rwy'n teimlo i'r bwysigol yn eu cyfrannu yma ac yn y rhai rai cyfrannu cyfrannu dillwn i'r mynd i'r gweithiau, dwi'n deithas i ffyrddau ymddangos iawn i amdweithio'r ffordd yng Nghymru, wedi bydd yw'r newid ffondi'r ffondi. Rwy'n cael y byddwch yn ei gwrthigau'r gweithiau yng Nghymru a'r bydiau'r gweithio'r gweithio. Os yw'r gweithio, y mae'r ysgolwyr yn ymdweithio a'n gyfrofenniol yn gweithio'r gweithio'r ddechrau. sydd wedi'u gweithio'r Prif Weiniddoedd's economic policies into action. Yn ystod o'r ffordd o'r newid o gweithio, mae'r ffordd o'r ffordd o'r ffordd o'r mayhem a'r caos. Y Bank of England was forced to take emergency action to prevent pension funds collapsing. Morgaage rates and the cost of government borrowing have soared and we all face higher interest rates and the country is sliding into recession. The latest Chancellor has now reversed most of the mini-budget and the Prime Minister has resigned, but the damage has been done. There is a gaping hole in public finances and we will all be paying for the UK government's failures through higher taxes and a new era of austerity. I want to focus on what this means for us here in Wales. Decisions to raise or lower departmental spending in Westminster has a very real impact on us here in Wales and that's because the majority of our funding comes as a block grant from the UK government. So I'll start with what we know. Our capital budget was already due to fall year on year over the three years of this spending review period. Because of inflation and the way the UK government has mishandled the economy, our budget next year could be worth £1.5 billion less in real terms than we expected. We also know that the UK government will be clawing back £140 million over the next two years and that was the funding which had been earmarked to pay for employers' higher national insurance contributions, but now it won't be available to help us meet other pressures. On top of these big holes in our budget, the Chancellor has said that fresh spending cuts are coming. He has said decisions of eye water in difficulty will need to be made. And his new Council of Economic Advisers includes George Osborne's former adviser, the architect of the original decade of austerity which led to spending cuts, pay freezes and severe reductions to benefits. We don't yet know how big the cuts will be or where they'll fall, but the direction of travel is clear. We could easily be facing bigger real terms reductions than in any year of austerity. Those earlier cuts were made after spending had been growing for a decade. Even then, making spending cuts was difficult enough. Today, after a decade of austerity and two years of the pandemic, there are no easy cuts to make. If the Chancellor starves public services in England of funding, he will be starving public services in Wales too. A fresh round of austerity will threaten jobs, businesses, public services and our economy. We hope that we will know more on the 31st of October if the change in Prime Minister hasn't derailed the timetable for the Chancellor's statement. Austerity is a choice. Cutting departmental spending and stifling economic growth is a choice. It's not too late for the UK Government to choose to take a different approach. When the Chancellor sets out his medium term fiscal plan, he could choose to use his tax powers more equitably and tax the enormous windfall gains of the energy and banking sectors to help avoid some of the deepest and most damaging cuts. There are four things that we want to see next week. Firstly, public services need to be protected. The twin threat of inflation and spending cuts risks decimating the services that we all rely on. Secondly, the UK Government needs to honour its own commitment to increase benefits in line with inflation. It's already cut back its flagship energy price guarantee, creating worry and uncertainty for people who are already struggling to pay their bills. We need to be a part of that promised review of the energy price guarantee and it needs to be done quickly so that households and businesses have clarity about what's available after April. The targeted support needs to be given to those who need the help the most and that's absolutely nothing less than a necessity. Thirdly, we need to see a real plan for economic growth, not the fallacy of trickle-down economics. We need to see a boost to infrastructure investment to stimulate the economy, including green investment. And I am deeply concerned that we have yet another UK Government which is absolutely silent on the climate emergency that we're all facing. And finally, we repeat our calls for the Welsh Government's borrowing powers to be increased to give us more flexibility to deal with the crisis. Over the course of the next few weeks, I'll be working hard to create a balanced budget. If the UK Government continues to go down its destructive path of austerity, already tough decisions will become even more difficult. What we need to see at the Halloween statement from the Chancellor is a determined focus on sustainable growth and fairness not more chaos and damaging cuts. So, thank you for listening to me this morning and I'm now going to take questions from journalists. And first I go to Hugh Thomas, BBC Wales. Morning, Minister. You've outlined some of the concerns that you've got about what you can last week on a scenario that she said the NHS was facing without further funding next year. This morning, Rishi Sunak begins as Prime Minister. What commitments do you want from him and what can he do to reset the relationship between Westminster and your government in Cardiff? So, I share our health minister's concerns about the impact that the recent events in Westminster will have on our Welsh Government budget and also the impact overall of inflation on our budget which is now with £4 billion over this spending review period less than it was at the time that we set that budget and inevitably that without intervention will have an impact on what we're able to invest in the health service and also in social care and through local authorities to other public services as well. So, what we really want to see now from the new Prime Minister and from the new Chancellor is a serious indication that they will not be looking to cut public services and they will not be looking to cut public funding quite the opposite that they will look to invest in public services and in public and in particularly in health and social care and through local authorities as well. So, we're seeking that level of reassurance. There are options for the UK Government. They could look to increase the windfall tax on those really excessive and unexpected profits that we've seen in the energy sector, for example, and they could look to raise taxes in a more equitable way. So, there are choices available for the UK Government and we hope that the new Prime Minister and the latest Chancellor will recognise those challenges. And, you know, we congratulate the new Prime Minister on his new role and hope that we can establish a good and constructive working relationship with him. I have worked with him previously. He was a former chief secretary to the Treasury in several roles ago now and I look forward to maintaining a relationship with him and as I say, I hope it will be a positive relationship. Can I ask you more broadly about what your Government can do to help people at the moment with the cost of living as we go into the winter and into next year as well. Where, what are the levers that you can pull? And would you pull the one that would stop it, that would bring down business rates next year when lots of people, particularly in hospitality, are concerned about those going back up in April next year? Would you be prepared to keep that interest, that business rate relief in place into the next financial year as well? Well, we're already doing a great amount to support people through the cost of living crisis. For example, we've introduced a package of £400 million of support and that includes the latest winter fuel payment which households are able to access to help them through the winter. That's £200. It's only available here in Wales and it's over and above any of the support which the UK Government has made available to those households. So, you know, we're doing everything we can within the resources that we have, but we need to be realistic. And that's why I think that when we're talking about what we can do to support businesses through business rates, again we have to be realistic. So, we do have a generous package of business support available. We spend over £200 million in supporting businesses in Wales and around 70,000 businesses are supported with their business rates already and a good chunk of those pay no business rates at all. But yes, if the UK Government does intend to take action in this space, we would warmly welcome that and then use consequential funding and a considered way to see what more we can do to support businesses. But we had a debate on this exact subject in the centre just last week and I heard very strongly those calls for additional support in the realm of business rates. But I think we need to see the other side of that as well. So, where do we divert funding from to support business rates and to make a greater intervention than we already do in business rates? Because that's the side of the issue that I wasn't hearing from colleagues in the centre. Bear in mind, next year our budget will be worth £1.5 billion less already as a result of inflation. But obviously we're keen to explore what more we can do within the resources that we have available to us. Oh, so now we go to Dan Bevan global. Thank you minister, good morning. We've spoken with several council leaders and councillors with the portfolio of finance. They are extremely worried about the next few months what could lie ahead. To put it candidly, what they're saying is it's not a case of which services will have to be cut. It's how much from all of them. Given how important council services are to their communities, to public health, to put it rather bluntly, are lives at risk because of these cuts? So I absolutely share those concerns that local government leaders have universally shared with me in respect of their budget for both this financial year and also the two years which follow. At the spending review which we undertook we did give local government a generous settlement. It was very warmly welcomed at the time an increase of over 9% but the story has changed a great deal since that point and local government is reporting big holes in funding in terms of the services which they need to provide. So yes, I do share the concerns that local government has. We work in social partnership here in Wales so I have a really strong relationship with local government leaders. We meet very frequently. We have fortnightly meetings with other ministers but then I meet myself with them at least weekly in various forums as well and they take every opportunity to impress upon me the gaps that they have in their public finances at the moment and we use that evidence then as we try to make the case to the UK government for further support for public services but at the moment things are going to be difficult so if there is no further funding and if we actually receive a cut to our funding as we are potentially expecting on the 31st of October then in ever to be there will be cuts to public services and the inevitable job losses which follow that and of course you end up in a cycle where those people then potentially need to rely on public services which find themselves under greater pressure which is exactly not the cycle that we want to be getting into which again is why we impress upon the UK government the need to invest in public services. So do you believe that lives or indeed livelihoods are at risk by all of this? I don't want to use inflammatory language or concern people unduly but I think that it is inevitable at this point that services will be cut and obviously people do depend on those services of course it doesn't have to happen Chancellor is making a statement on the 31st of October where he could invest in public services and help public services through this difficult period but at this point in time as I say our budget is worth so much less next year local government is experiencing exactly the same thing so they will be making incredibly different difficult choices about the services which they prioritise as will be in Welsh government as well so I think that the budget that we're preparing now as we move towards publishing our budget in December will be a very different budget to those which we've prepared in recent years where we've been allocating additional funding this will be a budget about re-prioritising and moving potentially money away from some of the things that we would love to keep on doing. If I could just get a second question Minister a lot was made of the fact that Liz Truss in her short tenureship didn't call the first minister which is a tradition after taking office is that important if so why and do you hope that Rysi Siunac picks up the phone this afternoon? I certainly do hope that the new prime minister makes contact with our first minister at the earliest possible opportunity after it becomes formally the prime minister because I do think that it demonstrates a willingness to to work together for people at the end of the day that's what people want they want governments which work and collaborate effectively for their benefit which I think is the appropriate thing to do and it also of course shows respect to devolution and to devolve governments so I would certainly hope that the first minister would receive a nearly phone call. Okay so we'll move now to Brad Williams ITV Wales Thank you minister do you think Mr Siunac will provide stability that your neighbour says the country needs? I certainly hope that will be the case because we always want our prime ministers to do well and to provide stability whichever party they represent because of course that is in the best interests of us in Wales and also in the best interests of people more widely across the United Kingdom so we certainly hope to see now a period of stability and I think that one of the ways in which he could bring that stability would be through working with his chancellor to make sure that the statement on the 31st of October is one which invests in public services but also one which considers the importance of capital investment so the UK government's own National Infrastructure Commission has demonstrated the vital role of maintaining investment in infrastructure in order to meet the challenges of delivering net zero and you know the growth commission which was established by the London School of Economics has also identified investing in green infrastructure and also in human capital through skills and education and so on as being the key ways in which you can stimulate growth in the economy so I would hope that the chancellor and the new prime minister will be working in that spirit to deliver on the 31st of October and what do you want the UK government to do over the next few weeks? So I'd like the UK government to look very closely as they start to finalise I suppose their plans for the 31st of October and again just really to take that opportunity to to move away from what the previous chancellor and the previous prime minister were intending to do and I'm still concerned that the chancellor is talking about eye watering cuts of course that's worrying to us but it doesn't have to be that way the Welsh government has set out ways in which the UK government could raise funding to invest in public services but then also to recognise the importance of capital investment as well so you know that green infrastructure I was talking about and investing in people's skills and investing in education to support the economy so those are things that we would like to see we'd also like to see a really pragmatic approach now from the the new chancellor and the chief secretary to the treasury in terms of Welsh government's powers so you know we're keen to see an increase in our borrowing powers for example we're seen keen to see more pragmatic flexibility over our year-end funding so that we're able to deploy our resources in the most effective and value for money way and also take a much more strategic approach to our spending and those are simple things it wouldn't cost the UK government to deliver to us and it would show I think that they are keen to work with us and support us to allow us to do the best possible job that we can do for people in Wales so thank you Brad we'll move on now to Tony Wyn Jones Morn FM Yes, good morning minister Tony Jones from Morn FM community radio in terms of the fresh spending cuts you mentioned you've mentioned there's no easy cuts to make and you wish to protect public services and public services of course I've been cutting and cutting and cutting over the years how will you prioritise cuts so that local authorities in Wales you know actually don't lose those essential services that have to be maintained will there be a transfer of emphasis in terms of moving the burden on to the private sector and windfall tax for instance This is a really really important question in terms of how we go about setting now our budget as we move to publish it on the on the 13th of December and it will be a budget of prioritisation and it will be a budget of really difficult decisions so it will be inevitable I think that we will end up doing less of some of the things that we would absolutely love to do and the things that people expect us to do so it will be a really really difficult budget but I just want to say that when we prioritise and when we look across our budget we do so through the lens of trying to support those people who need it most we look at things through the lens of the climate and nature emergency and we try to take the right choices based on those kind of principles which guide us in the choices that we make I think that the point that you make about windfall taxes is an important one so that's something that we don't have the power to do here in Wales but it's certainly something that we encourage the UK government to do in terms of the excess profits particularly in the energy sector at the moment I think the energy sector itself would probably expect the UK government to act in this area so it's perplexing as to why they don't go further in that space but it's something that potentially the new Chancellor might consider doing and the second question if remain if decisions are taken in isolation of Wales Northern Ireland and Scotland how will you overcome any inequalities going forward and will communications be improved between the nations of the UK and the UK governments because if we are in such austere times and heading towards even worse economic times then it's very important that everybody pulls together on this one Absolutely and good communication and good relationships can only ever be for the good of people in Wales which is why we work really hard to maintain those relationships under Theresa May we made an agreement with the UK government around the intergovernmental infrastructure which would support those discussions and those negotiations and we felt that that was a really positive step forward in terms of cementing those structures where we would have those important discussions between governments and I've certainly found the finance interministerial committee meetings to be very useful so far we've only met the twice but I think that the tone definitely changed in those meetings and we would like now the new government to put the same kind of effort into those intergovernmental relationships that we do and that we would like to see them do just because it's so important for people in Wales and you know you're absolutely right Tony in the sense that you know in most difficult times that's when we need to come together and pull together most so I think that you know good collaborative work in relationships are important it's important of course that we challenge the UK government when we see them to be not acting in a way which is to the benefit of Wales it's important when we challenge them when they're not providing the funding that we need but equally it's important that we sit down and have those adult conversations with them very frequently as well and we always enter into discussions in the most positive way that we can to try and influence to the to the good of Wales so thank you for your questions and it's good to see you look forward to seeing you again soon thank you