THE WELSH GOVERNMENT must recognise its failure to provide sufficient support for Welsh local authorities to discharge their duties.

So says Cllr Huw Murphy, the Leader of the Independent Group on Pembrokeshire County Council, who warned that without additional funding, council reserves would be drained, and many councils could face bankruptcy.

At a recent meeting, the Independent Group set out its position on Pembrokeshire’s financial challenges, underlining the importance of a balanced and fair Council Tax approach.

“The Independent Group will not push for an unrealistically low Council Tax rise at the expense of essential services,” Cllr Murphy said. “We will support a rise that might be politically uncomfortable but is necessary if fully costed.”

Lack of Welsh Government funding blamed

According to Cllr Murphy, Pembrokeshire’s financial difficulties are rooted in rising social care costs, an unfunded Home Office directive on unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, and out-of-county childcare packages that strain council resources.

Cllr Murphy welcomed efforts by Council Leader Cllr Jon Harvey and Chief Executive Will Bramble to raise these concerns with the Welsh Government but stressed the urgency of action.

Speaking to The Pembrokeshire Herald, Cllr Murphy highlighted the unfair tax advantages enjoyed by thousands of holiday properties in Pembrokeshire. Many are registered as businesses for non-domestic rates (NDR) but qualify for 100% Small Business Rates Relief, paying neither Council Tax nor business rates.

He argued: “This is unfair and frankly wrong. Every house in Pembrokeshire should pay the standard rate of Council Tax, with holiday rentals and second homes paying an additional levy.”

Councillors also debated reforms to the Second Homes Council Tax. Cllr Murphy suggested: “Bringing all properties under the same taxation umbrella could raise significantly more revenue than the current approach while addressing loopholes like the Welsh Government’s 182-day rule.”

Sobering statistics on Council Tax

Cllr Murphy pointed to troubling figures to illustrate local struggles: “Pembrokeshire County Council has issued 14,000 late payment letters and 4,000 summonses for Council Tax arrears. That shows the difficulties many residents face.”

He emphasised the need for a fair and proportionate approach to setting Council Tax, balancing the protection of essential services with the financial realities of residents.

Tackling empty properties

One area where the Independent Group proposes a bolder approach is Long-Term Empty Property (LTE) Council Tax.

Cllr Alan Dennison suggested a significant increase, proposing a single LTE band from April 2025 with a 250% levy by year three.

“This would raise nearly £2m, with the money going directly to essential services,” said Cllr Murphy. “We also propose a fair exemption process to ensure the policy is balanced.”

Questioning council priorities

The Independent Group also called for a review of capital projects, such as the Riverside development in Haverfordwest and the “Instagrammable bridge,” to identify savings that could ease the burden on taxpayers.

Cllr Murphy criticised the Welsh Government for failing to deliver adequate funding despite claiming its best UK Treasury settlement in 14 years. He also echoed comments from Cllr Jamie Adams, questioning the duplication of public sector roles in Wales and suggesting closer collaboration to reduce costs.

He concluded: “The Welsh Government’s priorities seem clear: funding their expansion to 96 Senedd members instead of supporting councils and services. When councils and households feel the squeeze, those decisions speak volumes.”

THE SENEDD supported calls to end the human rights scandal of autistic people and those with a learning disability being inappropriately detained in hospitals.

Hefin David tabled a cross-party motion on the Stolen Lives campaign led by families whose loved ones have been trapped in hospitals due to a lack of community support.

The Caerphilly Senedd Member shared the experience of Dawn Cavanagh’s son Jack, who was placed in an unsuitable secure residential unit more than 100 miles away.

Dr David explained that Jack was later sent to live in a psychiatric intensive care unit in Wales despite not having a mental health condition.

He said: “Imagine you, as the mother or father of that young man, seeing him experience what is effectively a prison experience simply because he’s autistic.

“Jack lived there for over two years.”

Dr David, whose daughter is autistic, told the Senedd that Jack is now thriving in a more appropriate environment after his parents overturned the decision to section him.

He said: “Here are some of the things he said to his mother following this change in his life: ‘I can see the moon and the stars’, ‘I have grass’, ‘I can hear birds’, ‘Thank you for my new home’, ‘Mummy, I’m a free man.’ But there are still many others who exist in this condition.”

Leading a debate on December 4, he warned: “This, at its heart, is a human rights issue.

“We cannot risk Wales being in continual breach of the Human Rights Act 1998: the right to be safe from harm, the right to liberty, and the respect for private and family life. The inappropriate use of deprivation of liberty orders must stop.”

Sioned Williams expressed concerns about the harrowing and completely unacceptable treatment of people inappropriately detained because they are disabled.

Ms Williams, who represents South Wales West, raised the grave injustice faced by a family whose son Will was constantly frightened after being sectioned.

She said: “Their son was sectioned, without their foreknowledge, over an Easter holiday when they couldn’t challenge what was happening. And the sectioning was traumatic.

“Will was told he was going on holiday and then admitted to a mental health unit, although it was determined later the issue leading to the section was not related to his mental health.”

Ms Williams warned: “There’s a human rights scandal here because this isn’t an isolated case, and lives like those of Will are being stolen. It’s a fact that the human rights of people with a learning disability and/or autism are being breached.”

Mark Isherwood said Learning Disability Wales states about 150 autistic or learning disabled people are known to be in a hospital setting, with two-thirds for longer than ten years.

He told the Senedd: “Wales was one of the first countries in the world to launch a strategy to get people with a learning disability out of long-stay hospitals, back into the community.

“Yet we seem to be going backwards and slipping towards re-institutionalisation.”

Carolyn Thomas raised a 1,754-name petition submitted by Stolen Lives calling for an end to the detention of learning disabled and autistic people in hospitals.

In a letter to the petitions committee chaired by Ms Thomas, the campaigners welcomed positive engagement with the Welsh Government.

But the petitioners wrote: “We need to see an action plan, with specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-based goals. We need to be able to hold people to account.”

Julie Morgan noted more than 40 years have passed since publication of the all-Wales strategy as she reminded members how far Wales has come.

The strategy followed an inquiry into allegations of ill-treatment of patients and pilfering by staff at Ely Hospital which sparked outrage when revealed by the press in 1967.

Ms Morgan pointed out her colleague Mark Drakeford co-wrote a book on the inquiry, which sought to transform the way people with learning disabilities were treated in the wider NHS.

She said: “I was involved with Ely Hospital … looking back 40 years and listening to this debate, I can still feel the sadness of some of those children who lived in Ely.

“I particularly remember one little boy who had had hydrocephalus … he sat in the window all day, every day, waiting for his mother to come to pick him up, and that went on for years.”

Sarah Murphy, who was appointed mental health minister in July, said: “No-one wants to see a return to the dark days where people with learning disabilities were institutionalised.”

She added: “The latest data that we have shows that, in October, there were 140 adults with a learning disability who were receiving ongoing care in an in-patient setting; 22 were in England. This is not good enough.”

Ms Murphy vowed to work closely with Baroness Merron, her Westminster counterpart, to ensure the UK Government’s mental health bill works for Wales.

She explained: “Importantly, this bill introduces changes so that it will no longer be possible to detain a person with a learning disability or autism for longer than is needed for assessment, unless they have a co-occurring mental health disorder.”

In closing, Ms Murphy told the Senedd: “I agree: this is a human rights issue, so, let me reiterate: one person in a bed and not in a home is one too many.”

RAISING tuition fees to £9,535 a year passes the cost of national insurance hikes to students and “won’t touch the sides” of a £100m shortfall, the Senedd heard.

Opposition politicians quizzed Wales’ higher education minister after she announced fees for undergraduates will rise by £285 or 3% to the same level as in England from August 2025.

Vikki Howells, who was appointed in September, confirmed tuition fee loans will also rise to up to £9,535, with student support increasing by 1.6% in the 2025/26 academic year.

Ms Howells, a former teacher at Caerphilly’s St Cenydd Comprehensive, announced an extra £20m for Medr, a public body which was established this year to oversee all post-16 education and research in Wales.

During education questions in the Senedd on December 4, Conservative Tom Giffard asked how much the UK Government’s national insurance increase will cost Welsh universities.

Estimating the cost at about £20m, Ms Howells said: “The announcement I’ve made today to raise the tuition fee cap in Wales to £9,535 is estimated to cover those costs to universities.”

Mr Giffard replied: “What you’ve done minister is offset the cost of a Labour UK policy by increasing tuition fees for students to pay for it….

“Before that announcement about employers’ national insurance, universities estimated that they run a deficit, cumulatively, of about £100m and yet nothing that has happened so far will address that blackhole.”

The shadow education secretary added: “Taking those two policies in combination, it’s a zero-sum game … the thing that students and universities have in common is that they were promised greater support … and only received greater bills.”

He pressed the minister about emergency funding, raising concerns about three years of cuts leaving Welsh universities worse off than counterparts in the UK.

He warned: “This crisis is real, the university funding crisis is very, very real and it’s immediate – so what are you going to do about it?”

Ms Howells said an analysis of higher education fees and funding across the UK found Wales offers the most generous student maintenance support.

She emphasised the need to balance the needs of students and universities, vowing to put the higher education sector on a more sustainable footing.

She told the Senedd: “If the tuition fee cap was not raised in Wales then it would definitely put our universities at a disadvantage.

“The decision that I’ve taken will not affect the amount of money available to students while they study and neither will it result in graduates repaying more each month. Only those who go on to be the higher earning graduates will likely pay back this increased fee.”

Ms Howells stressed that universities are autonomous and pointed out that 90% of their funding comes from sources outside of the Welsh Government.

Cefin Campbell, Plaid Cymru’s shadow education secretary, warned an extra £20m for Medr could be “swallowed up straight away” and “doesn’t touch the sides” of a £100m shortfall.

Mr Campbell said: “Increasing tuition fees in Wales will undoubtedly burden students with even greater debt, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds.”

He accused the Welsh Government of taking its eye off the ball over the past 25 years, warning of no coherent strategy and a lack of investment.

The former lecturer said £2 out of every £5 the Welsh Government spends on student fees goes to subsidise universities in England, with £500m a year being spent outside Wales.

He told the debating chamber or Siambr: “As a result of today’s announcement, even more Welsh taxpayers’ money will flow across the border.”

Mr Campbell, who represents Mid and West Wales, raised concerns about 40% of students leaving Wales for higher education, compared with 5% in Scotland and 9% in England.

Raising concerns about the so-called brain drain, he warned that taxpayers’ money is being used to export Wales’ best and brightest students beyond the border.

Ms Howells rejected the “reductionist” argument, saying it would be wrong to limit the horizons of students who choose to study elsewhere.

She said: “It is absolutely imperative that we support our young people to study wherever they wish to. We need to empower our young people to make the best decisions they can.”