WLGA (Welsh Local Government Association)

During scrutiny of the 2024-25 Welsh Government budget, the WLGA — which represents all 22 Welsh councils, including many Labour-led authorities — warned that the budget could not protect frontline services. This was significant because it was Labour council leaders criticising a Labour Welsh Government's budget, demonstrating that the fiscal pressures on devolution are structural rather than partisan.

The WLGA's public warning that the Welsh Government budget was insufficient to protect frontline local services was described by Senedd Finance Committee Chair Peredur Owen Griffiths as 'unequivocal' — a striking intervention from an organisation whose membership is predominantly Labour. The WLGA's advocacy for a 'new partnership' with the Senedd reflects the recognition that the current devolution settlement creates a funding cascade where inadequate UK Government allocations flow through the Welsh Government to local authorities, with each level blaming the one above for insufficient resources. The WLGA's proposed partnership would involve greater fiscal devolution from Westminster to Cardiff, combined with greater empowerment of local authorities by the Senedd. This two-level devolution argument — more powers for Wales from Westminster, more powers for councils from the Senedd — challenges the assumption that devolution is only about the Cardiff-Westminster axis and highlights the importance of intra-Wales power distribution that Andrew RT Davies also advocated from a different political perspective.