FINANCE Minister Rebecca Evans announced a £600 million package of budget cuts today as the Welsh government faces a financial black hole.

The budget shortfall of £900m is due to higher-than-expected inflation and higher pay settlements across the public sector, where the Tories in London have not passed on the extra money to match the NHS settlement in England.

“The Welsh budget is under unprecedented pressure caused by the combination of record inflation, more than a decade of austerity, and the UK government’s mismanagement of the economy,” Ms Evans said.

The minister insisted that the government’s priority was to protect core services, jobs and people hardest hit by the cost-of-living crisis, as she announced a package of changes to spending plans. 

Ms Evans claimed the cuts would help the government balance its books between now and next April.

But along with the cuts, she did announce additional funding for the health service and protection of the budget for councils.

“To deal with particular pressures facing the NHS, we are having to reallocate funding meaning reductions in some areas,” Ms Evans said.

She said that an extra £425 million would be providee to support the NHS, but she made it clear that this would not make up the shortfall in health board budgets.

“Health boards will still need to make some extremely difficult decisions, both this year and in the next financial year, to balance their budgets,” the minister said.

This will mean health boards having to make cuts to their overall budgets.

Plaid Cymru’s Peredur Owen Griffiths said: “Poor management and an unfair funding formula from Westminster has left the Welsh government scrambling to fill gaps in already stretched public services.”

Mr Owen Griffiths, who chairs the Senedd finance committee, called on Ms Evans to “appear before it to explain a questionably late response to the widely publicised gaps in the Welsh budget.”

The package of cuts was mitigated by some use of the government’s reserves and Ms Evans is looking to receive budget top-ups from the UK government.

Welsh Conservative Peter Fox said: "The Labour government have grossly mismanaged their budget. For them to be scrambling to make cuts wherever possible shows the desperation they have found themselves in by spending frivolously on unneeded pet projects.”