Labour’s Budget Leaves Councils Short
Commenting on the local government budget allocation and the news that council tax could go up by as much as 10% in parts of Wales, Welsh Conservative Shadow Local Government Minister, Sam Rowlands MS said:
The hardships facing local government due to Labour and Plaid Cymru’s draft budget does nothing more than put the onus on councils to fill the financial hole themselves. They will do this by increasing council tax and making further cuts to already stretched essential services, such as education and care. Council tax increases of between 5% and 10% during an already difficult time for families is unacceptable and will leave households struggling even more in the new year.
The local funding formula is long overdue a review, with some councils sitting on hundreds of millions of pounds in usable reserves and others struggling to make ends meet, it is unfair.
The budget allocation leaves councils high and dry and passes the buck of responsibility on to councils and it will be local residents who bear the brunt of Labour’s financial mismanagement.
Also commenting, Welsh Conservative Shadow Minister for North Wales, Darren Millar MS, added:
The Labour Government has, yet again, given North Wales a rough deal with lower council funding settlements than local authorities in South Wales.
Cardiff, Newport and Swansea are getting more than twice the increase in funding of most North Wales councils, nearly all of which sit at the bottom of the funding league table.
Labour Ministers should ditch their shameful partiality, commission an independent review of the council funding formula and invest millions more in our public services instead of pet projects like increasing the number of politicians in Cardiff Bay.
