London takes £3.76 million of our money

BBC Wales news is reporting this morning that the Welsh Office in London is taking nearly £4 million extra each year for the foreseeable future. This will come from the money allocated to Wales under the Barnett formula and will be spent on filling vacant civil service posts in Whitehall. It is apparently necessary to fund the Westminster end of the complicated process of preparing Welsh legislation.

Read the story and Jenny Randerson's reaction here. See also Peter Black's take under "Spin or substance" on his blog.

The messy compromise between granting full law-making powers and maintaining the status quo always seemed likely to lead to duplication and increased expenditure, and so it has proved.