Plaid Cymru Warns of Cuts

Jonathan Edwards

Plaid Cymru has today challenged Labour to come clean and admit that they will cut the Welsh Budget.  Despite promising money for Wales if they implement the Mansion Tax, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has forecast that Labour’s plans will in fact lead to real term cuts.

The Party of Wales has warned voters not to be deceived by the Labour party’s spin. Plaid’s candidate in Carmarthen East and Dinefwr Jonathan Edwards warned that whilst Labour is today talking about raising money through a mansion tax, the party has already signed up to plans that will cut more than a billion pounds from Wales’ economy.

Labour has previously stated that it will stick to the Conservative plan to cut departmental spending by over £1.5bn across the UK. This lower base for expenditure means that Wales will lose an additional £365 million over the next five years compared with 2014-15.

The IFS has estimated (March 2015) that starting this year Wales and the other devolved administrations will lose 2.2 per cent of their funding in real terms by the end of the next parliament leading to a cumulative, real terms loss for Wales of £835 million. Taken together Labour will cut funding to Wales by £1.2bn (£365m plus £835m) in real terms over the coming five years.

 The Party of Wales candidate in Carmarthen East and Dinefwr Jonathan Edwards said:

“Despite their acknowledgement that Wales is underfunded, Labour are still planning to make deeper cuts into the Welsh budget.

“Despite this they are trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes - deceptively claiming that they will put more money into Wales’ economy while signing off spending plans that will cut more than £1 billion from Wales.

“Labour party is giving with one hand and taking away with the other.

“Plaid Cymru is the only party in Wales making the case to stop austerity and to grow our economy. We also want Wales to be funded to the same level as Scotland.

“Plaid Cymru’s economic plans are focused on growing Wales’ economy. We want to invest to create jobs, increase our tax intake and bring down the deficit. We need to close the gap between the rich and the poor and we are the only party focused on rebalancing power and wealth throughout the UK.”