First Minister saying he wants to eradicate child poverty ‘doesn’t achieve it’ says Leader of Plaid Cymru

The Leader of Plaid Cymru Rhun Ap Iorwerth MS has attacked Welsh Labour’s record on child poverty in Wales.  Speaking during questions to the First Minister today, Tuesday (Sep 21) Rhun Ap Iorwerth  said that the children’s commissioner had said it was hugely important that the Welsh Government  publishes a specific measurable delivery plan and that and Victoria Winckler of the Bevan Foundation had said that the government’s plan was ‘incoherent’ with a lack of targets or milestones.

The leader of Plaid Cymru asked if the First Minister would listen to both the children’s commissioner and the Bevan Foundation, as well as other organisations like the National Youth Advocacy Service and ensure that that final strategy does have clear, measurable and specific targets, along with timescales.

The First Minister said that the strategy is being consulted on, which is why people are contributing their views.

He said: “The Welsh Government has very deliberately created this opportunity for us to hear from people with direct expertise in the field. Then, of course, we will be listening carefully to what they have to say. I say again, though, to Members, so that I’m clear: what we are able to achieve through our child poverty strategy has to focus on those things for which we have responsibility, the powers that rest in this place, and the resources that we have available to do so. I don’t think just rhetorical commitments make a difference in the lives of children. It is the practical things that we are able to do that really have their impact, and that’s what we will be focused on when the final version of the strategy comes to be published.”

Rhun Ap Iorwerth MS said that the reason he was asking these questions was because he wanted to influence the way the Welsh Government responds to what it receives during that consultation.

He said: “I don’t doubt for a second that the First Minister is sincere about wanting to eliminate child poverty, but saying it doesn’t achieve it, and when the children’s commissioner said yesterday the ambition isn’t there, you’ve got to wonder if the Welsh Government is even saying the right things.”

Rhun ap Iorwerth went on to ask: “Will the First Minister finally concede that the full devolution of welfare would give Wales the meaningful levers to drive down levels of child poverty?

The First Minister said that he did not accept that point, and he did not think it was borne out by any serious analysis.

He said: “I continue to believe that one of the strongest cases for the United Kingdom is that, in the right hands, it acts as a great engine for redistribution. It’s not been in the right hands, clearly, in recent years, and one of the reasons why this child poverty strategy in Wales is published in that difficult context is that the Office for Budget Responsibility says, in terms, that the decisions made by the current Conservative Government will add hundreds of thousands of children to the numbers, already far too high, who live in poverty. The Member’s answer is to hand everything over to an independent Wales where this will all be put right. I don’t think that is ever likely to be the case. We will be as constrained, if not more constrained, by the same financial realities.”

Mr Drakeford said he looked forward to  a Labour Government in Westminster committed again to reducing child poverty. He pointed out that in the first decade of devolution, child poverty in Wales fell by a quarter and was falling year on year.

He said: “With a Government in Westminster determined to join us in doing the things we want to do, we can make that difference. A Government in Westminster determined to do the opposite always creates additional headwinds for the things that we want to do here in Wales. I can tell you that this Government is absolutely committed to an ambitious approach to child poverty. There is nothing that has motivated me more in all the years I have been in politics than the lives of those young people in my constituency who, from their earliest years, are blighted by the fact that their families simply do not have the resources they need to offer those young people a chance of growing up in life in the way that we would wish to see them. I am as passionate about that today as I ever have been, and when we have that next Labour Government, we will be able to make a real difference.”