Tackling Poverty

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:24 pm on 11 June 2019.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:24, 11 June 2019

Llywydd, it's an irony-free zone on the benches to the left of me. Here are some figures from the report to which he referred: they tell us that, as a direct result—a direct result—of the actions that his Government is taking, lone parents in Wales will lose around £3,720 a year, families with three or more children will lose £4,110 a year, there will be 50,000 more children in poverty by 2021-22, and households with one disabled adult and a disabled child will lose £5,270 on average in Wales. Those are the facts of poverty here in Wales, and they are deliberately created by the actions of the Government that he supports. We do things every day to try and mitigate the impact of those benefit cuts, those impacts that there are on families from penalising children, through penalising disabled families through universal credit, and we will continue to do everything in our power. But the root cause of child poverty in this country lies absolutely firmly in the hands of the Government that he supports.