Joel James MS, who represents South Wales Central in the Welsh Parliament has called out Plaid Cymru's blatant electioneering regarding their proposals for a child poverty payment pilot.
The Member started his Chamber contribution by highlighting that:
Poverty isn't just about lacking basic goods, lacking services or lacking social participation. It's also about the limited opportunity to improve one's own economic situation, the limited opportunity to withstand economic changes, and the limited opportunity to prevent future generations from experiencing the same cycle.
The Member also acknowledged that whilst the Welsh Government have tried to reduce poverty, especially child poverty, by attempting to increase living standards through financial aid, this approach is limited because it can only really provide temporary relief and will always require more and more money.
Turning to Plaid Cymru's proposals, the Member stated:
Ultimately, Plaid Cymru's proposed child payment won't solve these issues in the long term. I have no doubt that it may provide some financial relief, but with water bills up 27 per cent, council tax up on average just over 7 per cent and energy bills up by £111 per year, this money will be quickly absorbed. It won't be enough to permanently lift families out of poverty and, as we have seen in Scotland, will need to be continually raised. So, I'm concerned that whilst it might help meet the statistical criteria for children who no longer will be in poverty, it won't fundamentally change their long-term prospects. It won't help prevent them from poverty in the future.
Joel stated that to eradicate child poverty we must break the intergenerational cycle by addressing its root causes. The Member also explained that the Welsh Conservatives recognise the poverty trap of worklessness that exists due to the high cost and poor availability of childcare. Many parents who have what we would class as good-paying jobs will still look at the cost of childcare as prohibitive to work, because it is more than they earn.
Closing his contribution, Joel stated:
Llywydd, we need a serious discussion on eliminating child poverty in this Chamber, but this is not it. It is nothing more, in my opinion, than blatant electioneering. Child payments will never address the root causes of poverty. They will never break the generational cycle and they will never deliver long-term prosperity, all of which we must try to do if we are to end child poverty.
Speaking after his contribution, Joel said:
Plaid Cymru's flagship policy next year is to pilot a £10 weekly payment to combat child poverty - with a million-pound price tag, this proposal is utterly pointless.
It can only be rolled out to a small number of families, it can only be sustained for just over a year and a half without additional funding, which doesn't look to be coming, and direct child payments have shown not to tackle the underlying root causes of poverty.
This is nothing more than blatant electioneering from Plaid Cymru.
We need to have a serious discussion in the Welsh Parliament about eliminating child poverty, focusing firstly on the high cost and poor availability of childcare.
Ultimately, to truly eradicate child poverty, we must break the intergenerational cycle by addressing its root causes, and in the upcoming months I plan to bring forward proposals that, I hope, can start to address this.
To see Joel's full contribution in the Welsh Parliament, please click here.
