Carmarthenshire Council leader urges rethink of Welsh budget cuts

Councillor Kevin Madge was one of the 22 Welsh council leaders who signed a letter sent to all members of the National Assembly for Wales, the House of Commons and the European Parliament outlining their very serious concerns for the future.

The letter states that: “Our purpose is to highlight the continuing seriousness of the situation emerging in local government as a result of budget cuts.”

It goes on to describe a dire future for local government, and for the hundreds of services it provides. While acknowledging the financial situation faced by the country, the letter states that the protection for the NHS, yet not for social services, will have a huge impact on how councils can operate.

It continues: “Councillors never entered politics to close or shut down services. We have all found the past five years particularly painful in our communities across Wales.

“Local government across the UK has been forced by government to make the most difficult decisions of any part of the public sector.”

Cllr Madge said it was vital that political pressure was brought to bear before the local government settlement figures were finalised.

“It is critical that there is a full understanding of the impact these further cuts will have before the decision is taken,” Cllr Madge said. “I am appealing to our local AMs and MPs to show their support for Carmarthenshire and join with us in fighting these cuts.

“We cannot possibly sustain the level of public services people expect with the level of cuts we see coming. Already we are seeing the impact in Carmarthenshire of the budget cuts from previous years, with the forecast of worse to come it will be impossible to continue to deliver any kind of quality sustainable services for the people of our county who depend on us to do so.

“If these cuts come in the form they are predicted to do, we may as well put up a sign saying: ‘Local government in Wales closed until further notice’.”