Shadow Social Justice Minister and North Wales MS Mark Isherwood has hit out at the Labour Welsh Government for yet again failing to take responsibility for the fact that Wales has consistently had the highest poverty rate for over 20 years.
In yesterday’s meeting of the Welsh Parliament, Mr Isherwood asked the Social Justice Minister what the Welsh Government is doing to tackle poverty in Wales and was disappointed that in her reply she failed to provide an answer and instead blamed the UK Government for poverty rates in Wales.
Mr Isherwood said:
“As you will know, in December 2018, Joseph Rowntree Foundation stated that of the four countries of the UK, Wales has consistently had the highest poverty rate for the past 20 years. In November 2020, they said that ‘even before Coronavirus, almost a quarter of people in Wales were living in poverty’. And last May, the UK End Child Poverty Coalition stated that Wales had the worst child poverty rate of all UK nations.
“What consideration will you therefore give to last November's ‘Poverty Trap’ report by John Penrose MP, which argues that Britain as a whole has failed to abolish poverty because of the focus on treating the symptoms rather than the structural causes, and that 'a better alternative is to improve opportunity for everyone, equipping them with the skills and attitudes to take the opportunities when they appear so you can have more control over your path in life'.
“It is a report that has secured many heavyweight endorsements, including the Professor of Social Mobility at Exeter University, who stated that: 'This is a serious report on a topic that should be a central motivation for anyone who goes into politics: how do we create a society in which all can pursue opportunity irrespective of their background’?”
In her response, the Minister the Minister blamed the UK Government’s “tax and the welfare system” for poverty levels in Wales.
Speaking afterwards, Mr Isherwood said:
“I regret that my serious question generated yet another lazy ‘blame the UK Government’ response; a response which sidestepped my question by focusing instead on actions to treat the symptoms rather than the structural causes of poverty; a response which dodged the inconvenient truth that issues for which the UK Government is responsible also apply outside Wales, but higher poverty levels in Wales persist after almost 23 years of continuous Labour or Labour-led Welsh Government.”