Mark Drakeford reacted furiously when challenged by Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies.
In a series of exchanges during First Minister's Questions in the Senedd both men became increasingly irate. In the end the Llywydd (speaker) had to step in as the pointing and shouting got out of hand.
Mr Davies said: "Last week’s unemployment figures here in Wales were particularly disappointing. They showed that, regrettably, the numbers were going up for unemployment here in Wales as opposed to going down in other parts of the United Kingdom. What assessment has the Welsh Government been able to make of those figures and what actions is it taking to respond to the rising number of unemployed here in Wales?"
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Mr Drakeford replied that "the best thing that can happen to the Welsh economy is that we have a Labour government for the United Kingdom".
He went on: "If there was a single action that we could take to make sure that people here in Wales enjoyed the economic futures that they deserve it would be to have a competent government at the UK level – a government without the astonishing stains on its economic record that the current UK government has. It's astonishing, it's genuinely astonishing to me, that the Conservative party should think that they can offer anybody a lecture on how to conduct economic affairs here in this chamber.. The member was wrong. He's often wrong, we know."
Unperturbed, the Tory leader kept attacking Labour's economic record in Wales. He began one of his questions saying: "You do wonder whether you should be in the comedy hall rather than on the floor of the Welsh Parliament, First Minister."
He went on to ask: "What is the Welsh Government doing to increase the long-term prospects for the Welsh economy and get those numbers moving in the right direction? Because those unemployment numbers last week just reinforced the failure of policy of Welsh Labour in government here in Wales."
To this Mr Drakeford responded by attacking Mr Davies' support for Liz Truss whom he backed for leader last year. He said: "How well we remember how the leader of the opposition supported first Boris Johnson and then Liz Truss. How will he explain that to people in Wales, when they find their economic futures destroyed by the irresponsible actions of a Conservative government that he has gone, time and time again, out of his way to support here in Wales?"
