As the Chancellor is putting the finishing touches to the UK government's second financial package in under two months, the first minister describes what he sees as "a decade of a flawed and failed experiment of austerity in the United Kingdom that has left us all worse off than we otherwise would have been".
As an example, he says "between 2010 and 2021, every one of those years a year of Conservative government at Westminster, GDP per head in the United Kingdom grew by only 6 per cent in real terms. It grew by 11 per cent in Germany, it grew by 17 per cent in the United States of America."
On Thursday, Jeremy Hunt will unveil his Autumn Statement - a Budget in all but name - to "get our way back to growing healthily", as he puts it.
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images
Mr Hunt has largely reversed the policies set out by his predecessor in SeptemberImage caption: Mr Hunt has largely reversed the policies set out by his predecessor in September
Picking raspberries in November
The first minister says another reminder of climate change is that he has been picking raspberries in his allotment this month.
He says the Welsh Government's "allotment support grant has allocated £750,000 this year across local authorities to help improve and increase allotment provision".
Public sector pay
Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price raises the issue of public sector pay.
He asks the first minister whether he is "prepared to stand in solidarity" with public sector workers taking strike action.
He says "it's the Welsh Labour Government that nurses, in a few weeks, joined soon by teachers, probably, will be striking against".
The first minister replies "I recognise the anger and the disappointment that many public service workers experience at the moment. When your wages have been held down through a decade of austerity, and you're now faced with wage rises below the level of inflation, then it is absolutely understandable why workers in those circumstances feel in the way that they do and why they vote to take action in the way that they have. And this Labour government has no ambiguity at all in putting on the record our understanding of the way in which public sector workers have been driven to take the action that they do."
He describes the dilemmas involved with his government having a "fixed budget".
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images
Nurses in almost all of Wales' NHS organisations have voted to strike over pay.Image caption: Nurses in almost all of Wales' NHS organisations have voted to strike over pay.
Call for Wales-specific pandemic inquiry
Andrew RT Davies, leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Senedd, calls again for a Wales-specific Covid pandemic inquiry.
He says "the only person stopping an independent inquiry here in Wales is you, first minister".
Mr Drakeford defends the Welsh Government's view that a UK-wide inquiry was best for understanding the experiences of people in Wales.
Mr Davies says his party will be forcing a vote to create a Senedd committee inquiry into Covid in Wales. He asks Mr Drakeford if he would whip his members to oppose that.
Mr Drakeford replies he wasn't going to comment on something he hasn't seen yet.
He says the Welsh Government was disclosing "hundreds of thousands of documents" to the UK inquiry, and through that inquiry he says people in Wales "will get the right, rounded, insightful answers that they quite rightly wish for".
Getty Images/BBCCopyright: Getty Images/BBC
Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Conservatives have called for a Wales-specific Covid inquiryImage caption: Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Conservatives have called for a Wales-specific Covid inquiry
'Imbalance between the demand and supply of housing'
There is "an imbalance between the demand for housing in Wales and the supply of it" says the first minister.
He was replying to Heledd Fychan who asked "is it not time to accelerate and expand the agreed Unnos programme, to undertake house adaptation and house building on an unprecedented scale, to ensure children and adults have safe and suitable homes?"
The first minister says "the Unnos project has a part to play, an important part to play, in allowing us to accelerate the building of long-term affordable homes for people in every part of Wales".
The Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru Co-operation Agreement said "we will establish a National Construction Company, Unnos, to support our councils and social landlords to improve the supply of social and affordable housing".
BBCCopyright: BBC
Developing the hydrogen energy sector
Conservative Joel James begins by asking about the Welsh Government's plans for the use of hydrogen fuel for automotives in Wales.
First Minister Mark Drakeford says "right across Wales, from north to south and west to east, the Welsh Government works with others to advance practical plans for the use of hydrogen in the decarbonisation of transport in Wales."
The Welsh Government's ‘Hydrogen in Wales’ report "sets out a pathway for developing the hydrogen energy sector in Wales".
Proposals include:
deploy fuel cell buses
create an early market/demand for fuel cell vehicles
attract new zero-emission automotive industry to Wales
demonstrate fuel cell train(s)
seek to develop ‘place based’ hydrogen opportunities within local or regional areas
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images
Croeso
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the thirtieth session of First Minister's Questions in 2022.
The meeting is held in a hybrid format, with some members in the Siambr (Senedd chamber) and others joining by video-conference.
Live Reporting
Alun Jones
All times stated are UK
![Senedd Cymru](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Senedd CymruCopyright: Senedd Cymru View more on twitterView more on twitter View more on twitterView more on twitter View more on twitterView more on twitter ![Mr Hunt has largely reversed the policies set out by his predecessor in September](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images Mr Hunt has largely reversed the policies set out by his predecessor in SeptemberImage caption: Mr Hunt has largely reversed the policies set out by his predecessor in September ![Nurses in almost all of Wales' NHS organisations have voted to strike over pay.](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images Nurses in almost all of Wales' NHS organisations have voted to strike over pay.Image caption: Nurses in almost all of Wales' NHS organisations have voted to strike over pay. ![Political parties have clashed in Wales over the need for a Wales-specific inquiry](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Getty Images/BBCCopyright: Getty Images/BBC Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Conservatives have called for a Wales-specific Covid inquiryImage caption: Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Conservatives have called for a Wales-specific Covid inquiry ![Houses](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
BBCCopyright: BBC -
deploy fuel cell buses
-
create an early market/demand for fuel cell vehicles
-
attract new zero-emission automotive industry to Wales
-
demonstrate fuel cell train(s)
-
seek to develop ‘place based’ hydrogen opportunities within local or regional areas
![Hydrogen](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images
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The thirtieth FMQs of 2022 comes to a close.
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The Senedd will once again be lit tonight in the blue and yellow colours of Ukraine’s flag as a sign of solidarity with Ukraine and its people.
MSs with their bucket hats
With the men’s football World Cup starting this weekend in Qatar, several MSs are keen to show their support by wearing their Wales bucket hat.
'Flawed and failed austerity'
As the Chancellor is putting the finishing touches to the UK government's second financial package in under two months, the first minister describes what he sees as "a decade of a flawed and failed experiment of austerity in the United Kingdom that has left us all worse off than we otherwise would have been".
As an example, he says "between 2010 and 2021, every one of those years a year of Conservative government at Westminster, GDP per head in the United Kingdom grew by only 6 per cent in real terms. It grew by 11 per cent in Germany, it grew by 17 per cent in the United States of America."
On Thursday, Jeremy Hunt will unveil his Autumn Statement - a Budget in all but name - to "get our way back to growing healthily", as he puts it.
Picking raspberries in November
The first minister says another reminder of climate change is that he has been picking raspberries in his allotment this month.
He says the Welsh Government's "allotment support grant has allocated £750,000 this year across local authorities to help improve and increase allotment provision".
Public sector pay
Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price raises the issue of public sector pay.
He asks the first minister whether he is "prepared to stand in solidarity" with public sector workers taking strike action.
He says "it's the Welsh Labour Government that nurses, in a few weeks, joined soon by teachers, probably, will be striking against".
The first minister replies "I recognise the anger and the disappointment that many public service workers experience at the moment. When your wages have been held down through a decade of austerity, and you're now faced with wage rises below the level of inflation, then it is absolutely understandable why workers in those circumstances feel in the way that they do and why they vote to take action in the way that they have. And this Labour government has no ambiguity at all in putting on the record our understanding of the way in which public sector workers have been driven to take the action that they do."
He describes the dilemmas involved with his government having a "fixed budget".
Call for Wales-specific pandemic inquiry
Andrew RT Davies, leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Senedd, calls again for a Wales-specific Covid pandemic inquiry.
He says "the only person stopping an independent inquiry here in Wales is you, first minister".
Mr Drakeford defends the Welsh Government's view that a UK-wide inquiry was best for understanding the experiences of people in Wales.
Mr Davies says his party will be forcing a vote to create a Senedd committee inquiry into Covid in Wales. He asks Mr Drakeford if he would whip his members to oppose that.
Mr Drakeford replies he wasn't going to comment on something he hasn't seen yet.
He says the Welsh Government was disclosing "hundreds of thousands of documents" to the UK inquiry, and through that inquiry he says people in Wales "will get the right, rounded, insightful answers that they quite rightly wish for".
'Imbalance between the demand and supply of housing'
There is "an imbalance between the demand for housing in Wales and the supply of it" says the first minister.
He was replying to Heledd Fychan who asked "is it not time to accelerate and expand the agreed Unnos programme, to undertake house adaptation and house building on an unprecedented scale, to ensure children and adults have safe and suitable homes?"
The first minister says "the Unnos project has a part to play, an important part to play, in allowing us to accelerate the building of long-term affordable homes for people in every part of Wales".
The Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru Co-operation Agreement said "we will establish a National Construction Company, Unnos, to support our councils and social landlords to improve the supply of social and affordable housing".
Developing the hydrogen energy sector
Conservative Joel James begins by asking about the Welsh Government's plans for the use of hydrogen fuel for automotives in Wales.
First Minister Mark Drakeford says "right across Wales, from north to south and west to east, the Welsh Government works with others to advance practical plans for the use of hydrogen in the decarbonisation of transport in Wales."
The Welsh Government's ‘Hydrogen in Wales’ report "sets out a pathway for developing the hydrogen energy sector in Wales".
Proposals include:
Croeso
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the thirtieth session of First Minister's Questions in 2022.
The meeting is held in a hybrid format, with some members in the Siambr (Senedd chamber) and others joining by video-conference.