THIS week, Plaid Cymru voted against the Welsh Government’s draft budget and I want to take the opportunity to explain why Labour’s budget was unacceptable to us.

Readers will know, see and feel the damage of austerity. It can be found on the boarded-up public libraries, the crowded A&E centres and in people’s pockets.

The austerity agenda, meted out by the Coalition in Westminster has failed. The UK’s debt is getting bigger – debt interest alone is nearing a billion pounds a week – and the so-called recovery means nothing in Welsh communities.

Plaid Cymru wants a rebalancing of wealth across the UK which would mean investing in neglected areas and channelling our economic plans towards manufacturing and exports rather than putting all our eggs in the banking basket.

It is what we’ll fight for at the next UK general election.

But the Labour Welsh Government also has choices. It’s true that its budget has been cut by London. But with what’s left, Plaid Cymru believes in spreading investment to all corners and spending wisely now so we don’t store up future problems for the next generation to inherit.

Plaid Cymru could not support a budget that squanders the entire borrowing capacity of Wales on an M4 project that is economically dubious and environmentally unsound – especially when other options are available that would leave enough money for other parts of Wales to benefit too.

Neither could the party support slashing initiatives in our communities that would help prevent people from needing hospital treatment. It’s common sense to do all we can to help people in their homes so that much-needed hospital places are not unnecessarily filled.

And we could not support cutting apprenticeships for our young people especially not when almost a quarter of youngsters are unemployed and when they need skills now more than ever to make a living for themselves in this tough economic environment.

That is why we’ve called for an all-Wales budget that looks to the future.

Leanne Wood

Leader of Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales