Monday, November 19, 2007
More tensions within the One Wales coalition
Labour AM, Huw Lewis, has gone public with his concerns about the One Wales' government's budget today and in particular, that his party's partnership with Plaid Cymru is diluting their commitment to eradicating child poverty:
Mr Lewis, who was recently appointed chairman of the Assembly’s expert group on child poverty in Wales, said that without clear spending plans for proposals like the wrap-around “Dignity” family support programme, many of Wales’s most vulnerable children would stay trapped in a cycle of poverty.
He said, “I’ve been continually asking colleagues in Government about the Dignity Programme since May, and I’ve not received any firm guarantees. My feeling is that if there really was money for the programme we would be singing about it from the rooftops, but the silence has been telling.
“The budget is still in draft stage, so we have three weeks to turn this around. We won many headlines and plaudits in the spring for having the courage to make eradicating poverty our defining vision in Wales. Now we reach the autumn and those claims look pretty hollow. Without changing the way we spend the public’s money, we are not going to achieve this target.”
It is good to see that some Labour members are not afraid to speak out on important issues of principle, even when they are in conflict with their own government.
Mr Lewis, who was recently appointed chairman of the Assembly’s expert group on child poverty in Wales, said that without clear spending plans for proposals like the wrap-around “Dignity” family support programme, many of Wales’s most vulnerable children would stay trapped in a cycle of poverty.
He said, “I’ve been continually asking colleagues in Government about the Dignity Programme since May, and I’ve not received any firm guarantees. My feeling is that if there really was money for the programme we would be singing about it from the rooftops, but the silence has been telling.
“The budget is still in draft stage, so we have three weeks to turn this around. We won many headlines and plaudits in the spring for having the courage to make eradicating poverty our defining vision in Wales. Now we reach the autumn and those claims look pretty hollow. Without changing the way we spend the public’s money, we are not going to achieve this target.”
It is good to see that some Labour members are not afraid to speak out on important issues of principle, even when they are in conflict with their own government.
Comments:
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More tensions within the One Wales coalition
I don't think you can accuse Huw Lewis of being "within the One Wales coalition"
I don't think you can accuse Huw Lewis of being "within the One Wales coalition"
# posted by 
: 1:22 PM
: 1:22 PM
Very funny, Ordo. See what you've done there. Ha ha etc..
Don't get carried away Maxx
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Don't get carried away Maxx
# posted by : 4:42 PM
: 4:42 PM<< Home
