Leader of Plaid Cymru Leanne Wood paid a visit to TopTotz nursery in Llanelli on Thursday (May 25) to highlight Plaid Cymru’s child poverty action plan. Announcing the plan Leanne Wood said: Every child in Wales should be given the chance to succeed, and access to good quality childcare – such as that in this nursery in Llanelli – is a crucial part of that.
“Plaid Cymru’s child poverty action plan means providing free full-time nursery places for all three year olds and 12 hours per week of free childcare for two year olds. It also includes measures to end fuel poverty through reduced household bills and scrapping the bedroom tax.
“Despite consecutive years of Labour and Conservative rule, one in three children in Wales lives in poverty. That is not acceptable. Plaid Cymru wants to give every child every chance of success, but research tells us that children who are born into poverty are already at a disadvantage, That’s why we need to break this cycle.”
Plaid Cymru Llanelli candidate Mari Arthur said: “We cannot let our people have their futures jeopardised by the policies of the cruel Conservative party in Westminster, and the Labour government in Wales that is too weak to do anything about it. The young people of Llanelli need a party that will look after them in this election. Only Plaid Cymru will defend young people in Wales.”
You can watch our short film of the visit here:
Leanne Wood visits TopTotz from Llanelli Online on Vimeo.
Plaid Cymru’s three point plan to tackle poverty includes:
Free full time nursery places for all three year olds and extending the provision of 12 and a half hours to all two year olds in Wales. This would provide children with early educational input giving them the chance of the best start in life as well as helping parents return to work or work longer hours to improve families’ income levels.
Measures to lift households out of fuel poverty. Plaid Cymru will create a Welsh energy company, Ynni Cymru, to use profit from Welsh resources to cut the cost of energy for thousands of families across Wales. Through NICW Plaid Cymru will also embark on an un-precedented retrofitting scheme to make homes more energy efficient.
Scrapping the bedroom tax which has resulted in little savings and has caused disruption and chaos.
