Thank you, Llywydd. The unprecedented impact of COVID has held a mirror up to our society. What we see in the reflection is not only the impact of the last difficult months on everyone, but also the difference in the impact on different parts of our society—the difference that arises from economic inequality. And the picture that we see is not a new one, either. It is tragically familiar, shamefully familiar.

We've heard so much from politicians of all parties about the desire to create a new normal, about the unique opportunity afforded by the pandemic to see the cracks in the system, to see the holes in the net that's supposed to keep the most vulnerable from falling by the wayside. This renewed focus on the problems that have caused critical situations for too many Welsh families should lead to systems being repaired, practice being improved, funding gaps being closed to ensure an inclusive recovery that values ​​all lives equally in every community in Wales. It's an opportunity that we must seize.

Recent research has highlighted why we need to act now. The Institute for Fiscal Studies, the IFS, estimates that 27 per cent of the population of Wales will be living in relative poverty, and that 39 per cent of children will be living in poverty by the end of the year. Report after report has highlighted how poverty restricts the life chances of children, how it can harm them physically and mentally, and can create a chain that is difficult to break for generations in respect of health problems, lack of economic and educational opportunities, and personal and social difficulties.

Having been forced through the lens of COVID to witness how deprivation is literally a question of life and death, these statistics are more than just embarrassing. They are sickening. The number of children across the UK living in poverty has increased over the last 10 years. The cruel austerity policies of successive Tory Governments in Westminster are partly responsible for that. But we also need to look more closely at the picture here in Wales. This is where a Labour Government has been, and continues to be, in power.

Salary levels are an important factor in the picture. Research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in April last year found that wages in Wales are lower than almost all other parts of the United Kingdom, contributing to the relatively high levels of in-work poverty, and so many key and front line workers are earning less than the real riving wage. And now, with the pandemic having ripped through our communities, it is our most impoverished people that have suffered most. Research by this Senedd has revealed that people from low-income households have been the most likely to lose their jobs and to lose their income.

Recently, the Bevan Foundation noted that a quarter of Welsh households have seen their incomes fall during the pandemic, while at the same time, living costs have risen in more than four in 10 households. As a result, the number of people claiming benefits that support those on low incomes has increased significantly. In April, over 125,000 more people in Wales were claiming universal credit than at the start of the pandemic. More and more of our people are falling into poverty, and the fact that the Westminster Government wants to withdraw the £20-a-week increase in universal credit is likely to see even more households experiencing desperate financial hardship. And this is not an exaggeration. It is a desperate situation when people are struggling to pay for everyday essentials. This is the situation for 110,000 households—roughly the same as the number of households in Swansea. Again, it is the households with children that have been hit hardest.

So, how have people been coping with the increasing gap between lower incomes and higher living costs? People are going without food, and many of the most impoverished households expect to have to make further cuts in the future. They will go without heat, without clothes, without light or electricity.

So, what do those who analyse this shocking research and statistics say should be done? What can the Welsh Government do to change this? There is one measure, one specific step that is affordable and simple to achieve, that repeatedly comes to the top of the list of possible measures: extending eligibility and ensuring access to free school meals for all children in poverty.

Over 70,000 children currently living below the poverty line in Wales are not eligible for free school meals. They are missing out on something that would make a fundamental and striking difference to their lives and would relieve the economic pressure on their families. Eradicating child poverty was a target of the Welsh Government—a target that was dropped. Isn't this the most important target that any Government could have?

The Government has also ignored its own child poverty review, which found that extending eligibility for free school meals to a wider range of children and young people was the one thing that would help the most.

Therefore, the evidence in support of this measure is robust. But the record is disgraceful. Wales provides fewer free cooked meals to its schoolchildren at present than any other nation in the United Kingdom.

It's also disappointing that the Welsh Government has refused to extend free school meals permanently to children in families who have no recourse to public funds due to their immigration status. These are some of the most vulnerable families in our nation. This would be a powerful anti-racist statement, and it would increase the pressure on the Tory Government in Westminster to abolish this unjust policy. Support for the measure is widespread.