Welsh Government Budget promises are ‘empty words’ – Senedd committee
The Welsh Government’s proposed Budget for the next financial year is a plan riddled with ‘empty words’, says a report by the Senedd’s Finance Committee.
The report published today (3 February) is calling for urgent changes to be made to the Draft Budget as the current proposals ‘lack focus and clarity’.
The government’s spending plans will be debated in the Senedd tomorrow (4 February) giving MSs the opportunity to vote on the 2025-26 Budget for the first time.
National Insurance
One of the major areas of concern for the Committee is the impact of increases in employer National Insurance Contributions on organisations in Wales following the UK Government’s budget in October last year.
According to the homelessness charity Llamau the hike will cost it an additional £500,000 next year. The Marie Curie cancer charity also projected a an extra £260,000 bill in Wales alone.
The Committee was told that Wales could be disproportionately affected by the National Insurance increases as the changes have a bigger effect on lower paid workers and Wales tends to have more workers on low wages compared to the UK average.
Today’s report urges the Welsh Government to publicise the funding they will receive from the Treasury to lessen the impact of the increase and also to commit to pass this money on to local authorities.
Concern at the National Insurance rise is also highlighted by five other Senedd committees as a worry for organisations in their sectors.
The Welsh Government’s financial settlement for 2025-26 was hailed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer as the “largest real terms funding increase since devolution”.
It promised “optimism” and a “brighter future”, very different from the language of austerity in previous years. But the Committee finds that the Welsh Government’s spending proposals doesn’t match this rhetoric – and in many areas they are nothing more than ‘empty words’.
Cost of living crisis
The Committee also heard evidence that the cost of living crisis has not gone away and it is now entrenched in the daily lives of many across Wales.
Instead of moving away from providing support to people struggling to make ends meet, the Welsh Government should prioritise it, according to the Committee.
Peredur Owen Griffiths, Chair of the Finance Committee, said, “Over the past few weeks, this Committee and several others have heard from experts that the Budget plans for this year will not provide adequate levels of support for critical services in Wales.
“The National Insurance rise for employers was cited as a major worry by many organisations, like those who work in social care, with some saying that it might even lead to their closure.
“We know that the cost-of-living challenges that many people face haven’t gone away and our message to the Welsh Government is clear: now is not the time to be cutting back on supporting vulnerable people.
“Today’s report outlines serious concerns about the proposed Budget and provides clear recommendations for the Welsh Government to consider. If the upcoming Budget is meant to signal a new start and a break from austerity, unfortunately there’s quite some work still to do.”
Over the coming weeks, the Welsh Government will consider the Committee’s report on the Budget before a Final Budget Debate and vote in the Senedd on 4 March.
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Why is this not a surprise? Once again our glorious leaders appear to be good at something even if it is only showing us how out of touch they are.
Cymru being short-changed again.
Not news, is it?
And there is no sign that anything will change in any future under Labour, Reform and the Tories. All determined to treat us as undeserving. As ungrateful.
Demeaned and patronised.
Time for real (non-Starmer-style) change. Time for independence. Time for us to be in control of our own destiny. To be sovereign in our own right.
Stand apart as Cymru but stand together as Cymry!
Then after independence what? Where is the money going to come from? Plaid are no different to Labour with the exception that they will drive away any sensible investors.
To the contrary, Richard Carpenter. The austerity rhetoric of Labour, Reform and the Tories undermines the public sector, which is the engine of the economy. The government creates funds at will – for a recent example, consider the origin of the £6b the government magically found to repurchase some military housing (but not to fund warm houses for pensioners). There is no need to borrow (although that does make money for the banks and lawyers etc) and we can make far use of pension funds. Private sector investment will not bring about the much-vaunted but inherently problematic growth. Bailey and… Read more »
I have a suspicion with the election looming next year the Welsh Govt are salting away a war chest to magically deliver, big spending on some areas in early part of next year, to make them look like saviours and to try to buy votes.
The people want and deserve assistance and support now not political shenanigans.
I very much doubt it. Maybe they’ll put some spin on it, but if anything, funding for next year – and the forecasts for the remainder of the parliament – looks even more challenging. The current saying I hear a lot in amongst London civil servants is “devolve and forget” i.e. devolved governments have budgets, and tax raising powers, and to get on and work with it Which brings us to this article – I appreciate it’s an article, but what changes are the Finance committee asking to be made? Seems a lot people happy to criticize at the moment,… Read more »
I don’t think there’s anyone there with the brains to think that far ahead.
The Labour administration appears to be walking into the next Senedd election with a fair amount of arrogance and expectation.Who will they blame if it goes wrong for them ?
I saw Eluned Morgan in an interview saying Reform is an English based party. Then why did they come second in so many Welsh seats at the General Election ? Why wasn’t she asked that question ?
If! that’s if, we gained independence within the next 12 months would you trust anyone in the senedd at the moment to take control of it to be capable of running with it for the people the voters, for Wales? Someone capable of standing on the world stage and representing Wales, for the future of this country.
They all seem to be happy to live on handouts and follow orders from a foreign power they all line up awaiting massive pension payouts they all believe they deserve and blame everything on anyone else they can. Where do they teach incompetence??