Welsh government loses Senedd vote over Chancellor's budget

Rachel Reeves promised half a billion extra in funding for Wales over four years

The Labour Welsh government has lost a vote in the Senedd, after opposition members joined together to attack the UK government's Budget.

The vote was on a motion, written by the Conservatives and backed by Plaid Cymru, which accused Sir Keir Starmer's government of failing to deliver for Wales.

The symbolic vote, which has no bearing on the Welsh government but shows what a majority of the Senedd thinks, was passed by 25 votes for and 24 against.

It is the first time the opposition has won in the Senedd since the Caerphilly by-election, where Plaid Cymru took the seat from Labour.

The by-election loss means it is harder for Labour's 28 Senedd members to get decisions through the 60-member parliament, forcing them to find the support of at least two other opposition members.

A crucial vote will come in January, when the Welsh government will try to pass its own spending plans for the next financial year.

If it cannot convince the opposition to vote with Labour Senedd members and agree a deal, the Welsh government budget will face automatic cuts.

Both the Tories and Plaid Cymru have said they would not want that situation to occur.

The Conservatives have already taken part in talks, as has Liberal Democrat Jane Dodds and independent MS Russell George.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced an extra £500m for the Welsh government in Wednesday's Budget on Wednesday - a sum Plaid Cymru said was "tiny".

In a Senedd debate, Tory Senedd finance spokesperson Sam Rowlands called the Budget an "omnishambles", with proposals published in error by the Office of Budget Responsibility before the announcement.

"This autumn budget should have offered clarity, ambition and a plan for growth," he said.

"Instead, it delivered uncertainty, instability and neglect, all rooted in Labour's decision to continue raising taxes and its refusal to get welfare spending under control."

Heledd Fychan, who speaks on finance on behalf of Plaid Cymru, said the Budget was "completely silent on reforming our outdated and unfair funding arrangements, silent on the devolution of the Crown Estate and correcting historic underinvestment in our rail infrastructure, of which HS2 is just one symptom of a larger problem".

She welcomed the end of the two-child benefit cap but criticised the Budget's tax decisions, saying ordinary people were paying more.

Liberal Democrat leader Jane Dodds said the Budget made Wales feel like an "afterthought".

"There is no return of the billions owed from the HS2 funding misclassification, no movement on devolving the Crown Estate, no action on taxing the excess profits of major banks, no commitment to invest in tidal or offshore wind sectors, where Wales should be leading, not waiting," she said.

In response, Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford said the budget "will mean... those children who, under a Conservative government, saw their future getting bleaker year-on-year will now see their future made better by a Labour government".

Drakeford promised "child poverty, having gone up inexorably, will now come down here in Wales".

Following the debate, the Tories, Plaid Cymru, Dodds, George and independent MS Rhys ab Owen all voted for a motion stating the UK government "is  failing to deliver for the people of Wales", with Labour members voting against.