Welsh Lib Dems - Full Budget Response

Responding to the budget, Welsh Liberal Democrat Westminster Spokesperson David Chadwick MP said:

“This is yet another budget that fails to deliver the structural changes needed to deliver for the people of Wales.

“My constituents will be bitterly disappointed in the lack of help for the cost-of-living crisis and the failure of the Government to listen to Liberal Democrat calls to make energy bills cheaper and cut VAT for hospitality businesses.

“Rural communities have been left abandoned again, with Labour’s refusal to compromise on the family farms tax set to cause devastation to the entire wider supply chain.

“The Government has deliberately turned its back on the single most effective step it could take to kick-start growth and fill the £90 billion Brexit-shaped hole in the public finances. No wonder our public finances are in such a rough state.”

ENDS

On the lifting of the two-child benefit cap, David Chadwick said:

“This is a commendable move that will go a long way to addressing Wales' sky-high child poverty levels, which are amongst the highest in Europe and something the Liberal Democrats have been campaigning on since 2017.

“But this could have been done much sooner; thousands of Welsh Children have been dragged into poverty due to the Conservatives and Labour’s refusal to do this sooner.

“This must be the start, rather than the end, to reducing child poverty in Wales, with the level of children in poverty almost stagnant since Labour started running the Welsh Government in 1999, we will need further action.

“That is why we are calling on the Welsh Government to introduce 30 hours of funded childcare per week for every child in Wales aged between 9 months and 4 years old.”

ENDS

BCSSS Transfer – A Major Victory for the Welsh Liberal Democrats

Responding to the announcement that the UK Government will now transfer the full pension scheme to members of the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme (BCSSS), Welsh Liberal Democrat Westminster Spokesperson David Chadwick said:

“This is welcome news for the roughly 4,000 former miners who were denied full access to their pension pots in last year’s budget.

“I am proud to have been the only Welsh MP to consistently press the UK Government to right this historic injustice. The Welsh Liberal Democrats will continue to stand up for our former mining communities, who have been abandoned by the major parties for far too long.

“For decades, coal miners across Wales powered our nation, and many now suffer ill health as a result of that hard and often dangerous work. It is only right that they finally receive the full pension support they have been owed for far too long.

ENDS