THE BUDGET

Now that the dust has settled, it's pretty clear that once again that the New Labour Government failed to announce a fair funding system in this year’s Budget, which means that we in Wales will be hit hard by a 5% real terms cut when the new financial year starts. The failure to ensure fair funding for Wales, with either a fair system or a fair deal has sadly become a signature failure of what's now nearly 13 years of New Labour Government.

The Budget Red Book, suggests that there will be a real terms cut of around 5% once inflation is taken into account –which will start not next year but in little less than two weeks time.There can be little doubt that there are deep cuts coming, which we can be sure will hit Wales hard before we begin to leave this recession behind. initially it was estimated that the Welsh budget would be hit by £2.8bn over three years, but recent revisions by independent bodies such as the Auditor General for Wales estimate £3bn or more over three years - however you spin it that's a big ouch"!

The failure to hold a Comprehensive Spending Review before the General Election and the failure to make it clear exactly where proposed cuts are going to being made, once again leaves the people of Wales well and truly in the dark – and unable to see what the effect will be upon Welsh public services. It is ironic that both New Labour and David ('Call me Dave') Cameron's Conservatives are very happy to tell us what they will keep in the UK Budget, but much more reticent when it comes to telling us what they will cut and where, which is the real issue.

The current funding formula for Wales, where the money for our public services comes from is decided by spending priorities of London, we in Wales will not know the effect upon Welsh public services over the next three years until they have been announced in detail in England. The Holtham Commission recommended that the Treasury in London produce an annual publication
which provides details of changes to the Assembly budget arising from decisions made in London - this has not happened.

The Welsh Department Expenditure Limit for 2009-10 was £16bn and will be £15.7bn in 2010-11 which begins on 6th April, 2010. Taking inflation into consideration this will be a cut of 5% year on year to the Welsh block grant.When it comes down to brass tacks, while this is an unacceptable state of affairs is acceptable to new Labour and Conservative MP's in Wales it is no and never wil be acceptable to Plaid and many people within Wales.

The only way this unacceptable state of affairs will be rectified is by ensuring that Wales has a strong voice in Westminster and the only way that is going to happen is by sending more Plaid Cymru MP's to Westminster. The old two parties have failed us, failed our communities and failed Wales. We need to think differently, we need more Plaid MP's something that will ensure
that people in Wales will be electing MP's who will actually stand up against these cuts wherever they will have a negative impact upon our communities and our public services. It's time to think different, its time to think Plaid.