Coronavirus has revealed ‘prior pandemic of poverty and inequality’ in Wales says Adam Price

Coronavirus has revealed a “prior pandemic of poverty and inequality” in Wales, according to Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price.

In an election pitch, he said that the “scars of deindustrialisation and economic decay are all too clear to see” in Wales.

“When Wales already had some of the highest sickness levels and lowest life expectancies in Europe, was it any wonder our communities have been so badly hit by the virus?” he asks in a Sunday Times article.

“Our population is older and sicker than the UK average, and this fact won’t change after the pandemic has left us. Nor will the number of children in poverty, or the people on poverty pay.”

He said that Plaid Cymru’s project for government would “[tell] the story of a confident, successful Wales – an equal nation and a nation of equals”.

“It speaks of a country which has come of age, whose next chapter will be fairer, greener, and more prosperous than the twenty years before it.”

‘Passing the buck’

Adam Price added that the election on 6^th May was “a moment of truth for Wales”.#

“If we want to eradicate child hunger, end poverty pay, and create an equal nation and a nation of equals, we need a government that can deliver a truly transformational programme.

“We need a government that believes there is no problem that we in Wales cannot solve ourselves, that has the energy and the ideas which have been lacking under Labour over the last twenty years.

“Unlike Labour and the Tories, we refuse to defer to Westminster. All too often we see the former passing the buck when things go wrong and the latter duplicitously claiming the credit as they wish.

“Welsh Labour, in its reluctance to negotiate further powers, would rather leave powers over the economy, energy and the welfare state in the hands of Boris and his cronies.

“We need a government that believes that the people best placed to decide our nation’s future are the people of Wales themselves. And we need a government that shares the hopes and dreams of a nation.

“This is what a Plaid Cymru government would mean for Wales: Leadership committed to addressing inequality by ensuring the best start in life for every child, a fair deal for families and a seamless national health and social care service.

“Free childcare for thousands of families in Wales, a reskilling grant to those made redundant by the pandemic, the launch of the most radical housebuilding programme in a generation, and an investment of billions in a green economic recovery that will serve people and planet alike.

“What’s more, this is backed up by a manifesto that is fully costed and independently verified by two eminent economists.”