Politics
Budget agreement could be the last
THE WELSH GOVERNMENT and Plaid Cymru have agreed a two-year, £210m Budget agreement.
The deal includes ensuring no cuts to the Supporting People grant, £15m to improve vital north and south links on the A487 and A470, and a £40m boost for mental health funding over two years.
There is an extra £20m-a-year for higher and further education and £6m for a young farmers’ grant scheme over two years.
There is additional funding for the Welsh language; for Wales to deal with the impact of Brexit, including support for businesses and for music in schools. The agreement builds on the one struck between the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru last year.
It also includes:
- A £7m development fund for undergraduate medical training in North Wales
- £2m to remove the tolls on the Cleddau bridge in Pembrokeshire in 2019-20
- £3m to support the design and development of a third Menai bridge crossing
- A further £2m for the secretariat and investment support for a new ‘Arfor’ economic region in west Wales
Welsh Government Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford said: “We are pleased we have been able to agree this two-year deal with Plaid Cymru, which secures the whole of our Budget.
“This agreement builds on the one reached between the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru last year and includes a series of recurrent allocations for the Welsh language, arts, end-of-life-care, mental health, higher education and Visit Wales.
“We have also been able to agree capital funding to take forward the new integrated healthcare centre in Cardigan and the results of the feasibility studies into a national art gallery and football museum in North Wales, which were agreed as part of last year’s agreement.”
Adam Price, Plaid Cymru’s spokesperson for finance, business and the economy, said: “This is a Budget Agreement that will deliver for people and communities in all parts of Wales.
“It protects the vulnerable, invests in our young, and innovates for all our futures. This is a pan-Wales budget agreement, from the Cleddau to the Menai from Wrexham to the Rhondda, from culture to agriculture, from energy and transport to education and health – new ideas for a new Wales.”
In an effort to deflect from the idea that Labour had made concessions to Plaid Cymru, and after the announcement of the Budget agreement, Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford said in a BBC Wales interview that there was nothing in the Budget that Labour would not have delivered and that Plaid’s support was a matter of Assembly arithmetic.
And if that appeared more than a tad graceless, the brittle nature of any accord was underlined when Adam Price pointed out that Plaid had not managed to obtain everything it had wanted, including an agreement on tuition fees and public sector pay, and commented: “This is Labour’s budget and it will have to answer to the people of Wales as to why it is failing to deliver on its manifesto commitments such as lifting the pay cap and stopping the rise in tuition fees.
“Plaid Cymru secured a deal that would deliver benefits to communities in every part of Wales. Our budget deal will mean investment in the things that matter to people, including employing 80 new district nurses, £40m for improving mental health services, an additional £40m for our universities and colleges, a Brexit Preparedness Fund for businesses, a young farmers’ entrant’s scheme and a major £3m investment in a power station for our steel industry.
“But we are frustrated that the Labour government failed to implement important policy matters such as the pay cap and rising tuition fees, particularly as they were commitments made in Labour’s 2017 manifesto. Indeed, what is not included in this budget has made the void between Plaid Cymru and Labour more and more apparent and has made future co-operation between the parties more and more unlikely.
“We will be robustly scrutinising the details of this budget when they are announced, and we will hold the Labour government to account on the decisions it takes.”
The Conservative Party in Wales attacked the agreement.
Andrew RT Davies, said: “This budget deal is the latest charade in the Plaid-Labour love-affair and significantly sees both parties break a number of election promises to the people of Wales.
“Despite the well-publicised vows to the electorate only three months ago and being in government in Wales, the Labour Party has once again failed to take any action on public sector pay or tuition fees.”
All in all, the draft Budget seems to be a document with few close friends, even among those responsible for its content; while the Conservatives are yet to put forward any positive alternatives instead of criticising from the side-lines and carping at Plaid Cymru.
Margaret Thomas, UNISON Cymru Wales Secretary, said: “The Welsh Government is being creative in their budgeting in order to protect public services across Wales.
“UNISON welcomes the additional funding for the NHS in Wales, as well as the pledge to build more affordable homes.
“We are also pleased to hear plans around additional childcare. The majority of UNISON members are women, many work part-time, and we know women still fulfil most of the child care responsibilities in the home – so this will hopefully be of great benefit to them.
“We also recognise the Cabinet Secretary’s attempt to protect Welsh local government budgets and offer a more favourable settlement than in England.
“But the point must be made that this innovative budgeting will not protect our essential public services from further drastic UK government imposed cuts to the Welsh Government block grant, anticipated in their Autumn Statement.
“This budget comes at a time of unprecedented austerity. Public services should be properly invested in, and Wales deserves to be properly funded. The fact also remains that public sector workers across Wales, and the rest of the UK, have already suffered seven, long, hard years of pay restraint.”
Ceredigion MP, Ben Lake says he is delighted that a scheme to extend mobile coverage in hard-to-reach rural areas making poor mobile phone coverage a thing of the past has been given the green light, thanks to a major new deal between the Government and UK mobile network operators.
The ‘Shared Rural Network’ will mean that high quality 4G coverage will be available for 95 percent of the UK by 2026 which means consumers will get good 4G signal wherever they live, work or travel. The new plans involves four operators (EE, O2, Three and Vodafone) joining forces to create a new organisation to deliver the ‘Shared Rural Network’. Each will be able to make the maximum use out of existing and new phone masts by being able to host their own equipment on them allowing their customers to access a mobile signal. The scheme will cost more than £1billion made up of £530m from the mobile operators and a £500m investment from the Government.
Ben Lake MP, who was one of 78 cross-party MPs who wrote to the Secretary of State for Digital Culture, Media and Sport last year to ask for government support for the scheme, said:
“This is really good news for my constituents. Better mobile connectivity will make flexible working, access to education and leisure opportunities easier. It will boost regional economic growth and begin to close the digital divide that exists across the country. The mobile has become an essential tool for most of us. It will certainly come as a relief to many people living in my constituency who are frustrated by the persistent ‘not spots’ which prevent them from carrying out many tasks which other people take for granted”.
The ’Shared Rural Network’ will eliminate the substantial majority of the country’s partial not-spots with the added benefit of increasing competition for mobile services, especially in rural areas; deliver on the Government’s 95% coverage manifesto commitment to extend coverage across the country; improve road coverage by reaching a further 16,000 kilometres of roads; involve minimum environmental impact and reduce the need for duplicate infrastructure and ensure that the UK has one of, if not the best, mobile coverage in Europe.
The initiative, which is a world first, follows government proposals for an overhaul of planning rules and is part of the Prime Minister’s plan to level up the country with world-class digital infrastructure across the UK to make sure homes and businesses are better connected.
Following a meeting and correspondence with the Welsh Government, Elin Jones AM has welcomed the confirmation of an initial reduction in the speed on the A487 between Bow Street and Aberystwyth.
This stretch of the A487 is particularly dangerous, and there were two fatal accidents there last year.
Ken Skates, the Welsh Government Minister for Economy and Transport, confirmed to Elin Jones via letter that the route between Waun Fawr to 300m beyond Dorglwyd Junction will be reduced to 50mph, with work taking place in the next financial year.
The reduction to 50mph has been initially welcomed by Elin Jones, however she has called for the speed limit to be reduced further to 40mph.
Elin Jones said:
“The need for a review of the safety on the A487 is clear, particularly following the two tragic accidents that took place last year. I was pleased to be able to discuss the issue directly with the Welsh Government Minister in Bow Street recently, and for him to see for himself why a speed reduction was needed.
“I’m also pleased that this has resulted in the safety and speed limit review concluding that a reduction was necessary.
“However, I and many constituents who regularly use this route feel that the speed limit could be reduced further to 40mph, which I will raise again with the Minister.
“I will also continue to call for upgrading safety at the Dorglwyd junction. There are also many areas on the A487 where safety can be improved, either with a speed limit reduction, or by providing cycle lanes and footpaths to remove pedestrians and cyclists from danger. I have called on the Welsh Government to consider all options.”
A local mental health charity, a swimming club and a good cause engaging people with woodlands and nature, have all benefited from funding totaling £41,553 thanks to players of People’s Postcode Lottery.
Welcoming the funding news Ceredigion MP Ben Lake said: “This is a fantastic funding boost that will benefit three local charities and good causes, supporting their valuable work.”
Run by locals for locals, Mind Aberystwyth has been providing support and guidance to people with mental health issues in and around the Ceredigion community for 15 years. It received £19,553, from Postcode Local Trust – a grant giving trust, awarding funding raised by players of People’s Postcode Lottery – to expand its weekly woodland wellbeing group to include a gardening group.
Aberystwyth and District Amateur Swimming Club, which provides competitive swimming and lessons to children and young adults from different backgrounds, got a grant of £2,000, from Postcode Community Trust, to help train volunteer coaches and poolside helpers.
Connecting people and woodlands for wellbeing and training, charity Tir Coed, received £20,000, from People’s Postcode Trust, for its training programme, covering land management, carpentry, health and safety, ecology and more.
Mr Lake continued: “From allowing children to continue to enjoy swimming and the benefits of exercise, to supporting physical and mental wellbeing, to enabling skills development, this funding will impact so many different areas of community life in Ceredigion for the better. Thank you to players of People’s Postcode Lottery for making a positive difference on such a large scale.”
Katherine Sellar, Community Programmes Advisor at People’s Postcode Lottery added: “It’s not just players that win with People’s Postcode Lottery – charities do too.
“Thanks to players, more than £40,000 has been given to three local good causes, supporting their work across a number of mental and physical wellbeing projects.”
Last year, more than £8 million raised by players of People’s Postcode Lottery was distributed to grassroots projects across Britain.
The next opportunity for local charities and good causes to apply for funding will be in August 2020. Funding is available through three trusts, with each supporting projects focused on different themes. Those interested in local funding opportunities can find out more by visiting the trusts’ websites:
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