Dominic Hannigan blasts Labour over Assembly budget

9.46.11pm GMT Sat 16th Dec 2006

Cardiff South and Penarth campaigner Dominic Hannigan has blasted Labour for the poor deal for education in last weeks budget. In a bizarre turn of events, Plaid Cymru refused to vote against the Labour Government and it was left to the Welsh Liberal Democrats to argue for more money for our schools and services.

Dominic Hannigan said "Welsh Liberal Democrats in the Assembly opposed Labour's cuts to front-line school services. Labour have given schools an extra 11m, but they took away 17.9 million in the name of 'efficiency savings''. Any school pupil will tell you that this equals a negative number.

"The Lib Dem's position was principled and consistent: education front-line services should be exempt from the instruction to local government to save 1%, which left schools out of pocket.

"The Welsh Liberal Democrats support more money for education and health. We could not support this budget because it cut funding to our schools and left our universities short-changed. It's a raw deal for education.

"If the opposition parties had all worked together, we could have secured millions more for education but Plaid caved in and chose not to work with the Welsh Lib Dems and to allow Labour's second rate budget through instead.

"It is unlikely that the people of our area will forget this double betrayal and I will continue to fight for a fairer deal for our local schools.