Glyn Davies AM: Voted against bidget

The main reason was the increasing level of council tax, he said.

Last year, the Conservative AM for Mid and West Wales led the opposition to Labour's Assembly budget.

He opposed it because of the what he described as the "Welsh stealth tax", which he said would have an impact on the levels of council tax.

"When the Chancellor puts up the state pension by 75p and Labour in the Assembly increases council tax by over 10%, there will inevitably be an increase in pensioner poverty. This is exactly what I said would happen," said Mr Davies.

'Stealth and spin'

"The ghosts of great Labour leaders of the past like Aneurin Bevan and Clement Attlee must be turning in their graves.

"Not only are the elderly being impoverished and the gap between rich and poor exacerbated under Labour but their slippery successors are managing to hide the effects of their confiscatory policies by stealth and spin," he added.

He has called on opposition AMs to join the Conservatives in voting down this year's budget if councils are forced into another above-inflation increase in council tax by the Assembly.

He said he wanted to get the message across that voting for the Labour Party would be the same thing as voting for an increase in pensioner poverty.