PRESS RELEASE

Commenting on the publication of the local government settlement for 2013/14 following the Labour, Plaid Cymru and Welsh Liberal Democrat deal on the Welsh Government’s budget, Janet Finch-Saunders AM, Shadow Minister for Local Government, said:

“Labour, the nationalists and Lib Dems agreed a very challenging settlement for Welsh local authorities, which means tough decisions and a forensic scrutiny of council spending.

“The challenge for local authorities is to resist the easy options of putting up the Council Tax bills of hardworking families or cutting frontline services.

“Welsh councils need to go through their budgets line by line and eliminate wasteful spending, improve their tax collection rates and deliver services in more imaginative ways.

“Councils would be well advised to follow the lead of Conservative-led Monmouthshire Council in publishing their expenditure online because transparency is the best way to root out waste.

“Welsh local authorities would have had greater financial flexibility had Carwyn Jones delivered Council Tax freezes in the past three years with the funding provided by the Conservative-led Coalition.

“Cries from one Labour-led authority that they may go bust due to this settlement will not be met with credibility given that council’s current recruitment of a new tier of bureaucrats.”

ENDS