Pork Barrel Politics in Welsh Council funding?

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 SlangA government project or appropriation that yields jobs or other benefits to a specific locale and patronage opportunitiesto its political representative.

I would be the first to admit that  "Correlation does not imply causation", but there seems to be a stark comparison between, the political make up of local government in Wales and  the changes to local funding 2018-2019

Last update 4 May 2018.

Council	Control		Web	Total	LAB	PC	CON	LD	GP	Other	Vacant	Upcoming by-elections
Blaenau Gwent	IND	IND	URL	42	13	1				29
Bridgend	NOC	LAB...	URL	54	26	3	8	1		16
Caerphilly	LAB	maj	URL	73	50	18				5
Cardiff	LAB	maj	URL	75	40	2	20	11		2
Carmarthenshire	NOC	PC...	URL	74	22	37				15
Ceredigion	NOC	PC...	URL	42		20		8		14
Conwy	NOC	IND...	URL	59	8	8	16	4		23
Denbighshire	NOC	CON	URL	47	13	9	15			10
Flintshire	NOC	LAB...	URL	70	34		6	5		25
Gwynedd	PC	maj	URL	75	1	41		1		32
Isle of Anglesey	NOC	PC...	URL	30	2	14		1		13
Merthyr Tydfil	IND	maj	URL	33	15					18
Monmouthshire	CON	maj	URL	43	10		25	3		5
Neath Port Talbot	LAB	maj	URL	64	43	15		1		5
Newport	LAB	maj	URL	50	31		12	2		5
Pembrokeshire	IND	IND	URL	60	7	6	11	1		35
Powys	NOC	IND...	URL	73	7	2	20	13	1	30
Rhondda Cynon Taf	LAB	maj	URL	75	47	17	4	1		6
Swansea	LAB	maj	URL	72	48		9	7		8
Torfaen	LAB	maj	URL	44	29		4			11
Vale of Glamorgan	NOC	CON...	URL	47	14	4	23			6
Wrexham	NOC	IND...	URL	52	12	3	9	2		26

All councils in Wales are facing real terms cuts to their funding from the Welsh Government next year.

The Isle of Anglesey, Conwy, Flintshire, Powys, Monmouthshire and Gwynedd are the worst hit. Onlu Flintshire is Labour led.

Cardiff will see the greatest cash increase, at 0.4%, while Merthyr Tydfil and Rhondda Cynon Taf will see a 0.3% increase.

Six south Wales councils can expect more cash, but the increases are below the inflation rate of 2.7%.


There may be reasons for this, but is  Torfaen more deprived than Blaneau Gwent?

Certainly there appears to be high levels of deprivation in most of the plus side. But there are areas of deprivation everywhere.


 Conservative local government spokesman Mark Isherwood. said ,

"This settlement is a kick in the teeth for north, mid and west Wales,"
"It is cronyism of the highest order and it is council tax payers across the region that will be paying the price."

As I said it may just be that those counties getting an increase  may have  very god reasons  for this, but you can't help being cynical and feel Pork Barrel Politics is behind the changes.