Concerns raised over £72m shortfall's effect on council
Peter Fox has written to Monmouthshire Council's leader regarding the impact of the shortfall in employer National Insurance (NI) funding.
The shortfall comes following the UK Government decision to increase NI contributions without providing full funding to local authorities, leaving public sector bodies to pay more to employ staff.
Mark Drakeford, Labour's finance secretary, assured in November that additional funding would cover these increased costs.
This week, he revealed the UK government would not provide full funding, leaving a £72 million shortfall across Welsh public services.
Mr Fox said: "Mark Drakeford assured us that these tax increases would not fall on the public sector, so last week's news was bitterly disappointing.
"Local authorities will now face a difficult choice: either cut vital services or raise council tax to cover the extra costs."
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Scotsman
25 minutes ago
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New Statesman
27 minutes ago
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New Statesman
27 minutes ago
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Reform needs Zia Yusuf
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Why prioritise such an issue with your first question as an MP when it was not even party policy? The answer is that Pochin, who won the Runcorn and Helsby by-election, was cynically, opportunistically (choose the most appropriate adverb) 'laying down a marker' as one her allies put it to me. This is who she is and what she wants. In his BBC interview with Yusuf, who is a British Muslim of Sri Lankan heritage, Nick Robinson suggested that he provided 'cover' for Farage. The implication was that he was a useful idiot. That is one view. Another is that as a Goldman Sachs alumnus who earned as much as £30 million from the sale of a business, and has since demonstrated his competence by professionalising the party, Zia Yusuf has the kind of experience Reform must attract if is to become anything more than an anti-system protest movement. That was the real reason Farage was desperate not to lose him. [See more: Will Labour's winter fuel U-turn work?] Related
