Welsh Finance Minister Jane Hutt pledged yesterday to spend millions more on health and double grants for cash-strapped school children despite revealing the toughest budget since devolution.

Ms Hutt (pictured) promised £570 million for the NHS over the next three years including an immediate £150m injection and insisted it was "at the heart of our budget."

The Pupil Deprivation Grant will be boosted from £450 to £918 per child from next year to break the link between poverty and achievement.

Ms Hutt admitted it was the "toughest budget we've had to set" and local government are braced to see their allocations slashed by 9 per cent.

But she pointed out the Welsh government's own budget has faced "unprecedented" cuts of £1.7 billion since the Tories took power in Westminster.

"We've done everything we can to mitigate against UK government cuts," she said.

"This is a fair and responsible budget which delivers our priorities for Wales, sticking to our principles and standing up for Wales."

Wales TUC leader Martin Mansfield said the Welsh government was "prioritising the best use of the resources left available to them."

He pledged unions would help protect "cherished public services" as long as there was "no knee jerk moves towards pay cuts, job cuts and privatisation."

Boosts for health and education were part of a deal with Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats which left the Tories heckling from the sidelines in the Senedd.

Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood said: "We wanted to secure a deal to help people in the short term - a deal that will make a practical difference to people's lives, now, today. This deal does that."

Unison Cymru secretary Margaret Thomas praised the "commitment to a publicly owned and financed NHS" and called for councils to cut consultants to save front line services.

Teachers' union NASUWT Wales organiser Rex Phillips explained extra cash for deprived pupils would help them keep up with their peers across the border.

He told the Star: "We have seen in previous years that the gap in attainment between pupils in Wales and England matched the funding gap."