Budget 2012: The verdict from Welsh political leaders

Here in Wales, the Chancellor's budget was seen as either 'a budget of disappointment' or 'fair and supportive to Wales' depending on which Government you were speaking to.

The latter view belongs to Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan who said,

She said the fact that a further 42,000 people here won't pay any tax, a commitment to consider electrifying the Valley lines rail networks and an extra £11.7m for the Welsh Government was evidence to back her claims.

But the Welsh Government even questions that last figure. A spokesman says that it has no say over how £4.2m of it is spent, leaving a total of £7.4m to be spent on capital projects over the next three years.

Nowhere near enough, according to Finance Minister Jane Hutt, who had urged the Chancellor to bring forward capital spending so that Cardiff Bay could give the go-ahead to 'shovel-ready' projects in turn boosting creating jobs and boosting the economy.

Ms Hutt said,

In the Assembly the Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies praised 'a budget that rewards work, backs business and will support the economy, while benefiting tens of thousands of families' and called for that disputed extra money to be spent on helping families by, for instance, freezing council tax. And he added,

Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, Kirsty Williams seized on the raising of the tax threshold as proof of her party's influence on the UK Government:

What you didn't hear from either the Lib Dems or Conservatives in Wales was any comment on moves towards regional pay levels, although both have concerns about it. Labour and Plaid had no such qualms about attacking the Chancellor on this though. A Welsh Government spokesman claimed credit for what they detected as a slowing down of the plans, saying:

But Plaid's Treasury Spokesman Jonathan Edwards MP reckons it's a threat which is far from over: