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Delyth Jewell, who is the deputy leader of Plaid Cymru, is one of four regional Senedd Members serving the South Wales East region.

“Last week’s budget was a missed opportunity, including for Cymru, resulting in continued austerity, inequality, poverty, and hardship for millions of people and leaving our public services at breaking point.”

Those aren’t my words, but those of Beth Winter, who was, until recently, a Labour party member, and a former MP for the Cynon Valley from 2019 until earlier this year. 

Despite being in a different party from Beth, I agree with her diagnosis. This is continued austerity. The Westminster budget contained no commitment to fair funding, and so Wales’s day-to-day spending settlement is less generous than that of Scotland and Northern Ireland. 

There was also complete silence when it comes to money from the HS2 rail project, and the cross party calls for powers to be given to Wales over the Crown Estate were ignored again.

In the Senedd this week, I challenged the First Minister about why we in Wales are consigned to further austerity and cutbacks. I regret to say that many people feel she has failed in her first key test to fight for what is fair and right for Wales. 

The results of recent austerity have been painfully clear in this area. The ongoing cuts in the county borough have led to the closure of Llancaiach Fawr Manor, and are at the root of the proposals to cut library services. And when it comes to the cuts to the winter fuel allowance and child poverty, austerity is continuing to bite.

There were, however, at least two measures I welcomed in the budget. It was gratifying to at long last see justice for former miners, with the promise that the £1.5bn mineworkers’ pension fund will be returned to miners, and we did get a concession on coal tip safety. 

I do welcome that money, but the £25 million set aside is nowhere near what is needed. We know the Welsh Government has requested £91 million over three years for coal tips, but estimates tell us it could cost up to £600 million over ten to 15 years to address these issues. 

These coal tips stand as reminders of how Wales was exploited: how we were left with the rubbish after our wealth was taken from us. For as long as those tips exist, the shadow of that betrayal will hang over our valleys. 

We can’t afford delays or half measures, because the risk of history repeating itself is just too awful to contemplate. I called on the Welsh Government to spell out their plans for the £25 million pledged in the budget and for guarantees from the chancellor Rachel Reeves that Wales will be compensated in full for the neglect our communities have suffered, and that those tips will be cleared at Westminster’s expense.