By Lesley Griffiths

MS for Wrexham

Before the UK Government revealed its Spring Budget last week, the Welsh Government published its Final Budget for 2024-25 at the end of last month.

This updates the Draft Budget put forward in December and, typically, there often aren’t too many changes between the proposals.

However, this year is slightly different as the Welsh Government has been able to make almost £190m of extra allocations in the Final Budget.

This is because the majority of Wales’ funding comes from the UK Government in the form of a block grant and after making some last minute changes in devolved areas in England, consequential funding has trickled through to Wales.

In addition to giving the NHS an extra £450m during the next financial year, more funding is going to local authorities. Wrexham Council was expecting a 3.2% increase in funding but this has risen to a 3.5% uplift.

Although an increase in funding is welcome, the rise is modest and the challenges remain.

Tory mismanagement in Westminster has severely damaged the UK economy. We had more than a decade of austerity, the disastrous mini-budget, a cost-of-living crisis, record inflation and now a recession.

I wish I could be more optimistic but the fact is the Welsh Government’s funding settlement is not sufficient to respond to all the pressures it is facing.

Business Wales provides free independent advice and support to people starting, running and growing a business in Wales.

Following the loss of EU funding, the Welsh Government announced in 2022 it would commit almost £21m every year until 2025 to sustain the service.

According to the latest figures, a new business supported by Business Wales is twice as likely to still be operating after five years when compared to an unsupported business.

In Wrexham, 228 individuals have been assisted since May 2021. Over 90 new enterprises have been created and almost 200 jobs have been safeguarded.

Business Wales is an excellent service and I hope even more people and businesses in Wrexham benefit in future.

Finally, I want to congratulate all those who organised and took part in Wrexham’s St David’s Day parade. The turnout was amazing and it was lovely to see over 750 local school children participating.

As always, if you’re a constituent in Wrexham and there is an issue I could help you with, please contact me via email: lesley.griffiths@senedd.wales or call 01978 355743. You can also keep up to date by following me on ‘X’ (Twitter) and Facebook, just search @lesley4wrexham.