Commenting on today’s Wales Audit Office report into public sector funding, Shadow Local Government Minister Darren Millar AM said:
“This report sets out in the starkest possible terms the challenges facing public sector bodies across Wales in the months ahead.
“The disastrous state of the economy and record low settlement for local authorities this year means there is an inevitable and difficult trade off between securing jobs, restraining pay and protecting frontline services.
“The Assembly Government’s failure to prioritise spending on those services and Labour’s mismanagement of public finances means public sector organisations need to deliver more for less.
“A number of councils are already warning about the prospect of significant job losses, while it is clear much more needs to be done to cut out waste and inefficiency. Every organisation needs to tighten its belt.
“Whoever wins the election will have to ask each part of the public sector to accept a one year pay freeze in 2011.
“This freeze should not include public servants earning less than £18,000, because we don’t believe in balancing the budget on the backs of the poorest.”
