First Minister asked to consider sacking “the Mr Bumble of Welsh Government the cruel overseer of the poorhouse”

A Welsh Government Minister has labelled councillors asking for more funding ‘Oliver Twists’, as Wrexham Councillors come together to demand more from the final budget settlement.

This afternoon we observed a Wrexham Council scrutiny meeting where a local councillor and school governor related his recent experiences of local education funding, warning of job cuts to teachers, with retirements and job vacancies already not being filled, “We can’t physically cut another penny. Something has to give.”

One response came from Council Leader Mark Pritchard who said: “There has to be appropriate funding for schools. This is not just in Wrexham but across the country, and it is at Cardiff Bay’s door. They need to fund schools appropriately or there will be domino effect. We need more money into schools, it is as blunt as that. We are in the hands of both governments now.”

At the same time comments from Local Government Secretary Alun Davies surfaced, where he compared councillors to Oliver Twist for wanting more.

Sat in scrutiny meeting that is quoting how skint schools are in Wrexham – with Council Leader saying appropriate funding is needed to stop a ‘domino effect’ – ‘it is at Cardiff Bays door’. Then see this beeb story pop up… pic.twitter.com/HecvHdfRnc

— Wrexham.com (@wrexham) October 24, 2018

During the meeting we tweeted the above regarding this article from the BBC, that quotes Mr Davies saying “I’ve had a lot of councillors coming to me like Oliver Twists over the past few weeks – ‘Can we have some more'”

Mr Davies says councillors have agreed in private that 22 councils in Wales is unsustainable, but will not say so publicly, and thus he has ‘had enough’.

In response to comments by the Cabinet Secretary, Councillor Rob Stewart, the Welsh Local Government Association Deputy Leader said: “The remarks from the Cabinet Secretary are deeply unfortunate and inappropriate particularly bearing in mind that he is supposed to be the ‘voice’ of local government around the Welsh Government Cabinet table. Last week he spoke to BBC Wales and recognised that as a result of the Welsh Government Draft budget ‘People are going to find local services diminishing as a consequence of the austerity ….and that is going to have consequences in communities up and down Wales.’

“This week, he is belittling those who are arguing for proper levels of funding to support those treasured services such as education, social care, housing and transport for the most vulnerable communities across Wales.

“We call on the First Minister to distance himself from the comments of the Cabinet Secretary and consider whether or not it is appropriate for him to remain in the Cabinet in his current position. The Cabinet Secretary’s reference to Oliver Twist reflects a lack of understanding of both English literature and local government. Is he seriously characterising himself as the ‘Mr Bumble’ of Welsh Government the cruel overseer of the poorhouse? We make no apologies for asking for more resources from Welsh Government to save those services provided by hardworking teachers, youth workers, librarians and care workers that protect the communities of Wales.”

Going off council meetings we have attended in Wrexham over the last 48 hours it seems lobbying is set to increase in a cross party agreement – something that is usually quite rare.

Yesterday we documented the ongoing doom and gloom around the reaction to the budget settlement locally, with a direct request in the Executive Board meeting from the Council Leader and members of his Executive Board for councillors to lobby on behalf of the county borough for more cash.

Clr Wynn thanks Clr Jenkins 'for his honesty' over having to raise council tax. Notes he 'challenged' Cllr Marc Jones (Plaid) & Clr Davies (Lab) to lobby for Welsh Gov for Wrexham, adds he wants Cllr Jenkins (Lib Dems) to lobby too. Clr Jenkins replies 'we all need to do that'.

— Wrexham.com (@wrexham) October 23, 2018

In an unusual step political group leaders were named individually, all ‘challenged’ to do their bit, and lobby upwards to Assembly Members and Members of Parliament. Cllrs Dana Davies of Labour spoke to say she was making representations, and Cllr Alun Jenkins of the Liberal Democrats indicated he was willing, but also pointed to the other 51 councillors (many not in the room) to do their part too.

With Plaid Cymru entering into a Welsh Government budget agreement in October last year with Labour, group leader Marc Jones was the only one not to specifically speak on the lobbying point.

Today Cllr Jones said “I was challenged to make representations regarding council cuts yesterday. I couldn’t say anything publicly at the time. But here’s some breaking news.”

Cllr Jones posted a link to the local Plaid group’s website, that states: “Plaid Cymru have requested an urgent meeting with the Welsh Government’s Finance Minister Mark Drakeford over ‘serious concerns’ about cuts to local government following the budget announcement.”

Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Finance, Rhun ap Iorwerth AM said: “I am writing to Finance Minister Mark Drakeford to request a meeting to discuss the recent Welsh Government budget.

“We have serious concerns regarding the cuts to Local Government and the devastating impact it could have on Education and Social Services. These cuts are severe and substantial and worse than anyone could reasonably have expected.

“The WLGA and council leaders have all expressed deep concerns at the cuts and Labour members, including minister Hannah Blythyn, have slammed the Labour budget. Another Minister Alun Davies chose to attack councillors, telling them to stop complaining.

“This is a Labour austerity budget. Councils are facing a situation where they will simply not be able to provide essential services to the public. This is not acceptable. I want a rethink, and for an assurance that increasing council funding will be a priority for Welsh Government should new finances become available in the forthcoming UK budget.”

Last week we asked local AM Lesley Griffiths about the provision budget settlement for Wrexham Council, who pointed to Conservative austerity measures as a reason for a cut in local government settlements, noting there are Conservatives alongside Independents on the Executive Board locally – you can read her full remarks here.

Top picture: Local Government Secretary Alun Davies has a friendly chat with Council Leader Mark Pritchard.