Latest poverty stats show why Wales needs a Plaid Cymru Government

Carrie Harper, Plaid Cymru candidate for Fflint Wrecsam at next year’s Senedd Election

The release of the latest Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD) stats is a timely reminder that too many Welsh communities have been repeatedly failed by successive London based parties both at the Senedd and in Westminster.

The stats set out relative deprivation levels across almost 2000 areas, with many stubbornly remaining in the top 50 for decades.

The data considers a range of factors such as housing, employment, income and health. An area of Rhyl in Denbighshire topped the list, with Blaenau Gwent being the local authority with the highest proportion of neighbourhoods classed as the most deprived.

Child poverty in Wales is also at the shameful level of 32% and is increasing, with the vast majority of children experiencing poverty living in households where one or more adults are in work.

Queensway ward in Caia Park, Wrecsam, is the area I represent as a councillor for Plaid Cymru. Queensway has consistently been in the top 10 for the WIMD stats and has some of the highest levels of child poverty in Wales.

In the latest stats it ranks at number 7, with many families seeing their struggles compounded by the cost of living crisis.

I’ve lived in Caia Park all my life and brought my children up here. The ward I represent is around 70% council housing and as the only county councillor in Wrecsam renting a council property myself, I have a unique insight into the everyday reality of these stats.

The people reflected in them are my friends and family as well as my constituents.

My community undoubtedly makes up for in a rich community spirit what it lacks in terms of wealth but people here deserve better. They deserve opportunities, they deserve a better quality of life and they need representatives who will fight for it at all levels.

It’s simply unacceptable to entertain the prospect of so many of our communities up and down Wales languishing with these sorts of stats for another 20 years. We have to relentlessly work on the solutions to ensure we lift families out of poverty now and for the benefit of generations to come. This isn’t, and should not be, as good as it gets.

Poverty is not inevitable, tackling it is a political choice and it’s one that successive London based parties have failed to prioritise.

Target

Back in 2016, Labour in Wales scrapped its target to eradicate child poverty by 2020 when it became clear they would fail. They currently have no concrete measurable target for reducing poverty in place. Labour have failed communities like mine.

The area that tops the WIMD stats is in Rhyl. It literally looks out on to windfarm projects like Gwynt y Môr.

The Welsh seabed is leased out by the Crown Estate, who extract millions in profits annually from Wales and send them direct to the UK Treasury and the Royal family. It’s obscene that the most deprived area of the country is literally looking on as the wealth from Welsh resources is extracted out into the pockets of the wealthy across the border and beyond.

Plaid Cymru have of course demanded that management of the Crown Estate be devolved to Wales as is the case in Scotland so our communities can benefit, only to be blocked in Westminster by Labour, the Tories and Reform.

The truth is that tackling poverty in Wales is simply not a priority but it doesn’t have to be this way.

Scottish Child payment

There is only one country in the UK where levels of child poverty are falling and are projected to fall in the coming years. That country is Scotland and it’s due to the introduction of a Scottish Child payment by the SNP Government in 2021.

It’s a weekly payment for low-income families with a child under 16. It’s a clear example of a policy that works and it’s why Plaid Cymru has pledged to introduce a similar child payment scheme called ‘Cynnal’ post May 2026 should we form the next Welsh Government.

Without an intervention like this, by 2029, child poverty is set to rise to 34.4% in Wales, which would be the highest rate of all UK nations.

It’s not the only solution we’re putting on the table. At our recent conference Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth unveiled a new universal childcare offer for children from the age of 9 months to 4 years. At full rollout, it will be the most generous government-funded childcare programme anywhere in the UK. The offer will be worth more than £30,000 to Welsh families in the first four years of their child’s life. It’s a game-changing intervention and will have a multi-generational impact.

Free school meals

These policies follow on from the free school meals policy put forward and secured by Plaid Cymru during the current Senedd term. It has to date served 50 million school meals across the country. If we can deliver this level of impact in opposition, just imagine what we can do in Government.

Of course issues like good quality affordable housing, health and education are all also key components to tackling poverty. Our upcoming manifesto will be looking closely at all of them.

Ultimately, poverty levels in Wales will change when we have a party in charge that makes it a priority to change them.

In May next year we have the chance to put that party in the driving seat for the first time. Plaid Cymru has a plan to deliver for Wales and our communities need it now more than ever.