What's Powys done to derserve this?
Yet again Powys has received an inadequate settlement to fund its services across the county and things could have been even worse had not Plaid Cymru secured extra monies both for central services and local expenditure such as school heating bills.
It is clearly unacceptable however that Powys, which has one of the lowest average wages in the UK, one of the worst differentials between wages and house prices and one of the highest instances of people holding a second job just to make ends meet, should receive 15% less in its revenue increase from central government than even the average settlement in Wales. Powys has slipped from being the best supported county in Wales to 12th or average position but its needs have not changed. Sadly this is only to be expected from a Labour Assembly Government whose cabinet is composed, except for one, exclusively of AMs from the former South Wales coalfield.
Only Plaid Cymru can challenge Labour's stranglehold on politics in Wales at the Assembly elections on 3 May. The Conservatives hold ten out of twenty regional seats so any constituency gains will be offset by regional seat losses. The LibDems will only ever be bit-players in Welsh politics - the spare wheel to keep Labour's car on the road. After all, voting LibDem and Tories in Powys in 1999 and 2003 didn't help did it?
About Me
- David Thomas
- I was born and brought up in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire. I was educated in the primary and secondary schools in Haverfordwest, at the Universities of Oxford (Keble College) and Wales (Cardiff and Aberystwyth) and the South Wales Theological College. I live just outside Llanwddyn, near Lake Vyrnwy, Montgomeryshire. I work in the Maelor School, Penley, where I am Head of Modern Languages and Professional Development Coordinator. I am Chair of the Governors of Ysgol Efyrnwy, Llanwddyn,the Lake Vyrnwy Marathon Committee and the Plaid Cymru Branch for North Montgomeryshire. I am Vice-Chair of the Powys Eisteddfod 2007 Learners’ Committee. I am a member of the Powys Citizens’ Panel, the Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust, the Guilsfield Singers and Friends of Mid Wales Opera. I am also a member of the World Development Movement and the Institute for Welsh Affairs. My priorities are what everybody in Montgomeryshire deserves:good schools in the villages as well as the towns; good health care in Montgomeryshire as well as Shropshire; good transport links into and around Montgomeryshire and good planning which provides jobs in both the countryside and the towns.
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