Plaid Cymru spells out vision for Government: An Equal Nation and a Nation of Equals
Ending child poverty will be at the heart of the next Plaid Cymru Government Heledd Fychan, Councillor for Pontypridd Town ward and Senedd candidate, has said.
On Tuesday, Plaid Cymru Leader Adam Price set out how a Plaid Cymru government would make ending poverty its priority with an ambitious vision for childcare and social care in Wales.
At its heart is a commitment to look after everyone at the dawn and twilight of their lives.
Proposals include:
- A Welsh Child Payment
- Free Child Care from 12 months of age
- National Health and Care Service
Heledd Fychan said that intergenerational poverty was a ‘blight’ on communities throughout Wales and that the looming post-Covid economic crisis would compound this without radical change.
Currently, around 27% of children in Pontypridd constituency live in poverty.
Heledd Fychan vowed that a Plaid Cymru administration would be “a government for all generations”, giving people opportunity in youth and dignity in old age.
Heledd Fychan said:
“With the devastating floods earlier this year, followed by the coronavirus crisis, our community has endured more hardship than any society should be expected to go through. It has only been because of the community spirit and determination of so many in the Pontypridd constituency that we have managed to support each other and begin to rebuild.
If these events have taught us anything, it is the value of a caring society. Becoming an equal nation and a nation of equals will be the guiding mission of a Plaid Cymru Government under the leadership of Adam Price.
“However, these events have not impacted everyone equally. After twenty years of a Labour-led government, there are still 200,000 children living in poverty in Wales. In Pontypridd, roughly 27% of children currently live in poverty. In the areas most impacted by the flooding, this number jumps to 35%. That is a blight on our communities and something that Plaid Cymru is determined to change.
“Our £35 a week child payment targeted at families who have to decide between heating the home and feeding the children whilst our childcare offer would boost the incomes of thousands of households, allowing non-working parents back into the workplace and creating up to 3,000 new jobs.
“Similarly, the National Care Service will make Wales the “caring nation” – valuing our care staff with salaries comparable with the NHS and making social care, free at the point of delivery.
Plaid Cymru Leader Adam Price added:
“I want to lead a government for all generations – a government delivering radical change, not for change’s sake but for the sake of the thousands of families whose futures rest on it.
“I want my son to grow up in a country where poverty is a distant memory thanks to a belief that there is no challenge too big to overcome.
“The 2021 Senedd Election is the time for change, and it will only come about by putting into action what the current Government has talked about but failed to deliver for so long.”