Wales’ finance minister Mark Drakeford has called Plaid Cymru ‘baffling’ and said they will face a ‘day of reckoning’. Mr Drakeford used part of the debate about the next Welsh Government budget to criticise his political rivals.
Mr Drakeford today announced how the government will spend £26bn of funding in the next financial year. In a budget which was markedly different to last year’s, where almost all ministers had to find savings of millions of pounds, Mr Drakeford spoke of a “brighter” budget while announcing spending on schools, hospitals and roads. You can read more on that here.
Labour will need support from another party in the Senedd to pass the budget when the vote takes place on March 4. Plaid Cymru has backed the previous three budgets as part of a now-defunct co-operation agreement between the two parties, but the Conservatives have never backed a Labour-budget. Earlier in the day, Plaid Cymru’s finance spokeswoman Heledd Fychan said her party would not enter into a deal with Labour. Her Conservative counterpart said it was unlucky his party would either.
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It would likely mean that Lib Dem Jane Dodds would have to back the budget; otherwise it would not pass and could trigger a whole host of issues, including that if the annual budget motion is not agreed by the start of the financial year in April, the budget of the Welsh Government would revert to 75% of the previous year which would impact directly funded bodies such as the Senedd, Public Services Ombudsman, Wales Audit Office and the Electoral Commission. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here
Mr Drakeford said in the Senedd: “There is a day of reckoning coming for Plaid Cymru, though, isn’t there, on the budget? This is a budget that will provide faster treatment for thousands and thousands of people here in Wales. This is a budget that will build thousands of homes for people who so badly need them. This is a budget that will see all those children whose additional needs have not been met having those needs met in the future, and they will vote against them all.
“That’s the day of reckoning for Plaid Cymru. How many Plaid Cymru spokespeople did I hear tell me that there wasn’t enough money in this budget for local government? There’s £253 million extra for local government, and when you vote against the budget you’ll be saying to those local authorities that you don’t want them to have a single penny of it. That’s what serious politics is about.
“That day of reckoning is coming your way in March. There is a period between the draft and the final budget when I will be, as I explained to the finance spokesperson of Plaid Cymru, open to discussions with you about how this budget can be improved. But if that’s not the business you are in, then, believe me, the people of Wales will see through you and the political games you think you can play with their futures.”