With Wales having the highest child poverty among the UK nations, North Wales Assembly Member and Shadow Communities Minister Mark Isherwood has called for the Welsh Government to address the underlying causes of poverty.
Questioning the First Minister in the Assembly Chamber yesterday, Mr Isherwood, challenged him over the way in which child poverty is measured in Wales and called on his Government to follow England’s lead and tackle the underlying causes.
He said:
“Although the proportion of children living in poverty in low-income households in England is at its lowest since the 1980s, Wales has the highest child poverty among the UK nations, and the second highest among the 12 UK regions, but persists in using a measure of child poverty that appears to show child poverty reducing when economies are shrinking and families are getting poorer. What consideration have you therefore given to looking at measures being applied in England to look at matters that lead to the underlying causes of poverty, such as educational attainment, drug and alcohol abuse, family breakdown and, of course, worklessness?”
In his response, the First Minister blamed the UK Government for poverty levels in Wales. Mr Isherwood added: “Given that Child Poverty in devolved Wales has been rising since 2004 under Labour and is the highest in the UK, whereas the proportion of children living in low ijncome homes in England is at its lowest level since the 1980s, it is clearly not enough to continue down the current road, tackling the symptoms without also tackling the underlying causes.”