AM and councillor back Welsh Government on tackling poverty

Llanelli AM Keith Davies has welcomed the Welsh Government’s clear message to ensure poverty is beaten out of our communities as swingeing cuts to benefits threaten to push vulnerable families into debt.

In a statement today, Monday 22nd April 2013, Welsh Labour Minister for Tackling Poverty, Huw Lewis, said he wants Councils and the Welsh Government to work together “to tackle poverty relentlessly in every way we can.”

Llanelli AM Keith Davies said:

“We are only just beginning to see the effects benefit changes are having on families who will face further cuts to their income when the Universal Credit is introduced later this year.

“As a responsible Government, it is left to colleagues at the National Assembly in Cardiff Bay to do as much as we can to provide additional support to prevent the blight of poverty which damaged our communities in decades past.

“I fully support the Ministers intention to look across all areas of Welsh Government to ensure the work we are doing and the achievements we are making against a tide of cuts from London has the greatest impact on protecting and supporting those who need it.”

Cllr Deryk Cundy, Labour County Councillor for Bynea and Chair of the Cross Party Working Group on Welfare Reform said:

“As Chair of the Cross Party Working Group, that is working to mitigate the effect of the Tory “Bedroom Tax” and misnamed “Welfare Reforms”, I am very worried that some of the most poverty ridden parts of the County are going to be made poorer by the iniquitous policies that the Conservative millionaires are able to enforce only because of the support of their Liberal Democrat partners.

“It’s quite clear that poorer people in rural areas and towns in Carmarthenshire are paying the price for the banks’ failures in the City of London whilst the bankers continue to reward themselves within their bonus culture.

“I’m grateful that we have a Labour Welsh Government doing all it can to hold back the worst effects of an inept central government that has twisted the electorate’s wishes with its coalition to reward the rich, penalise the poor and remove the aspirations of a generation.”