Wales is facing really significant budget cuts in the coming years. This chart shows how much both the resource and capital budget have changed year on year, accounting for inflation. Resource spending pays for day-to-day running costs and public services, while capital spending invests in long-term assets. In simple terms, capital spending will build you a hospital, resource spending funds the staff working in it every year. (It's best to ignore the period around Covid because the big changes to consumption patterns out everything out of whack). The Welsh resource budget it going down in real terms by 0.7% next year. The future does look particularly grim when we look at the capital budget, which is set to fall in real terms in each of the next three years. This would be the first sustained three-year reduction in the capital budget since the austerity period of the early 2010s. This is what is severely limiting Wales' ability to make big capital investments. In simple terms it is going to be harder for Wales to build/improve/fix roads, schools and hospitals. This is why it is doubly important Wales gets fairer treatment on funding - esp on our ability to borrow. Right now, we have less borrowing powers than a council and a worse deal that Scotland.

In a bizarre video titled “Remembering Aberfan ❤️” Reform’s Welsh leader pays tribute to people killed in the disaster 60 years ago before saying we need ban face coverings…