Child Poverty Is A Choice

In the Senedd last month Plaid Cymru held a debate calling on the Welsh Government to introduce a £35 a week payment for every child in low income families in Wales.

We believe that the child poverty that exists is a wake-up call that politics is failing the next generation.One aspect of my new job as the Shad-ow Minister for the Economy is about tackling poverty, once again showing that Plaid Cymru is serious about confronting the causes of poverty and recognising the importance of building an economy that works for everybody.

If we elect a Plaid Cymru Welsh Government next year, Plaid Cymru will make eradicating child poverty one of our main priorities. One way we would aim to do this is to introduce a new Welsh child payment for low-income families which has the potential to lift at least 50,000 children out of poverty.

A payment of £35 a week would drastically transform the lives of young people across Wales, taking them out of poverty and providing them with the best start in life they deserve. Because poverty can have lasting impacts long into adult-hood, such as increased risk of homelessness, lower earning potential and greater likelihood of limiting illness.Wales was the only UK nation to see a rise in child poverty last year.

The National Assembly’s research library estimates almost one in three children living in Llanelli do so in relative poverty after housing costs. It is a scandal that 5,931 children in the Llanelli constituency are living in poverty. The Welsh Government’s own child poverty report for 2019 showed an in-crease in the proportion of children living in poverty from 28% to 29% in 2018-19 and despite child poverty rates in Wales being lower than England, they are higher than in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Children born today are now at the high-est risk of poverty in sixty years. Parents are forced to choose between feeding themselves and feeding their children. A growing number of adults and children living in the poorest areas have poorer health outcomes and lower life expectancy. More people in Wales rely on welfare than in England and Scotland.

Zero hours contracts, welfare changes, in-sufficient and expensive childcare and a lack of a real wage pull ever more people into poverty. This particularly impacts women, disabled people and ethnic minorities. Plaid Cymru believes that this poverty should be part of our past, rather than our present and future. We still believe that it doesn’t have to be like this. Poverty is a political choice and it is not inevitable.

This child poverty crisis we are now in is a direct result of a neglectful Westminster establishment and cruel Conservatives cuts, including changes to welfare coupled with twenty years of ineffective governing by Labour in Wales.The poverty in our communities is a 21st century scandal, and the Westminster parties have stood by and let this hap-pen. But it doesn’t have to be like this.Plaid Cymru want control over the welfare system to free the people of Wales from Universal Credit enabling us, for example, to permanently remove the bedroom tax, like Scotland has.

Life expectancy is falling, our transport infrastructure’s failing, and we see more homeless people on our streets. All this despite being one of the richest places in the world in terms of our natural re-sources, yet we are among the poorest regions in Europe as a result of the pow-er and wealth inequality within the UK.Yes, there is so much in Wales that needs fixing. But it can be fixed. Plaid Cymru won’t just manage problems; we will solve them. We won’t just offer hope; we will implement real improvements.

Labour can no longer protect us from the Tories, or even claim to do so. It’s time for them to step aside and make way for a Plaid Cymru Welsh Government that will. We have had enough of settling for less – be it from the Tories in Westminster or Labour in Cardiff. That, whether in our towns or in our rural and coastal communities, no one in Wales should have to live with the indignity of poverty.No child should go to school hungry and to bed cold. Let’s give a voice and a vote to those without one.

To future generations. To our children.Poverty is a political choice. Plaid Cymru will make sure that Wales will choose differently.