Pub tax hike and new Welsh budget cuts to prop up NHS

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By David Deans and Daniel Davies
BBC Wales

Pubs, shops and restaurants will see their business rates go up as part of plans to put more money into Wales’ struggling health service.

They include a fresh round of public spending cuts, with rural investment and climate change hardest hit.

Overall health spending will increase but below the rate that prices currently are rising.

Officials say ministers are prioritising front-line services, including the NHS and councils.

Finance minister Rebecca Evans said: “We have had to take some really difficult decisions to radically redesign our spending plans to focus funding on the services which matter most to the people of Wales.”

As part of Welsh Labour’s £23bn budget for the 12 months after next April, business rate relief for pubs, shops and restaurants will be reduced from 75% to 40%.

The government said the discount, which dates back to the pandemic, was “never intended to continue indefinitely”.

It remains at 75% in England, where business rates are set by the UK government.

Tuesday’s announcement comes on top of the cuts that had already been made in October to help support the NHS and Transport for Wales.

Ministers say there are some things the government will no longer fund.

The Welsh government says the money it is receiving from the UK government is not enough to cover rising costs – particularly for wages in health and education.

Ahead of the budget the Welsh Conservatives accused the government of wasting “millions” on “vanity projects” such as more politicians, while Plaid Cymru said “everything possible must be done” to protect public services.

The budget was published on the Welsh government website while the Senedd is in recess.

Where do the cuts fall?

Budget documents show every minister has had to make reductions.

When adjusted for the government’s measure of real terms, all departments apart from health have less to spend.

Rural affairs is taking the biggest hit, confirming fears of farming unions in the run-up to the budget.

After inflation, the day-to-day rural affairs budget will fall by more than a tenth.

Next year, health spend will be £11bn – more than half of government’s entire budget.

The Welsh NHS is contending with record-high waiting times and growing wage bills, while junior doctors are due to go on strike next month.

The Welsh government’s large climate change department, which includes transport, housing and Natural Resources Wales, is seeing the second largest round of new cuts.

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