Labour Just Cons With no Change and no Relief for Carmarthenshire

Plaid Cymru have hit out at the UK and Senedd Labour Governments accusing them of being much the same as the previous UK Conservative government in forcing austerity on the people of Carmarthenshire.

Seasoned Plaid Cymru Councillor Alun Lenny launched an attack on UK and Welsh Labour over decisions they have made, which he claims to have accelerated austerity in the county.

Mr Lenny said: “Inadequate funding from the Labour UK and Welsh Governments, coupled with the Labour Chancellor’s devastating National Insurance hike, has forced Carmarthenshire County Council to cut £8m from its budget and set a Council Tax increase of 8.9%.

“Like all local councils, we depend on central government grants for 75% of our income, with just 16% of the rest coming from the Council Tax.

“After some 14 years of Tory Government austerity, we’re about £150m worse off in real terms than a decade ago, so we’d hoped that a change of government in Westminster would bring us some relief. Labour campaigned on the slogan ‘Change’ before last year’s General Election. Few thought that the ‘change’ would be for the worse, and that we’d find ourselves in the 15th year of austerity, in all but name.

“Labour brag about the extra £1.7billion for Wales, but that’s over two years and the lion’s share will go to the NHS. The cross-party WLGA, which represents all Welsh councils, says we need some hundreds of millions pounds more to maintain essential services like social care, education, highways and so on.

“But the most serious blow to our budget was the Labour Chancellor’s National Insurance hike in the Autumn Budget. This will cost Carmarthenshire County Council £3.5m, which equates to 3.5% on the Council Tax. In other words, had it not been for Rachel Reeves’ draconian NIC measure, we’d have raised the Council Tax by 5.4%, not 8.9%.

“I hope that residents remember this when they get their Council Tax bill. As I said during the debate on the Revenue Budget in County Hall, Labour owe the Council Taxpayers of Carmarthenshire an apology for the devastating impact their policies are having on public spending and on our residents.”