Welsh government budget passes with Lib Dem help

The Welsh government’s spending plans for the next year have been given the go-ahead in the Senedd on Tuesday evening.

Its £26bn budget for the NHS, education and other public services passed a crucial vote after Labour ministers won the support of Liberal Democrat Jane Dodds last month.

Government politicians needed the help of one opposition MS – Dodds was won over after ministers promised a ban on greyhound racing and £1 bus fares for under-21s.

The Welsh Conservatives and Plaid Cymru opposed the package, which cover the next financial year.

Labour MSs banged Senedd tables as the result of the vote came in with 29 Senedd members in support and 28 against, with one abstention from Dodds.

In a debate, Wales’ Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford took aim at the two opposition parties, warning they risked losing extra funding for the NHS and childcare.

The Tories said the budget would not “fix Wales”, while Plaid accused Labour of failing to meet the challenges Wales faces.

Welsh Labour had been searching for a deal after the Plaid Cymru co-operation pact came to an end last summer.

If the budget had not been not agreed the Welsh government’s funds – which mostly come from the Treasury – would be automatically cut, with potentially £4.15bn over the course of a financial year at stake.

Under the previous Labour first minister Vaughan Gething it had been unclear how a deal could be achieved with all other parties ruling out working with him.

Decisions taken by UK Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves means there is £1.5bn more in the Welsh budget for 2024-25, according to the Welsh government.

Plans include £600m more for the Welsh NHS, which ministers hope will tackle high waiting times.

But there are concerns public bodies will have to use the extra cash to fund a rise in the National Insurance paid by employers.

While there are promises of extra support for the public sector from the Treasury, it is not clear to what organisations it will extend to, or how much will be provided.

Opening the debate on his budget, Drakeford said: “Today with this budget, we turned the corner, moving beyond austerity to investment and to growth.

“While we cannot undo all the damage inflicted on Wales during the austerity years we can begin to rebuild our services and create an economy which truly offers prosperity for all.”

Attacking the Tories and Plaid Cymru, Drakeford told the Senedd: “There is no other budget that can be endorsed here this afternoon.”

He said voting against it was a “vote against” extra treatments in the NHS, the employment of teachers, extra child care places and other policies.

Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth intervened and accused Drakeford of a “spurious argument”.

“Whilst we can agree with elements of the budget, of course we can – this is a flawed Labour budget.”

Drakeford responded: “If you were to succeed everything I have outlined this afternoon would be lost.”

The two later clashed on how much they had tried to negotiate. Drakeford said Plaid had not been “prepared” to so, claiming to have met a party spokesperson three times. He said the party did not “return to discuss what you would have wanted in order to be able to have allowed this budget to go through”.

Ap Iorwerth said he had been in a meeting with Drakeford “who didn’t mention how we could work together on their budget”.

Later, Darren Millar, Welsh Conservative Senedd leader, said voting down the budget would be a “good thing”.

“Let’s be clear about this – if the Welsh government lost this vote today, it would effectively bring to an end twenty six years of a failing tired, clapped out Labour government that is devoid of the right ideas to fix the problems and the challenges that Wales faces.”

His finance spokesman Sam Rowlands said the budget was “merely a sticking plaster over the problems that far too many people face in Wales”.

“It won’t lead to greater prosperity for our people. It won’t put more money in people’s pockets and it won’t give us the public services that the people of Wales are crying out for.”

Plaid Cymru’s Heledd Fychan said the budget “falls short of adequately addressing challenges we face as a nation”.

If the budget passed, she said, “services that people depend on will continue to be cut, some will disappear entirely. Council tax will rise significantly”.

“Far too many people will still be unable to afford food, unable to afford to heat their homes and will be living in poverty.”

She reiterated Plaid demands for finance reform and extra funding from the Labour UK government.

She said the budget lacked a “single penny” of consequential funding from High Speed Rail 2. “Where is the fair funding formula,” she asked.

Welsh government ministers made an additional £100m worth of commitments to secure their deal with the Welsh Liberal Democrat leader.

Dodds, who is her party’s only MS and represents Mid and West Wales, was promised extra money for childcare, social care and councils.

The deal includes a £15m pilot scheme where anyone aged 16 to 21 will be able to travel anywhere in Wales on a bus for £1.

Labour holds exactly half the seats in the 60-member Welsh Parliament.

Ministers needed the help of one opposition member to get business passed, which came in the form of Dodds abstaining.

She told Tuesday’s debate: “Today I feel a deep sense of responsibility.

“This budget is crucial, not just for the progress we’ve made but for security vital funding.”

She said it was not the budget “I would have chosen”.

“But I am proud of the key victories of the Welsh Liberal Democrats.”

A Wales spokesman for Reform UK, which is hoping to win its first MSs at the next election in 2026, had called for the budget to be rejected, saying it “did nothing to fix our struggling economy, failing public services, or the cost-of-living crisis”.

By Gareth Lewis, BBC Wales political editor

Labour is asking voters to stick with it – in Wales and in Westminster – and to allow time for public services to improve.

That could be a challenge, with forecasts suggesting tighter public spending in future years, low economic growth in the UK and global economic and political uncertainty – all of which could mean less money coming from Westminster for Welsh ministers to spend.

And what if voters simply want change after what will be 27 years of Labour in power come the 2026 Senedd election?

The other parties sense that change in the air and will spend the next year arguing that two Labour governments working together are not doing enough for Wales and that the Welsh government’s spending priorities are wrong.

Labour for its part tried to put Plaid on the defensive during the budget debate, accusing it of jeopardising billions of pounds of funding by not backing the spending plans.