Wales Budget Not a Pathway to Future Prosperity

The Draft Budget for Wales was announced today, and we are assured that health spending will get a boost of £293.5m

The Wales Green Party is concerned that the population of Wales is getting unhealthier and that there are few preventative measures in place to combat bad diet, poor housing and lack of exercise.

Pippa Bartolotti, Wales Green Party leader said, “The fact that we are having to spend more on health is in part a reflection on the bad health of Welsh society. Money spend on prevention will mean less strain on our hospitals and desperately stretched nursing staff. It is not a measure of success to have to continually spend more and more on healthcare.

“Greens would put more money into public transport which will promote a more active lifestyle and clean up the air we breathe. Both these outcomes will reduce pressure on healthcare.

“One of the key issues in the NHS is the lack of social care available for those leaving hospital. The approximate £1m allocated to each local council is not going to cover these ever increasing needs. Greens would push for the NHS Wales and Social Services to be amalgamated in order to make better use of the available funds.”

Greens welcome the small increase in capital spend for flood defences even as they deplore the cuts in revenue budget to Natural Resources Wales.

Bartolotti said, “Wales still lacks a coherent strategy for flood mitigation measures, and just building higher and higher barriers to the rivers and sea is not a solution. We must reforest the high ground and plant soak-up crops such as hemp around flood plains. Wales must wake up and play its proper part in the global effort to stop further warming. This means investment in renewable infrastructure and carbon negative housebuilding.

“In all this was a budget to hand out the cuts to subsidies coming from the UK Treasury. Wales needs to create its own income and have its own tax raising powers. That means Wales must have a supportive regulatory environment enabled by clear decision making at government level. We need to create a climate for sustainable investment and a strategy to carry that forward. This Draft Budget held none of the ingredients to a pathway for future prosperity."