8. Plaid Cymru debate: The UK Government Budget and Wales

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 7:03 pm on 29 November 2017.

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Photo of Caroline Jones Caroline Jones UKIP 7:03, 29 November 2017

Yes, and we have to manage what we get very, very carefully. The report highlights the fact that the Neath Port Talbot local authority area is the worst area in Wales for social mobility. The stark truth is that nearly a quarter of our population are living in poverty despite two decades of Welsh Government economic policies and in excess of £4 billion of structural funding from the European Union. The fact that our young people are being left behind is not a result of austerity but the result of failed economic policies here in Wales. [Interruption.] Yes. We can’t rely on John McDonnell’s magic money tree, nor can we saddle our young people with even more debt—which we are doing at the moment. We are saddling young people with debt. We therefore have to think smarter and spend smarter. I urge the Welsh Government to use the additional £1.2 billion that came out of the UK budget to improve social mobility in areas like Port Talbot.