Welsh Government accused of ‘waving white flag’ over Cardiff University job cuts
Welsh Government accused of ‘waving white flag’ over Cardiff University job cuts
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The Welsh Labour Government is “waving the white flag” on job cuts at Cardiff University, opposition parties have said. The university set out proposals to cut 400 jobs – 7% of the total workforce – and close a number of degree programmes on Tuesday, including nursing, music, ancient history and modern languages.
The move has been blamed on a £31.2 million funding shortfall. During a topical question on the proposed cuts, opposition groups in the Senedd hit out at the Welsh Labour government, accusing them of not doing enough to protect higher education. But Labour higher education minister Vikki Howells insisted they have done everything possible to support the sector, who stressed universities are autonomous and “90% of their funding comes from outside the government”.
Speaking in the Senedd on Wednesday, Plaid Cymru’s Cefin Cambell said the Welsh Government was “waving the white flag in the face of hundreds of redundancies” and leaving the university sector to “wither on the vine”. Referencing a Tony Blair-era Labour slogan, the MS for the Mid and West Wales region, said: “What has happened to ‘education, education, education’?.
“It has been replaced by stagnation, obfuscation and deterioration. “Now that Wales’ biggest university is set to lose 400 staff, it’s a shocking symptom of Labour’s chronic failure over 25 years to put our universities on a sustainable financial footing.”.
