Welsh Government's draft funding settlement for Powys County Council has been welcomed by leaders of four opposition groups.

Plaid Cymru, Welsh Labour, Welsh Liberal Democrats and Action for Powys described the provisional Rate Support Grant (RSG) settlement as "fair and proportionate".

Elwyn Vaughan (Plaid Cymru), Matthew Dorrence (Welsh Labour), Jeremy Pugh (Action for Powys) and James Gibson-Watt (Welsh Liberal Democrats) said the four per cent increase on last year's settlement was "well above the increase proposed for most Welsh local authorities".

In a joint statement, the four group leaders said: "It reflects the challenges that Powys County Council will face in 2021/22, with the continuing challenge of the Covid-19 pandemic likely to remain severe throughout the rest of this winter; and the need to sustain the recent improvements in the council’s social care services and urgently proceed with the transformation of the education and training systems in the county.

"This settlement should enable those challenges to be addressed without the need for the sort of punitive, above-inflation Council Tax rises that the current Independent/Tory coalition has imposed on Powys’s long-suffering residents over the past few years.

“We look forward to the council’s ruling coalition bringing forward a draft 2021/22 budget that reflects this significant boost to the council’s funding.”