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Legislative Programme and Budget Statement (Wales)

Rather than reciting the fine speech that I prepared on the Budget, I shall just make one brief point to which, hopefully, Members on the Front Bench will respond in their wind-up speeches. My party is concerned about the opacity of the cuts regarding Barnett consequentials. One of the recommendations of the Holtham commission was an annual publication showing the effects of Barnett consequentials so that we could see how the Treasury arrived at the figures. On 24 May, the new Government announced £6.2 billion of in-year cuts, of which £187 million were for Wales. I have asked several questions about the provenance of the cuts, including asking Departments to release the calculations, but none has been given. I have also asked Departments for their non-devolved spending cuts in Wales. Is it not ridiculous that MPs can ask questions of the Treasury and other Departments, but receive the most opaque responses? How can funding for Wales possibly be transparent and open to scrutiny if we are told only the figures but not how they were arrived at? How can we establish whether they are correct? One of the questions I have submitted is to establish how much has been paid to Wales as a result of nuclear support to the former Soviet Union, following an answer that I received to an earlier question on 17 June that showed that Wales received a 100% consequential. As part of the new respect agenda, I should be grateful if Departments, when announcing spending cuts or investments for England only, clearly show the Barnett consequentials for Wales.