IT’S that time of year again. The past few weeks has seen a number of significant publications emerge quietly from the National Assembly and Welsh government. But quietly is not good enough. It’s time the Members in the Senedd learned to shout with the best of us.

The mainstream media attention will undoubtedly focus on the Outline Draft budget announced by Mark Drakeford on October 2. The budget marks the second year of a two-year agreement between Labour and Plaid Cymru on the division of resources the Welsh government has at its disposal. The headlines are the contrasting fortunes of health and local government with a 5.4 per cent uplift for health and social services and 1.8 per cent reduction for local government.

A renewed emphasis on major road and rail projects and other infrastructure sees economy and transport get the largest increase, of 12.2 per cent. Education, energy planning and rural affairs also gain in real terms with central services and administration cut back.

Local authorities will have to wait until the end of the month to discover how much of the hole in their core funding can be plugged via specific grants which are being announced separately.

Inevitably there will be the usual battle over how Drakeford has proposed the cake is cut on this occasion. However, the fundamental questions are not about the annual slicing of the cake, but rather the scale of the resources the Welsh government has to deliver public services to meet public needs.

It is clear that savage cuts are coming, particularly to local government, and there will be a need for communities and public service trade unions to pull together in opposition to this Westminster-imposed austerity. Recognising it for what it is will be the first step.

Drakeford himself opened his statement by arguing: “Never has the need for a UK Government to abandon the failed polices of austerity been more urgent” and closed his remarks with “this government remains committed to do everything we can to help our public services meet the very real challenges they face today.

“This is a bread-and-butter budget, focused on sustaining the fabric of Welsh life and using every source of revenue and capital available to us in order to do so.”

The capacity of the Welsh government to resist the cuts without engaging a movement of popular support is slight.

We see a with-inflation rise in landfill tax with a high unauthorised penalty designed to encourage recycling; an announcement on the way about measures to attack business rates avoidance; a consultation on proposals to remove rate relief from private schools and hospitals; and a £125 million drawdown from reserves.

Unfortunately, Welsh Labour failed to alter land transaction tax (stamp duty) and have placed a pause on new income tax varying powers until after the next election in 2021, which means significant revenue levers remains idle at a time of dire need. However, more progressive noises have emerged regarding the block grant which makes up the bulk (around 80 per cent) of Welsh funding.

This willingness to engage with the funding debate itself provides more fertile ground for unity. In addition to the outline budget there have been some strategic longer-term announcements in recent weeks. In Reforming UK funding and fiscal arrangements after Brexit the Welsh government declared: “We have operated our fiscal powers within an EU framework … there is now a compelling case to develop a new fiscal agreement for the UK, its devolved countries and regions.”

The highlights of this document are the calls to
“replace Barnett formula with a new, rules-based system which ensures the allocation of resources within the UK is based on relative need,” “UK funding and fiscal arrangements which promote fairness across the UK, encourage balanced economic growth across all parts of the UK and uphold and enhance devolution,” and “reforms to the intergovernmental machinery overseeing funding and fiscal arrangements to ensure they are based on the principles of partnership, agreement and consent.”

The recent publication Preparations for Replacing EU funding in Wales by the Assembly finance committee, currently chaired by Plaid Cymru’s Llyr Gruffudd, is on the same page arguing that Welsh government should prioritise the development of a “sustainable long-term replacement for the Barnett formula that allocates funding across the UK based on need.”

If there is a growing convergence of ideas within the Senedd, then surely it is high time for a more public campaign in the towns and villages across Wales and beyond.

The current key weaknesses in Welsh democracy are the powerlessness of its institutions; their lack of control when it comes to the resources required to fund our public services; and their failure to engage and inspire a national movement for Welsh democracy at the grassroots.

The Welsh government should be granted and utilise the full range of revenue raising and borrowing powers commensurate with its status as a national parliament. This should be a key plank of any campaign, but its core should rest on the principle of a needs-based formula to fairly distribute funds across Great Britain.

David B Morgan is a member of the Welsh committee of the Communist Party of Britain.