Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Mr. Evil
Welsh Government Deputy Minister for Children, Huw Lewis appears in this morning's Western Mail describing the decision to scrap Child Trust funds as 'evil'.
Huw may disagree with the decision but even he must at some stage regret the language that he is using to respond to it. After all if a policy decision such as this is 'evil' then what term will we use to describe child abuse or some of the other evils that exist in the World? How do we describe the failure of the Labour Government over the last 13 years to reach their own targets on child poverty, a period during which we have gone backwards?
In the chamber this afternoon Labour members have claimed that the abolition of the fund will condemn countless Welsh children to a life of poverty. How they came to this conclusion is difficult to ascertain. After all we are talking about £250 put in a savings account that cannot be accessed for 18 years, by which time it will have lost all its value.
Surely that money could be better spent on early year's education so as to give children a real start in life that offers them opportunities and skills to succeed.
Huw may disagree with the decision but even he must at some stage regret the language that he is using to respond to it. After all if a policy decision such as this is 'evil' then what term will we use to describe child abuse or some of the other evils that exist in the World? How do we describe the failure of the Labour Government over the last 13 years to reach their own targets on child poverty, a period during which we have gone backwards?
In the chamber this afternoon Labour members have claimed that the abolition of the fund will condemn countless Welsh children to a life of poverty. How they came to this conclusion is difficult to ascertain. After all we are talking about £250 put in a savings account that cannot be accessed for 18 years, by which time it will have lost all its value.
Surely that money could be better spent on early year's education so as to give children a real start in life that offers them opportunities and skills to succeed.
