Plaid Cymru’s former Heritage Minister has said he is astonished that senior Conservative members in Wales are suggesting the Welsh Government should foot the bill for S4/C.
Rhodri Glyn Thomas AM said that it was staggering to think that the Tory-Lib Dem coalition has cut £5bn from the Welsh budget over the next 4 years yet were floating the idea of the Welsh Government financing S4C without any additional funding. Glyn Davies MP, who is a parliamentary private secretary to Cheryl Gillan at the Wales Office, used a blog post to suggest that the Assembly Government should put money into the channel.
Rhodri Glyn Thomas AM said:
“I was shocked when I read what was written by someone in an influential role within the Wales Office. Again this is a case of London making decisions on the future of S4/C without consultation with the Welsh Government. It is typical of the way the Tory-Lib Dem coalition have handled S4/C. They want nothing else but to simply wash their hands of the responsibility without safeguarding its future.
It is scandalous that the ConDem coalition would expect to cut the Welsh budget by £5bn over the next 4 years, with a 41% reduction in capital spending, and still expect them to pick up funding for S4/C. Telling the Welsh Government to pay for S4/C without any additional funding, against the backdrop of savage cuts in Wales, completely ignores the impact that would have on financial support for the NHS or education in Wales.
I am supportive of devolving the responsibility for S4/C to Wales but that has to be done side by side with devolving a sustainable funding settlement to support it. At present Welsh Tory and Lib Dem MPs have offered no guarantee of the independence of S4/C or a single penny of funding beyond 2015.”
