Plaid in government takes sting out of London Cuts
Plaid Cymru local government spokesperson, Dai Lloyd AM has said that the Plaid driven Welsh government has done all its power to help local government to protect public services from London budget cuts.
The Plaid AM said that the Plaid driven government had managed to take the sting out of London Labour cuts for local government by using budget reserves to bolster the funding settlement, but warned that London should not be expect the Welsh government to do this again in the future.
Dr Dai Lloyd called on the London parties to commit to ruling out cutting the Welsh budget any further- just as has been recommended by a report by the independent Holtham Commission.
Dai Lloyd AM said:
“Thanks to cuts to the Welsh budget by the London government, Welsh public services faced the devastating prospect of losing over £200m this year. Plaid Cymru is committed to protecting Welsh public services as a priority. The Welsh government has therefore aimed to take the sting out of these London cuts by using budget reserves to bolster the budget settlement.
“The Welsh government cannot continue to use its reserves in this way indefinitely. Welsh public services can only be protected in this way for so long. The independent commission tasked with looking at how Wales is funded, the Holtham Commission, said that the Welsh budget cannot be cut any further before a fairer funding formula is in place. It is high time that the London parties took heed of this warning. The people of Wales need guarantees that this will be the last time that the Welsh government has to use its reserves to protect public services.”
