Tuesday, November 06, 2007
A budget for bonfires
The One Wales Government yesterday launched its first budget by announcing that it was going to ignite a bonfire of inefficiency so as to achieve savings of £600m. When a government takes this tack what it normally means is that it has short-changed one particular sector, in this case local government, and it is casting around for a means of passing the blame onto them for the consequent impact on services.
In fact local government has struggled for the past four years under a Welsh Government requirement to make annual efficiency savings of one per cent. As a consequence most services have already been squeezed to death. There may well still be some fat there but if there is it is buried very deep and will not be available in the quantities envisaged by the Finance Minister.
Local Government has in fact had a 2.2% increase in funding. Inflation is running at 2.8% whilst the Assembly Government itself has received a 3.4% uplift in its grant. There is no doubt at all that Ministers have hung local government and Council taxpayers out to dry, whilst even the much-vaunted scheme to assist pensioners with their tax bills will not come into effect until 2008-09, a year too late to assist them with the inevitable Council tax rises this May.
In fact local government has struggled for the past four years under a Welsh Government requirement to make annual efficiency savings of one per cent. As a consequence most services have already been squeezed to death. There may well still be some fat there but if there is it is buried very deep and will not be available in the quantities envisaged by the Finance Minister.
Local Government has in fact had a 2.2% increase in funding. Inflation is running at 2.8% whilst the Assembly Government itself has received a 3.4% uplift in its grant. There is no doubt at all that Ministers have hung local government and Council taxpayers out to dry, whilst even the much-vaunted scheme to assist pensioners with their tax bills will not come into effect until 2008-09, a year too late to assist them with the inevitable Council tax rises this May.
Comments:
<< Home
Peter,
How would the LDs allocate the money differently given you would have no means of increasing the overall quantum of funding available? Less to health for example?
Post a Comment
How would the LDs allocate the money differently given you would have no means of increasing the overall quantum of funding available? Less to health for example?
# posted by 
: 9:18 PM
: 9:18 PM
<< Home
