Wales UK Government News

Assembly Members may have to be recalled during their Christmas break to deal with delays in introducing a new council tax benefits system. Welsh Government sources say that despite responsibility for benefits being transferred to Cardiff, the Treasury still hasn't said how much money there'll be.

The Welsh Government says it can't set regulations for local councils until it knows how much funding is available which may in turn mean councils missing their January deadline for setting up schemes. Sources say up to 330,000 households could miss out if the problem isn't dealt with.

Among the options being considered, I'm told, is asking for the Assembly to be recalled after it breaks for recess on December 5th in order to make sure the situation is resolved.

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• council tax benefit
• Welsh Government

• Politics
• Jane Hutt AM
• Welsh Government

The agreement, with the Westminster Government, is being seen as an important step on the path to further devolution. Our political editor Adrian Masters has been looking at what difference the change could mean.

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• Welsh Government
• UK Government

Finance Minister Jane Hutt received broad support from Conservatives and Liberal Democrats when she spoke in the Senedd about today's announcement of the Welsh Government's deal with the Treasury on funding and borrowing. But the former Deputy First Minister, Ieuan Wyn Jones was highly critical.

I can't join in this love-in. This is an awful deal. The Treasury have taken you to the cleaners

I have to ask -would you have got the Treasury on side? Get real, come on board.

Today's statement from the two governments says a new funding settlement to replace the 30 year old Barnett formula is 'an essential precondition for any significant devolution of taxes' but that any borrowing powers will be subject to there being tax -or other- revenue to repay the loans.

Mr Jones claimed that the Welsh Government had failed to secure a key objective set out by the First Minister, that borrowing powers and tax raising powers would not be linked. Earlier, Ms Hutt had confirmed that discussions on paying for improvements to the M4 are 'at the top of the agenda'.

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• Welsh Government
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• Danny Alexander MP
• Welsh Government

Plaid Cymru says there's no detail on borrowing in the Welsh Government's deal with the Treasury. The party says there's also no clear commitment to reform the Barnett funding formula. The former Deputy First Minister, Ieuan Wyn Jones, says he would have been ashamed to have signed such a deal.

The Welsh Government entered into the bilateral discussions with the twin aims of securing borrowing powers and fixing the Barnett floor at 115% of spending in England. This statement shows that they have failed on both counts. Wales has already lost over 40% of its capital budget, and the economy is in crisis. We need to have borrowing powers immediately so that we can kick start the construction sector and boost jobs.

The Treasury’s weasel words on borrowing show that they have failed to grasp the enormity of the economic crisis we face with 50,000 young people unemployed. The statement doesn’t even tell us how much Wales will be allowed to borrow at some future unspecified date. The failure to agree a formula to fix the Barnett floor also shows that the Treasury is now clearly complicit in perpetuating the underfunding of Wales.

This announcement has the Treasury’s paws all over it, and I can’t understand why any First Minister of Wales would sign up to it. I would have been ashamed to have signed up to this weak and bland statement. There is no mention at all of the longer term need for a wholesale reform of Barnett.

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• Welsh Government
• UK Government