First Minister criticised for not calling out UK Government on spending review cash

Emily Price

The leader of Plaid Cymru has criticised the First Minister for not calling out the UK Government on how much cash Wales was allocated in the Chancellor’s spending review.

Rachel Reeves pledged £445m for rail projects in Wales, £118m for restoring coal tips and extra cash for the day-to-day spending of the Welsh Government in her spending review last week.

Baroness Eluned Morgan welcomed the boost, saying Wales would benefit from £5bn extra in revenue and capital over the next three years.

But Fiscal analysts at Cardiff University’s Wales Governance Centre later concluded that the implications of the announcement for Wales was bleak, with the Welsh Government’s budget growing at a lower rate than under the previous Tory administration.

‘Embrassed’

During Questions to the First Minister on Tuesday (June 17), Plaid’s leader, Rhun ap Iorwerth, asked Baroness Morgan if she was “embarrassed of asking for so little and getting exactly that.”

Speaking in the Senedd, he said: “Essentially we have a First Minister who is defending the indefensible.

“Had the cabinet secretary for finance spent less time wagging his finger at me and Welsh Government more time pulling its finger out and actually pointing out the shortcomings of this spending review, the Welsh public might not be losing so much faith in Labour.”

Mr ap Iorwerth added that the £445 million in rail funding was “roughly half” of what Wales should be getting in high speed 2 rail consequentials , “let alone make up for historic underfunding by both Labour and Conservative Governments.”

Baroness Morgan said the funding was “a good first step” to addressing the historic underfunding when it comes to Wales’ rail infrastructure – which is a UK Government responsibility.

‘First step’

She said: “It is important that we recognise that other things were delivered in this spending review. For years we asked for support to remove the coal tips and to secure those coal tips.

“Now we have had that additional money, £118 million, to support those communities while they see around them the instability in terms of those coal tips as a result of climate change. The important thing to remember is that we’ve got to absorb this money.”

‘Injustice’

Plaid’s leader hit back, saying that on coal tips, the UK Government had agreed to pay only £1 in £5 of the money that’s needed to “put right a long-standing injustice”.

He said: “When it comes to Wales, let’s be honest, there was nothing comprehensive at all, was there, about the spending review.

“There’s been no change to the broken system, which entrenches the unfairness of rail investment, no change to the 10-year borrowing limits of the Welsh Government, no change to the reserve limits, no change to the outdated funding formula.”

The First Minister said she had warned last week that whatever the UK Government offered Wales – Plaid Cymru would complain.

‘Mission’

She said: “Let me tell you that when it comes to a mission being accomplished, my mission is never going to be accomplished. I will always ask for more in relation to Wales.

“I will always make sure that we are insisting on our fair share. And it is important that we keep on asking it, which is why it is right that we will continue to ask for a formula to make sure that we do get a fair share.”

Baroness Morgan added that Plaid would “call and you call and call and never deliver”.

She said: “You call for independence. That is something that the Welsh public don’t want to see.

“But if they did see it, let me tell you, you would be scrambling around for money that you could never find. And I tell you what, your communities would not thank you for that.”