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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Economy 'top priority' for £15bn Welsh government budget | Economy 'top priority' for £15bn Welsh government budget |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The Welsh government said it would use its £15bn budget to help the economy when it published spending plans for next year. | The Welsh government said it would use its £15bn budget to help the economy when it published spending plans for next year. |
| Finance Minister Jane Hutt set out what she said was a draft budget to stimulate growth and which protected funding for health. | Finance Minister Jane Hutt set out what she said was a draft budget to stimulate growth and which protected funding for health. |
| She announced details of £175m of capital for infrastructure projects. | |
| But the Welsh Conservatives said it left the NHS in Wales with the worst settlement in the UK. | But the Welsh Conservatives said it left the NHS in Wales with the worst settlement in the UK. |
| Ms Hutt said: "Our number one priority is to deliver a budget for growth and jobs which will create a more prosperous Wales, by encouraging economic growth and creating and sustaining jobs." | Ms Hutt said: "Our number one priority is to deliver a budget for growth and jobs which will create a more prosperous Wales, by encouraging economic growth and creating and sustaining jobs." |
| Health, social services and children remains the biggest department with a budget of more than £6.4bn. | |
| But its biggest item of expenditure - revenue funding for NHS delivery - is being cut by £12.1m next year. | |
| Ms Hutt told AMs in the Senedd that 43% of the Welsh government's budget was being spent on health and social care. | |
| The capital funding she announced includes £65m for transport and £30m for hospitals. | |
| She attacked the UK government for cutting funding to Wales. The Welsh government's budget will be £2.1bn lower in real terms by 2014/15 than it was at its peak in 2009/10. | |
| The Welsh government does not have the power to borrow money or raise taxes, so must rely on an annual grant from the Treasury. | |
| "We stand by the decisions we have taken that underpin our budget - our investments in schools and skills, in health and in social services to ensure we can deliver our programme for government," she said. | |
| But Welsh Conservative finance spokesman Paul Davies said: "The NHS in Wales still faces the toughest settlement in the United Kingdom." | |
| Ms Hutt added that Welsh Labour was standing by a commitment to universal benefits, such as free prescriptions. | |
| With 30 of the assembly's 60 seats, Labour will need help from opposition benches to get its budget through the assembly. |