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Comprehensive Spending Review

I cannot believe this nonsense. The right hon. Lady and the Government are cutting the Welsh Assembly’s budget by £1.8 billion; the Welsh Assembly Government are not doing it voluntarily. She and the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Government are cutting it. Despite those massive cuts to the Welsh budget the Tories in the Welsh Assembly have the audacity to suggest that ring-fencing the health budget in Wales is affordable. On Tuesday 2 November during First Minister’s questions, Nick Bourne, the Welsh Conservative leader, talked about how the UK Government would safeguard the NHS budget in England, and demanded that we should do the same in Wales. The Tories in Wales have said that to pay for that—I wonder whether the Secretary of State agrees—of course they would be happy to cut the schools budget by more than 20%. That would create chaos in the education system in Wales. Schools would shut overnight. This is an unrealistic, irresponsible and unaffordable spending commitment by the Tories in Wales, and the Secretary of State should condemn, not support it. The Government say that we are all in this together, but some are being gripped tighter than others by the Chancellor’s python policy. Families in Wales are feeling the pinch more than most, as Welsh household incomes are more than 10% below the UK average. Tens of thousands of working Welsh families on low-to-middle incomes face a triple whammy. What they gain from a higher income tax allowance they more than lose through cuts in tax credits, child care support and benefit entitlements. Their pay is being overtaken by rises in the cost of living. They are the squeezed middle and they are hurting. Many of them are struggling to make ends meet. Small wonder that the latest figures show a sharp downturn in household spending. I notice that the Prime Minister wants to build a happiness index to keep our spirits up during the tough times that lie ahead. Devotees of the songs of Ken Dodd may remember that his string of hits began with ““Happiness””, but was followed by ““Tears”” and ended with ““Brokenhearted””—a fitting epitaph, I fear, for the Government’s disastrous and savage public spending cuts that will damage Wales so badly.