HC Deb 30 October 1995 vol 265 cc11-2
10. Mr. Key

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what assessment he has made of the level of support for standard spending from central Government to local authorities in Wales. [37838]

Mr. Gwilym Jones

The level of support for 1995–96 is 88.6 per cent. and provision for the next financial year will be considered shortly.

Mr. Key

That sounds very generous to me. In fact, rumours have already reached my constituents in Salisbury that money has been spent by councillors in Wales to increase their allowances dramatically. That has been confirmed this afternoon. Does my hon. Friend know that those who are most upset by that development are the Liberal Democrats, who control my council, who wanted that money for their own increases?

Mr. Jones

I see—such is the way that the party of the left fights over the spoils as it lurches ever rightwards. Perhaps those councillors need the shadow Secretary of State for Wales, who is in the shadow Cabinet because he acts as a messenger boy for the Leader of the Labour party, and is trying to persuade Labour local councillors to keep their increases down to 400 per cent.