David Chadwick MP says both governments to blame for Welsh poverty

Tindle News

David Chadwick says governments at both ends of the M4 are responsible for the fact that so many families in Wales are using food banks.  The Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe MP said in a Westminster Hall debate that too many children in his constituency and across Wales are living in poverty.  Video from parliamentlive.tv

Transcript

00:00I'd like to congratulate the Right Honourable Member for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East

00:06for securing this important debate. The work that food banks do is invaluable and in my

00:12own constituency of Bracken, Radnor and Kemptowie, I'd like to personally thank all of the volunteers,

00:17the dedicated volunteers, who run them for the tremendous work they do across our communities.

00:23There's Pantry Food Bank in Pontardower, there's one in Bracken, Knighton and Pristine, Llandrindod

00:29Wells, Rheada, Ystragynlais, Ystilivera and Gwancaegeryn, all of which provide vital support

00:35to people in our communities, helping those in need. And that need is growing across Wales.

00:43Food bank parcel distribution increased by 77% since 2018. An estimated 6% of households

00:52in Wales accessed food aid last year and one in four households in Wales is either eating

00:58smaller meals or skipping meals altogether. In Wales, child poverty rates are significantly

01:05worse than elsewhere in the United Kingdom. In my own region, a staggering one third of

01:11children in Neathport Talbot Council and 20% in Powys live in absolute poverty. And these

01:18high child poverty rates have remained stubbornly high across Wales, not moving barely at all

01:25since the early 2000s. And this can only represent a failure of policy and political will across

01:32successive governments on both sides of the M4. Volunteers at food banks often say that

01:38although the work they do is valuable, they shouldn't need to exist at all. They exist

01:44due to our state's failure to address poverty within our communities and to adequately support

01:49those who are struggling to make ends meet. Tackling food poverty requires a cross-sector

01:55approach. The rising costs of energy and housing are pushing more and more people into poverty.

02:01The cost of energy itself makes producing food in this country even more expensive.

02:06In Wales, we urgently need to see more investment and well-paying jobs brought back into deprived

02:13areas. Former mining communities, such as those in the south of my constituency, are

02:18still waiting for their new industries to arrive. The new government cannot afford to

02:24continue to make the mistakes of the past. We cannot end up in a situation where the

02:28same number or more children are relying on food banks in 10 years' time as they do today.

02:35And we will continue to hold this government, as well as those in the devolved parliaments,

02:39to account to ensure that this isn't the case.

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