Budget: Mark Drakeford fears Autumn Statement impact on Wales

Jeremy Hunt has pledged to make the UK recession "as short and shallow as possible"

Wales' first minister has said he is "fearful" about the impact the UK chancellor's Autumn Statement will have on people's lives.

Mark Drakeford spoke as Jeremy Hunt prepared to unveil tens of billions of pounds of spending cuts and tax rises.

The first minister said he was worried Wales would be denied vital money for public services that people rely on to "get them through tough times".

Mr Hunt has said his plan will "see us through choppy waters".

He acknowledged his plans, to be announced in the Commons on Thursday, would "disappoint people" but promised to protect the "most vulnerable".

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The chancellor and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak are seeking to restore the UK's reputation in financial markets after September's ill-fated mini-budget of his predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng and former Prime Minister Liz Truss.

Living costs are soaring, the Bank of England says the UK faces its longest recession since records began and independent forecasts are understood to have identified a gap of about £55bn in public finances.

However, some economists question the size of the financial "black hole".

Although the Welsh government has some tax raising powers, most of its funding comes from the Treasury.

Mr Drakeford said he was "more fearful than hopeful, I'm afraid" that the Autumn Statement "takes place at a bleak moment in the economic history of the United Kingdom".

"The impact in the lives of individuals and families in Wales is already apparent - wages held down, prices rising in every way.

"And I'm fearful that in the Autumn Statement we may learn that the investment that is needed in the public services that people rely on to get them through those tough times may be denied to us here in Wales.

"Our budget next year is worth £1.5bn less than it was when a Conservative government set it in November last year.

"Unless the Autumn Statement provides funding to make good for the impact of inflation on the budget we currently have, then our ability, the ability of our partners in local government and in other parts of the public service, to provide the things that matter to people at difficult times, that's going to be made even more difficult."

Mark Drakeford says the Autumn Statement needs to address the impact of rising prices on his government's budget

Plaid Cymru treasury spokesman Ben Lake said all public services were "already suffering from chronic underfunding" and more cuts "will only lead to the need to provide more expensive emergency funding at a later date".

"Rather than repeat the mistakes of the past, Westminster should today protect Welsh services by giving a guarantee that our budgets will be inflation-proofed," he said.

Speaking to the BBC over the weekend, Mr Hunt said: "We have a plan to see us through choppy waters... we will make the recession we are in as short and shallow as possible."

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