Plaid Cymru Member of Parliament for Arfon Hywel Williams has blasted the Conservative Westminster government for prioritising saving the Prime Minister’s job than solving the cost-of-living crisis impacting his local constituents.
Mr Williams also drew attention to the team behind the Bangor Foodshare Scheme run from the Plaid Cymru office and ‘Porthi Pawb’ a volunteer-run food distribution project, supplying food to people in Caernarfon during the pandemic, both examples of community-run projects stepping in to support vulnerable people.
The food share scheme in Bangor launched in 2018, using supermarket surplus of fresh, tasty and in-date food, distributing it to anyone who needs it and saving good food from going to waste.
Speaking during a debate on the cost-of-living crisis in the House of Commons, Mr Williams highlighted how, under Westminster, Wales has the highest poverty rate among the four nations, with almost 1 in 4 (23%) people living in poverty.
Hywel Williams MP said: “This Government seems more concerned with saving the Prime Minister job than with solving the cost-of-living crisis which is significantly impacting many of my constituents.
“Almost one in four people are living in poverty. Worse, Wales also has the worst child poverty rate with 31 per cent of our children living in poverty. My party is determined to solve this crisis and end this gross injustice, through our work in the Senedd and on a local level.
“So, just one example, under our recent 3-year agreement with the Welsh Government, school meals will be free to all primary school children, phased in from September. This had long been promised by Labour. Plaid has made sure that at last they have acted on these fine words.
“But more generally, families across Wales are being failed by the Westminster’s welfare system, inadequate as it is in meeting the cost-of-living crisis.
“In Wales alone, the Trussell Truss distributed over 145,000 emergency food parcels in 2020-21, 83 per cent up from levels at the height of austerity.
“I would draw attention to the efforts of my constituents in Caernarfon and Bangor to name just two local examples, with Porthi Pawb distributing hot meals throughout the Caernarfon area during the height of the Covid pandemic.
“And in Bangor, we have a dedicated team of volunteers who give their time every Sunday to distribute food to those in need from the Plaid Cymru office. It opened its doors at 10:00am last Sunday and cleared out almost immediately, such is the demand for support.”
Photos: (1) Hywel Williams MP (2) Local councillors Elin Walker-Jones, Steve-Collings and MS Siân-Gwenllian at the Bangor Foodshare (Photo taken before Covid restrictions applied).
