David DeansWales political reporter
PA MediaThe Senedd has approved the Welsh government’s £27bn budget for the NHS, schools and other public services.
Welsh Labour secured its spending plans after Plaid Cymru signed a deal in exchange for extra funds for councils, health and infrastructure.
Labour’s Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford said the budget provided “security and stability” for Welsh public services.
But the Welsh Conservatives said the budget failed to deliver tax cuts while Reform’s MS Laura Anne Jones called it a “zombie retirement budget from a dead in the water government”.
The Welsh Liberal Democrats said the budget was a “missed” opportunity to set out a clear plan to “save our NHS”.
Opposition parties found themselves with more leverage last autumn when the Caerphilly by-election left Labour two seats short of a majority, and requiring the help of two opposition MSs at least to pass laws and spending plans.
The Welsh Conservatives were among the parties that spoke to Cardiff ministers, but in the end it was Plaid Cymru which agreed to allow the budget to pass shortly before the Christmas break.
The deal included extra cash for local government and the health service, as well as a sum of £120m set aside for a new government to spend on any new buildings, roads or other types of infrastructure.
A source at the time described the spare cash as a “golden egg” for whoever wins May’s Senedd election, and a “vast amount” for a single year.
The final budget improved on original plans set out in the autumn by the Welsh government, which some had warned would have led to cuts in councils and the NHS.
Drakeford had indicated he would be prepared to find more money for both services, something that came to fruition once the budget was passed.
In a Senedd debate on Tuesday evening, Drakeford said the budget “delivers again on the priorities of a progressive Welsh Labour government”.
“It provides security and stability for our public services, those who work in them, and even more so for those who rely upon them,” he said.
Heledd Fychan, Plaid Cymru’s finance spokeswoman, said her party would put forward its own budget within “the first 100 days of the next Senedd term”, should it win the election.
She said Plaid’s support of the budget was “not an endorsement” but “rather Plaid Cymru providing much-needed stability for public services”.
The Welsh Conservatives’ Sam Rowlands complained about the lack of tax cuts in the budget, saying a 1p reduction in the basic rate would “save nearly £500 a year for Welsh families up and down Wales”.
“The truth is that on these benches we trust people to have money in their pockets, and we hear from the benches opposite that they want to take more money off people to spend it as they think better, rather than trusting people to spend the money.”
Although she did not agree a deal for the new budget Jane Dodds, the Welsh Liberal Democrat leader and the party’s only MS, said she would also be abstaining on the budget.
“It is our responsibility, as all of the parties here in this Senedd, to make sure that the people of Wales get the money that they deserve,” she said.
“Not passing this budget would mean that we would have [had] budget cuts to essential services,” she said, referring to automatic cuts that come about if an agreement is not reached.
Reform’s Laura Anne Jones said: “This zombie retirement budget from a dead-in-the-water government does nothing to fix the deep problems facing our country.
“Much of the headline figure is swallowed up by inflation, pay pressures and recycled funding, meaning the real impact on services and communities is far smaller than the ministers suggest.”
The Senedd agreed the spending plans with 25 MSs voting in favour, versus 13 against and 14 abstentions.
