South Wales Evening Post - 24 November 2005
Liberal Democrat Councillors in Swansea have warned the Assembly's budget settlement will mean cuts in front-line services, unless ministers rethink their plans. The Assembly last month announced the local government settlement - the amount it will be giving to local councils to help them provide services such as schools, old people's homes and road maintenance.
Assembly ministers hailed the five per cent increase from last year's settlement to Swansea Council as "generous". However, people who run local services have painted a very different picture.
Liberal Democrat councillor Rene Kinzett, Swansea's deputy cabinet member for finance, said: "The Labour Assembly Government has given Swansea five per cent with one hand, but taken one per cent off all budgets across all services with the other.
"The Labour government's plan to force all local councils to slash one per cent off all budgets this year has not been taken into account. The actual figure for Swansea's settlement increase is more like four per cent.
"It is also very unfair, because councils in England have been allowed to reinvest the efficiency savings they make back into front-line services. In Wales, the Assembly government has just taken one per cent from councils and will not let us decide how best to reinvest those savings."
Fellow Liberal Democrat councillor, Peter May, deputy cabinet member for housing and social services, said: "These cuts will have a marked effect on the services we deliver. An arbitrary one per cent cut across all council services will inevitably mean cuts in front-line services."
We are calling on the Labour-run Assembly government to let us reinvest the efficiency savings we make to save local services from disastrous
