Universal Credit Roll-out

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:44 pm on 19 February 2019.

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Photo of Leanne Wood Leanne Wood Plaid Cymru 1:44, 19 February 2019

Universal credit, along with other benefits introduced at Westminster, have been an unmitigated disaster for Wales. I'm sure everyone would agree with that, perhaps with the exception of those over there. My office has heard so many examples of really degrading experiences. Now, because of Welsh Government's inertia over devolving the administration of benefits, people are unprotected against the callous policies of the Tories. In contrast, in Scotland they've successfully seen the devolution of the administration of the benefits system there, and they will be able to protect citizens better. The Scottish Government announced just this week that they are banning private firms from carrying out benefits assessments in order to try to create a more compassionate system. So, I'd like to go one step further. I'd like to scrap universal credit altogether. First Minister, do you plan now to make up for lost time and go all out to push for the devolution of the administration of benefits, so that we here in Wales, too, could treat people with the compassion that they deserve, rather than the cruelty that they are currently experiencing? You can do something about this, First Minister: will you do it?