Labour’s election giveaways on schools and housing barely paper over the cracks
The Welsh Labour Government has been accused of an election ‘gimmick’ after new funding was made available for school building and social housing – just weeks before the Welsh General Election in May.
Commenting on the Finance Minister’s announcement of additional funds for 21st Century School project, Shadow Minister for Finance, Nick Ramsay, said:
“You can tell there’s an election around the corner when the cash is being splashed, and it does rather beg the question as to why this money wasn’t made available earlier in the year.
“Whilst we support additional money being spent on schools it is regrettable due to ideology, Labour ministers have always failed to support Welsh Conservative public-private partnership plans, which would have generated significant additional funding for school building.”
Commenting on an announcement of additional funding for Social Housing, Mr Ramsay also said:
“Just last week we learnt that the number of registered new builds in Wales has fallen again this year, and we know that there is a national housing crisis in Wales.
“Most experts suggest that there should be at least 12,000 new homes built each year, yet here in Wales we are seeing significantly less than half of that figure.
“The Welsh Government’s announcement today is welcome, but it’s a mere fraction of the new homes needed here in Wales – and voters in May won’t be fooled by an election gimmick that barely papers over the cracks in Wales’ housing crisis.”
