Part of 3. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 3:12 pm on 13 July 2022.
Minister, I'm not interested in a blame game today. What I want to hear today and what my struggling constituents want to hear today is what this Labour Government are going to do about the fact that 36.3 per cent of children in the city of Newport in my region are living in poverty, according to the recent data just released from child poverty charity End Child Poverty. This makes Newport the most impoverished local authority in Wales. Sadly, the picture isn't too much better across Wales, with 34 per cent of children in Wales living in poverty, as was outlined by Luke Fletcher, which makes Wales the worst in the UK—up from 31 per cent before the COVID-19 pandemic. Everyone has a role to play to get these children out of poverty—this Government, the UK Government and the Labour-run Newport City Council. We all have a responsibility to ensure these children do not get left behind and suffer unnecessarily. I don't want to to and fro today about whose fault is what, and I appreciate your commitment, Minister, but more urgent action needs to be taken, and I want to hear from you today what exactly you are going to do, more than you're already doing, to ensure that we reverse this worrying trend that we're seeing in Newport. Thank you.