Kirsty Williams leads Welsh Lib Dem calls for Immediate Assembly Government Spending Review

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 5th May 2009

Kirsty Williams will today call upon the Welsh Assembly Government to undertake an immediate, emergency spending review.

Kirsty Williams will today call upon the Welsh Assembly Government to undertake an immediate, emergency spending review. The Welsh Liberal Democrats believe that faced with record public borrowing and years of heavy cuts to follow, the Assembly Government is choosing to pretend that for two more years, the boom-years spending can continue.

Kirsty Williams said:

"The Labour Plaid coalition has admitted Wales faces long term and huge cuts to public services. But this government is holding off dealing with this harsh reality for the next two years - waiting until after the next Assembly elections to face up to reality. This represents a wilful neglect of duty and the worst form of politics - saving up longer term problems and tricking the people of Wales into thinking nothing has changed, when everything has. Wales will pay for this lazy short termism for decades to come."

The Welsh Liberal Democrats believe that a 'last days of Rome' approach to government is purely for political gain and likely to damage Wales' long term economic prospects. Kirsty will call upon Rhodri Morgan and Ieuan Wyn Jones to stop misleading Wales, to face financial reality and to cut their cloth accordingly.

Kirsty Williams added:

"Faced with an uncomfortable truth - historic levels of public debt, Rhodri Morgan and Ieuan Wyn Jones have chosen to tidy their room by hiding everything under the bed. They are storing up billions of pounds of cuts for the next government, instead of cutting their cloth today. If the Finance Minister can tell us the UK will realise 9 billion pounds of cuts in 2014, long after general and Assembly elections, why can he not tell Wales what cuts will be made this year and the next?"