Madam,

I think many of your readers will have noted how Chris Schoen really missed the target when he attacked the Welsh Assembly over local government spending constraints.

Perhaps Chris mistakenly believes Theresa May’s false claim that austerity is over.

The truth is that the Tory government in Westminster really holds the purse strings and it has for the past eight years forced spending cuts down the throats of everyone but the rich who had tax cuts.

Nowhere is that more evident than the cuts to public sector spending including the money allocated to Wales and the Welsh Assembly.

In the latest council cash allocations the Assembly has ensured that no authority has to manage with a reduction of more than one per cent. What a contrast to Tory England where councils like Northampton are going bust!

Chris also refers to additional cash recently allocated to Wales. This was as a result of funding changes to the NHS in England. Quite properly the Welsh Government has prioritised this money for the health service in Wales.

It may be the case that, in the not too distant future, voters in this area will face a general election and Chris and the rest of us will face some real choices between a Tory government that has crushed most of our services and communities with its fixation on austerity, and a Labour Government that wants to invest in our services and our communities and see jobs that pay a real living wage.

Wales as a whole and our local council services in Gwynedd are victims of Tory austerity!

Yours etc,

Graham Hogg, Barmouth.

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