INCREASED NHS spending, a commitment to a rail link between Newport and Ebbw Vale and an assurance that construction of the M4 relief road will not begin until at least 2016 were among the proposals in yesterday’s draft budget from the Welsh Government – but many departments face harsh cuts.

Yesterday afternoon finance minister Jane Hutt set out the draft budget for 2015-16 which allocates £15.3 billion to government departments.

She announced the Welsh Government is progressing with detailed planning on the South Wales Metro system, looking at a rail link between Newport and Ebbw Vale.

There was an extra £425 million of funding to the Welsh NHS over this year and next.

But the budget for local councils was cut by £154 million, the Welsh Local Government Authority said, adding that “if local government continues to bear the brunt of austerity then some local services will disappear”.

The budget is likely to pass after the government made a deal with Liberal Democrats to get it through the Assembly. Welsh Lib Dem leader Kirsty Williams said they had made a two-year deal which sees spending on the pupil deprivation grant rise from £800 per pupil to £1,050 next year and a further £100 the year after, and be extended to under-fives.

She said her party had secured a promise that no construction of the M4 relief road would start until after the next elections, after an Environmental Impact Study, a public inquiry and a judicial review.

A Welsh Government spokesman said: “Despite the unprecedented budget cuts by the UK government, which will see the Welsh 2015-16 Budget more than £1.5bn lower in real terms than in 2010-11, the Government has continued to focus on its priorities for Wales.”

Blaenau Gwent AM Alun Davies welcomed investment in the Ebbw Vale line, but said: he did not believe a direct route to Newport will be beneficial for the people of Blaenau Gwent.

He said the priorities for Blaenau Gwent are a focus on electrification, dualling the line to allow the development of new more frequent services and a new service to Abertillery.”

John Griffiths, Labour AM for Newport East, was eager for a Newport and Ebbw Vale rail link to allow people in Ebbw Vale to get into Newport easily and quickly and access jobs, shops and leisure facilities, bringing benefits to both communities. He said: “It has always been a question of technical difficulties around the Gaer area. We need detailed work. I think there’s momentum.”

Monmouth AM Nick Ramsay, shadow minister for finance, said the extra NHS cash was too little too late: “With shallow promises the Lib Dems are propping up a discredited Labour government, which has run down our NHS.”