Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:34 pm on 27 November 2018.
Leader of the house, the Tory UK Government's political choice of austerity is causing more and more misery and hardship for our communities—rising poverty, homelessness and rough-sleeping, queues at food banks, mental and physical ill health. All of this in the world's fifth-largest economy. Professor Philip Alston, the UN rapporteur on poverty and human rights, has just issued a report, which is absolutely damning, regarding the callous and uncaring nature of the UK Government's policies, making the vulnerable pay the price for their failures. And the Equality and Human Rights Commission has published its report on fairness in Wales, showing discrimination and disadvantage hitting poorer communities, disabled people, women, and ethnic minorities. We know that many of the levers to address this situation are in the control of the UK Government, but, of course, Welsh Government also has key responsibilities. So, leader of the house, will Welsh Government now further consider how it can achieve a laser-like focus on tackling poverty, with specific targets, monitoring and evaluation in place, and further consider the issues in the case for devolving the administration of welfare benefits, given the impact of the roll-out of universal credit in Wales?