Budget 2021 - Chancellor failed to deliver on cost of living and climate crises

Plaid Cymru responds to Westminster Autumn Budget and Spending Review

Responding to the UK Budget, Plaid Cymru’s Treasury spokesperson, Ben Lake MP said:

“With millions of people facing a cost of living crisis, today we needed a transformative Budget that would put money in people’s pockets in the short and long-term as well as ambitious policies to set a global example ahead of COP26. The Chancellor failed on both counts.

"The crippling on households impact of inflation rising to 4% required a substantial intervention from the Chancellor. But the taper rate reduction for Universal Credit only gives back £2bn of the £6bn taken away by the £20 cut across the UK – and leaving only a fraction of the £286m taken out of Wales' local economies. 

“£2.5bn for Wales is a good headline for the UK Government. But let’s put that into perspective. Wales is owed around £5bn in consequential funding from HS2, which the Chancellor once again today decided to withhold from Wales.

“Indeed, instead of prioritising investment in rail transport infrastructure, the Chancellor decided to incentivise people to take short-haul domestic flights – setting an incredibly poor international example ahead of COP26. Absent was any mention of home insulation – which in Wales would require £360m of annual funding from the UK Government if we are to address the climate crisis.

"Proposals to increase R&D are welcome but risk further entrenching the huge disparities in R&D investment which is already four times higher in the south east of England than in Wales.

"We are losing out today - and it's clearer than ever that Westminster simply isn't working for Wales."