A newly published report on poverty by The Joseph Rowntree Foundation shows that the Labour Welsh Government must take “immediate and radical action” to tackle child poverty in Wales, Plaid Cymru has stated.
The report states that under central OBR projections, Scotland will be the only nation in which child poverty rates will fall by 2029, highlighting the power of social security policies in tackling poverty.
The Scottish Government’s child payment has been hailed as transformational in tackling child poverty whilst the administration is also taking steps to mitigate the UK Government’s two-child benefit cap.
Meanwhile, the Labour UK Government has kept the two-child cap introduced by the Tories in 2017, despite analysis showing that scrapping it would lift 250,000 children out of poverty overnight.
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Plaid Cymru’s Social Justice spokesperson urged the Labour Welsh Government to mirror the Scottish Government’s steps to mitigate the effects of the two-child benefit cap and explore the introduction of a child payment.
Plaid Cymru spokesperson for social justice, Sioned Williams MS said: “This new research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation must be a wake-up call for the Welsh and UK Labour Governments.
“It is shameful that child poverty rates are set to rise in all parts of the UK except Scotland over the next few years, even if the economy experiences growth.
“With Wales estimated to have the highest child poverty rates by 2029 at 34.4%, there are things which the Labour Welsh Government could be doing right now to tackle child poverty having dropped their previous target to eradicate it altogether.
“The Welsh Government should be mirroring the Scottish Government and taking steps to mitigate the impact of the Tory-made two-child benefit cap which Keir Starmer insists on keeping in place.
“They should also explore introducing a child payment, like Scotland, which has been hailed as a transformational policy already having a positive impact on thousands of families.
“The Labour Welsh Government should also be reintroducing clear and measurable targets for reducing child poverty and commit to listening to the many voices who criticised their Child Poverty Strategy for lacking detail and ambition.
“Only urgent and radical action of this kind will begin to address this scourge which is all too common in one of the wealthiest nations in the world.”