Oral QuestionWales Office

What steps his Department is taking to ensure close co-operation with the Welsh government during the covid-19 outbreak.

Tabled: 20 May 2020Answered: 3 June 2020

Asked by

Jeff Smith

LabourManchester Withington

Answering Minister

the Secretary of State for Wales

Answer from Hansard

The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (James Murray)

The Government have taken difficult decisions to repair the public finances, fund public services and restore economic stability. The Office for Budget Responsibility predicts that the employer national insurance contribution changes “will reduce the level of potential output by 0.1 per cent at the forecast horizon”. It also predicts that growth will pick up next year and that living standards will rise faster during this Parliament than during the last, and in the long term it expects the autumn Budget policies, if sustained, to increase the size of the economy permanently.