By Paul Dicken
6 September
Speaking ahead of the Comprehensive Spending Review, WLGA chief executive Steve Thomas said local government was waiting in ‘trepidation’ for real-term cuts of 25% over the next four years.
The Welsh Government will publish its budget in November following the UK Spending Review. Thomas said the fall in revenue for Welsh local government could be around £140m each year with a £50m annual cut in capital spending.
‘Reductions of this scale will inevitably result in job losses across the public sector,’ he said. ‘Local government in Wales has already announced between 3,000 and 4,000 job losses over the next three to five years, all of which has a knock on effect on spending in the local economy.’
Thomas said this was troublesome in Wales, where a greater proportion of the working population is employed by the public sector. The sector also spends over £4.3bn annually on private and voluntary sector goods and services.
‘The result is that Wales is potentially more vulnerable to a double-dip recession than the rest of the UK,’ Thomas added.
The WLGA is also critical of the current approach to tackling the deficit in the national accounts. Thomas said that to do more with less might be a convenient mantra for national politicians but the reality of the spending cuts meant that ‘do less with less may be the order of the day’.
The WLGA’s statement came as local government minister Carl Sargeant began a ‘Your service, your say’ tour by ministers to hear local views on how to provide frontline services with reduced budgets.
6 September
The Welsh Local Government Association has warned that the public sector cuts to be announced next month put Wales at greater risk of returning to recession.
Speaking ahead of the Comprehensive Spending Review, WLGA chief executive Steve Thomas said local government was waiting in ‘trepidation’ for real-term cuts of 25% over the next four years.
The Welsh Government will publish its budget in November following the UK Spending Review. Thomas said the fall in revenue for Welsh local government could be around £140m each year with a £50m annual cut in capital spending.
‘Reductions of this scale will inevitably result in job losses across the public sector,’ he said. ‘Local government in Wales has already announced between 3,000 and 4,000 job losses over the next three to five years, all of which has a knock on effect on spending in the local economy.’
Thomas said this was troublesome in Wales, where a greater proportion of the working population is employed by the public sector. The sector also spends over £4.3bn annually on private and voluntary sector goods and services.
‘The result is that Wales is potentially more vulnerable to a double-dip recession than the rest of the UK,’ Thomas added.
The WLGA is also critical of the current approach to tackling the deficit in the national accounts. Thomas said that to do more with less might be a convenient mantra for national politicians but the reality of the spending cuts meant that ‘do less with less may be the order of the day’.
The WLGA’s statement came as local government minister Carl Sargeant began a ‘Your service, your say’ tour by ministers to hear local views on how to provide frontline services with reduced budgets.
