From WalesOnline yesterday (Thanks for the alert Scott):
Most Welsh Government funds are held with in the UK Government Banking Service and the Treasury has taken back £155.5m from the Cardiff Bay administration’s balance because it exceeded the amount the UK Government allows the devolved administration to carry forward at the end of the financial year.
The figure emerged as part of the scrutiny of the Welsh Government’s accounts by the Senedd’s Public Affairs and Public Accounts Committee and has caused controversy. Wales’ finance minister Rebecca Evans called the decision “completely arbitrary” and the Welsh Government said it was “wholly unacceptable” and exposed the fundamental flaws in the devolution settlement.
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However the committee, which is made up of one member of each political party and is chaired by Conservative MS Mark Isherwood, blamed the Welsh Government for “poor record keeping and mismanagement of public accounts”.
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/uk-government-takes-back-150m-26554304
Some readers know just what is coming next.
From the Herald in 2006:
| Treasury could force Holyrood to conform | |
| DOUGLAS FRASER, Scottish Political Editor | April 24 2006 |
| The Treasury’s moves to whip Holyrood ministers into line in the spending of devolved money was last night condemned as thwarting the will of the Scottish Parliament. The Scottish National Party reacted angrily to The Herald’s disclosure that ministers from the Scottish Executive are being forced to conform to Whitehall’s policies if they are to have access to £1.5bn. John Swinney, the party’s finance spokesman, said: “This is a scandalous indictment of the executive’s mismanagement of the public finances of Scotland. They have failed to draw down the money to which Scotland is entitled, and they risk falling into the trap of a London treasury cash grab.” | |
And put more clearly by Wings back when it was good, in 2012:
Over its two Holyrood administrations from 1999, Labour had managed to under-spend the Scottish block grant to the collective tune of £1.5bn – money which was returned to the Treasury at Westminster because, incredibly, Donald Dewar, Henry McLeish and Jack McConnell just couldn’t think of anything to spend it on.
https://wingsoverscotland.com/probably-a-robbery/
Talking-up Scotland 
Brian Wislon and Nelly McKay agitating for an election in the Herod, but why should there be one? (The old Britnat warcry).
Both Holyrood and Westminster have passed the baton without public involvement many times.
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The London establishment view of devolution is that the purpose of the “assemblies” in non Anglo nations is to implement English law and any decisions which flow from that.
They control the “devolved” administrations,not the voters in those nations.
As our Governor General recently said,Suck it Up.
Democracy Westminster style.
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SO the ludicrous practice of having to spend the money on anything at all in order to secure the level of funding for the future continues? The amount of money wasted over the decades in order to meet arbitrary deadlines is obscene. We in our own finances carry forward funds to meet future costs and obligations and the fact that Westminster can simply claw back funds allocated to the devolved governments gives them another lever with which to control the policies of the devolved governments. THis again underlines the need for Scotland and indeed Wales to be independent of this awful Union.
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I noticed that London is still being built up and developed, lots of cranes, when watching the ‘Led by Donkey’s’ film about Tory MPs’ personal revenue enhancing desires and practices. Scotland’s oil money still being used to develop London’s infrastructure etc, while the EngGov sends a few £’s back to Scotland, be grateful Scotland lol, all the while Tories and Labour are laughing at Scotland.
I wonder what can be done about that…
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