In the run-up to Christmas, Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Member for North Wales, Eleanor Burnham is repeating her calls for urgent action on child poverty in Wales.
Ms Burnham said:
“As Christmas approaches we must be mindful of the fact that almost a third of Wales’ children live in poverty and that Wales has the highest percentage of severe child poverty of all the UK nations.
“The Labour-Plaid government has failed to make even the slightest dent into the scourge of child poverty in the last few years. In fact, child poverty has been on the increase in Wales while in Scotland, Northern Ireland and parts of England the situation has been gradually improving.
“The Welsh government must now look urgently at redressing the balance which sees English children receive £500 a head more spent on their education than Welsh children, and provide extra targeted help for children from the poorest backgrounds.
“Economic poverty among children leads to a poverty of goals and ambitions which damages our whole nation and it continues the vicious cycle of families living in poverty from one generation to the next. This vicious circle must be broken: child poverty is social injustice at its worst.”
