Quote Originally Posted by JamesWales View Post
You've just completely ignored the points I've made. Local councils have made spending decisions. The council have not prioritised youth services and the WG am certainly haven't.

So yes, it is partly their fault. Your attitude lets them get away with it.

It's at a local level where this stuff is spent
Wales may be slightly different from the rest of the UK - but I doubt it.

Like any Tory red top you can pick out a few spending decisions by Councils at the margin and claim' Gotcha!' but the fact remains that government funding of Councils was cut by over 50% between 2010 (the start of the Cameron-Osbourne Austerity Cult) and 2021, and overall Council budgets were cut in real terms by 26% over that time.

The budget crisis for Councils deepened after 2021 leading to more section 114 notices (effectively saying they are bust) by Councils of both main parties. The only slight relief was the Gove budget announcement at the end of last year claiming a Ł64bn funding package for this year - a 7.5% increase.

In that time the cost and pressure of core services has risen much higher than inflation. Most Councils have little or no discretionary spending power left. They put the vast majority of their reduced and inadequate budgets into Homelessness and Adult Social Care. They can't afford to do anything else - and they can't do that properly.

Sure the odd pothole gets filled, a planning application is processed or a cycle lane or two is marked out - but that is so marginal to the big picture that to focus on that is pure deflection.