Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport – in the Senedd at 2:00 pm on 10 January 2018.
Again, I thank the Cabinet Secretary, and I do share, to a certain extent, your belief that perhaps things may be changing, but things do not all go well, particularly for the poorest in our society. The burden on the taxpayer in 2018 is likely to increase. The Welsh Government's rents policy will increase social housing itself by £200 per two-bedroomed home. And likewise, the modest increase predicted in UK unemployment is unlikely to boost those parts of Wales where unemployment stands well above the UK average. Nor is it likely to help the 13.1 per cent of young adults out of work. It's predicted that inflation will wipe out any real-term earnings growth, and that relative poverty could well rise to 27 per cent for people of all ages, and to around 40 per cent for children, as people's standard of living is squeezed further. I ask the Cabinet Secretary: is this the Wales we want? And are you confident your economic policies are going to alleviate these hardships in both the short and the long term?