Independent and Labour councillors in Merthyr Tydfil have clashed over who is responsible for the financial situation the council is facing. Councillor Andrew Barry, independent cabinet member for finance, said the UK Government had thrown the economy off a cliff but also said the Welsh Government has turned its back on the Valleys with the latest provisional settlement for Merthyr Tydfil.
But Labour councillors have said the responsibility lies with the UK Government and what it called its mismanagement of the economy. The comments were made on a report which went before full council on Wednesday, January 11, which showed that after the provisional Welsh Government settlement in December, the authority is looking at a gap in its funding of £11.035m.
The provisional local government settlement saw a funding increase of 7% (from £110.7m to £118.5m) announced for Merthyr Tydfil for the 2023-24 financial year ranking it as 18th out of all 22 Welsh councils and below the Welsh average increase of 7.9%. The final local government settlement is due to be announced on March 7 or 8, the report said.
