Children in poverty “need more than warm words” from both Labour governments, says Sioned Williams MS
Plaid Cymru’s Sioned Williams MS has described the rates of child poverty in Wales as a “national scandal.”
Ms Williams, who speaks for Plaid Cymru on social justice and early years has written to Jane Hutt, Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, to call on the Labour Welsh Government to reinstate targets to tackle child poverty.
In 2016, the Labour Welsh Government justified scrapping its target to eradicate child poverty by 2020 as a result of UK Government hindering its ambitions to reform welfare, stating that the Welsh Government did not have the powers to make significant changes to meet its goal.
Child poverty has been a persistent challenge for successive Labour Welsh Governments with now almost a third of children in Wales living in relative poverty.
Previously, the Labour Welsh Government described the two-child benefit limit introduced by the UK Conservative Government in 2017 as the “single greatest driver of child poverty”.
Despite 65,000 children in Wales affected by the policy, the newly elected UK Labour Government voted down calls to ‘scrap the cap’.
Sioned Williams MS has said Labour Welsh Government “can no longer hide behind the Tories.”
Plaid Cymru spokesperson for Social Justice and Early Years, Sioned Williams MS said:
“The fact that one in three children in Wales live in poverty should be cause for national scandal.
“Labour in Wales, who have presided over this disastrous situation, have been quick to place blame at Westminster’s door – citing lack of power over welfare reform as the reason for scrapping their own targets to eradicate child poverty.
“While Tory austerity was hugely damaging to Wales, with Starmer now at the helm in Westminster, the Labour Welsh Government can no longer hide behind the Tories. After all, the people of Wales were promised that Labour Governments on either end of the M4 would bring much needed ‘change’ to our communities.
“With so many families in Wales struggling, and poverty impacting on children’s health and education, now is the time to be bold and to show that two Labour Governments ‘working together’ mean more than just warm words.
“If the Welsh Labour Government is serious about tackling child poverty, it must show what steps it has taken to fulfil the aims of its child poverty strategy, and confirm that it will now reinstate measurable targets to eradicate child poverty. Anything less means that Labour is failing our future generations.”
Letter
Sioned Williams MS wrote to Jane Hutt MS, Cabinet Secretary with responsibility for Social Justice, on 12 August 2024:
Dear Cabinet Secretary
As you know, when the Welsh Government dropped its target to end child poverty in Wales by 2020 in 2016, the then Communities Secretary stated that this was because UK Government policies had made the target unachievable.
One of the policies cited was the welfare reform programme, and the fact that the Welsh Government did not have the power needed to make the changes needed to reach its stated goal.
Currently the Welsh Government's Child Poverty Strategy contains no targets, and as such has been roundly criticised by the Children’s Commissioner, the Equality and Social Justice Committee and numerous children’s organisations and anti-poverty groups in Wales.
Given the result of July’s General Election, could you please inform me what policy changes the Welsh Government will be asking of the current UK Government which will help the Welsh Government fulfil the aims of its child poverty strategy, and will targets to end child poverty be reinstated by Welsh Government now that a Labour UK Government is in power?
Yn gywir / Yours faithfully,
Sioned Williams AS/MS