9. Dadl y Ceidwadwyr Cymreig: Ariannu llywodraeth leol

Part of the debate – Senedd Cymru am 5:17 pm ar 29 Mawrth 2023.

Danfonwch hysbysiad imi am ddadleuon fel hyn

Photo of Janet Finch-Saunders Janet Finch-Saunders Conservative 5:17, 29 Mawrth 2023

(Ddim wedi ei gyfieithu)

Oh. This means that council tax in the Conwy local authority will have increased by an astonishing 224.16 per cent, and my colleague Sam Rowlands, is very—. You know, very small proportion of that. The rest was Labour-Plaid Cymru. This represents the largest percentage increase—oh, and some independents—of any local authority in Wales. Growth in regular pay among employees in Great Britain was at 6.4 per cent in September to November 2022. There's no doubt that the 9.9 per cent rise cannot be justified, especially when Torfaen—[Interruption.] No. I would have done, you know, but you won't. When Torfaen has managed 1.9 per cent. But we know why Torfaen can manage 1.9 per cent, when we see all the money pooled together and the resources they have in terms of their reserves.

Rather than taking action on wasteful spending or management, our council now expects local council tax payers to pay the bill. So, £155.5 million has been sent back to the UK Government. Some of that could have come to Conwy. None of you here will have faced those people and businesses when we had the additional lockdown for three weeks by your Welsh Labour Government. A lot of those businesses were on their knees. That money could have gone towards them. That money could have gone towards social care, where again—it's a pity that the health and social care Minister—. Again, they would have really benefited from that money going into their budgets. It is obscene that money came over here from the UK Government—[Interruption.] Sorry, Joyce, no. It's obscene that money came over here to spend during an emergency and the COVID pandemic, and instead of spending it or providing it or allocating it to where it was really needed, you just sat on it, thinking perhaps that the UK Government wouldn’t claw it back. But all I will say is that you need to have the ambition and the aspiration as a Government here that our Prime Minister of the UK has. Thank you.