Budget 2013: Welsh government gets additional £104m

The Welsh government will get an additional £104m to spend over the next two years as a result of the chancellor's Budget.

Capital spending - which pays for long-term infrastructure and building projects - is being boosted by £161m in Wales.

However, that will be partly offset by cuts in day-to-day revenue funding.

The Labour Welsh government attacked a "disappointing" Budget that it said would put pressure on services.

The devolved administration is feeling the impact of a squeeze on revenue in Whitehall.

It has an annual budget of around £15bn, but will lose £57m over the next two financial years as a result of reductions announced in the Budget.

The Welsh government says it will actually have to find even bigger savings because of cuts that had already been announced.

However, Wales Office minister Stephen Crabb said that despite 1% cuts to other UK government departments Wales would only see a 0.2% cut.

Growth

Delivering his fourth Budget to Parliament, Mr Osborne cut his official growth forecast in half, but insisted the UK would avoid a "triple dip" recession.

He said his Budget was for "those who want to work and get on".

Welsh Secretary David Jones, who is in Vietnam on a trade mission, said: "The measures announced by the chancellor today are intended to stabilise the country's finances, restore business confidence, and ensure private sector growth."

He added: "It is now up to the first minister and his team to set their own priorities and use this funding to invest in high-quality infrastructure, including any shovel-ready projects waiting for the financial backing to get off the ground."

The Welsh government says that by 2014-15 its capital budget will be 40% lower after allowing for inflation than it was in 2010-11.

First Minister Carwyn Jones had called on the chancellor to borrow more to pay for an economic stimulus - a call the Conservatives described as "casino economics".

Finance Minister Jane Hutt said: "The price for additional capital investment is high - paid for by cuts to our revenue for the next two years.

"These cuts are a real blow and will place our crucial public services under further pressure."

She added: "We have repeatedly called on the UK government to boost infrastructure investment to stimulate the economy.

"This Budget falls far short of what we called for and urgently require."

Talks between the Welsh and UK governments on improvements to the M4.

Mr Crabb said there would be "no lack of money for infrastructure in Wales".

The Wales Office said a £2,000 cut in national insurance bills for employers would benefit 35,000 business in Wales.

Conservative and Liberal Democrat politicians hailed a rise in the personal income tax allowance to £10,000 in April 2014 - a year earlier than planned.

The UK government says a further 12,000 people in Wales will pay no income tax as a result of the higher allowance - the income threshold at which people start paying tax.

Taken together, increases to the allowance since 2012 will have lifted 130,000 people out of income tax in Wales.

Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Kirsty Williams called it a "historic achievement".

The Welsh Labour government should its additional funding "to get our economy moving and to tackle the extremely high unemployment levels we have in Wales", she said.

Plaid Cymru MP Jonathan Edwards said Mr Osborne should have adopted the Silk Commission proposals to give the Welsh government more powers to borrow money and vary taxes.

Labour's shadow Welsh secretary Owen Smith said: "Last year's Budget asked millions to pay more so that millionaires could pay less.

"This year, George Osborne's statement showed that he and the coalition are still wholly out of touch with the Welsh people, that their values are wrong and their moral compass corroded."