Is Plaid right to accuseWelsh Labour of revoking cap promise?
Plaid Cymru is calling on the Welsh Labour Party to fulfil a general election pledge and give NHS workers a pay rise. But the issue is more complicated than it might first appear, explains Chief Reporter Martin Shipton
THE campaign to lift the 1% cap on the pay of NHS workers is one that most people will have sympathy with.
RPI inflation – the only realistic measure of inflation because it includes housing costs – was running at 3.7% in May, so a 1% pay rise is in fact a significant pay cut.
But is Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood right to accuse the Welsh Government of reneging on a promise made by Labour during the recent general election campaign?
It’s certainly true that such a promise was made.
But it was made as part of a £48.6bn package of measures affecting the whole of the UK that also involved increasing revenue by the same amount – by putting up corporation tax and tax on higher earners, for example.
In fact, the promise on lifting the pay cap from 1% to 2% wasn’t made just to NHS workers, but to all public sector employees. It would cost £4bn across the UK.
This, then, was part of the programme set out by Labour in its general election manifesto.
But Labour, while doing much better than most people expected, did not win the general election, and we still have a Conservative Government that is at present refusing to fund higher pay rises for public sector workers.
Plaid Cymru, however, has taken the view that because the commitment on lifting the pay cap was made in Labour’s Welsh manifesto, it should be seen in isolation, with the promise delivered by the Welsh Labour Government, regardless of the fact that no money has been provided by the Tory UK Government to pay for it.
Under the devolution settlement, when more money is put into the NHS in England, a proportion is also given to the Welsh Government, which must decide itself how the extra cash should be spent.
Since the Conservatives came to power in 2010, they have imposed real-terms cuts on the devolved administrations, in line with their policy agenda.
Up until now, Plaid Cymru has argued against austerity policies and in favour of “fair funding” for Wales. Logically, that would mean arguing that the UK Government should increase spending on the NHS in England, with extra money flowing to Wales in consequence.
Plaid’s new position is a departure from that stance, leading to criticism from a Welsh Government source, who said: “Plaid Cymru has given up on fair funding for Wales, which isn’t a very nationalist thing to do.
“Its call for the Welsh Government to lift the NHS pay cap without extra funding from Westminster is deeply cynical. It would require £110m to be cut from Wales’ core budget, including £60m from the NHS – the cost of 3,000 nurses. If we implemented cuts of that order, Plaid would be screaming.
“If lifting the pay cap was really a priority for Plaid, they could have asked for it during Budget negotiations last year, when they got concessions worth £115m. Why didn’t they? Instead they preferred to build a bypass in Carmarthenshire.
“All they are doing is jumping on a populist bandwagon, and in so doing betraying their own previous commitment to fair funding for Wales.”
In response to the Welsh Government source, Plaid Cymru’s health spokesman Rhun ap Iorwerth said: “For the Labour Party to make a manifesto commitment that they now claim they cannot afford to implement, and then accuse Plaid Cymru of populism is farcical.
“Calling for our nurses and NHS staff to receive a fair wage, and calling on the Labour Party to keep to its promises is not ‘jumping on a populist bandwagon’, it is our duty as the opposition.
“The Labour Party made a commitment to lift the NHS pay cap in its 2017 manifesto for Wales. If they can’t keep to that promise, why did they put it in their manifesto? Their financial incompetence is failing public sector workers.
“We agree that Westminster is not treating Wales fairly, but it is Labour that accepted the Wales Bill and the financial settlement – Plaid Cymru opposed it. It’s about time the Labour Party started taking the job of government seriously rather than seeking every opportunity to shift blame.
“The Scottish Government has committed to lifting the pay cap in Scotland, the Labour Party said they would do so for Wales and they must now honour that promise.”
My conclusion? That Plaid would have a better case if Labour’s pledge had been made not at this year’s General Election, but at last year’s National Assembly election.