THREE POINT PLAN FOR TACKLING CHILD POVERTY

Quality childcare is part of the answer to ending child poverty, Plaid Cymru leader, Leanne Wood has said. Visiting a nursery in Llanelli (on May 26^th), the party leader unveiled the party's three-point plan to tackle child poverty.

Leanne Wood said that it is a damning indictment of Labour's legacy that 200,000 children in Wales are living in poverty, with 90,000 in severe child poverty. She said that Plaid Cymru's plan aims to break the cycle of poverty and lower educational attainment that comes with that.

Plaid Cymru's three-point plan to tackle child 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 to 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 we will also embark on an unprecedented retrofitting scheme to make homes more energy efficient.
  
  
• Scrapping the bedroom tax, which has resulted in little savings and has caused disruption and chaos.
  

Announcing the plan, Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood said:

"Every child in Wales should be given the chance to succeed, and access to good quality childcare 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."

NATIONAL ENERGY COMPANY TO TACKLE FUEL POVERTY

Plaid Cymru has called for a national energy company for Wales to be established to reduce energy prices and tackle climate change.

Ynni Cymru (Energy Wales) - a not-for-profit organisation similar to Welsh Water - would be responsible for tackling fuel poverty through investing in infrastructure, green energy production, and research and development.

Simon Thomas, Plaid Cymru's spokesperson on Energy, Climate Change, and Rural Affairs, commissioned the report on Ynni Cymru. He said, "In Wales, we generate more electricity than we consume and yet we have some of the highest electricity costs in Europe. Ownership, control and investment in renewable and sustainable energy is a key question in this election and central to our future prosperity."

The Plaid Cymru report highlights the severity of Wales' fuel poverty, as nearly a quarter of Welsh households spend more than ten per cent of their household incomes on energy bills, compared to only 11.6% of households in England.

Simon Thomas said:

"Wales needs a national energy company to focus on reducing energy prices for consumers through renewable sources. Even though we have a thousand miles of coastline and five million acres of land, we produce less renewable energy than elsewhere in the UK.

"Despite being a net exporter of electricity, Welsh consumers are faced with higher bills than any other country in the UK. The answer is not to place an arbitrary cap on bills but to take profiteering shareholders out of the equation and take ownership of our own energy.

"Plaid Cymru wants Wales to be fully self-sufficient in renewable electricity by 2035 and creating a national energy company for Wales is part of achieving that aim

"If we are serious about cutting Wales' emissions by 80% by 2050, we need to act now. Plaid Cymru is committed to defending Wales' natural environment and reducing high-energy costs for consumers.

"As we leave the EU, a new internal energy market will develop in the UK, and it's important we accelerate towards self-sufficiency through cleaner, greener energy production

"The Tories have dragged their feet on projects like the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon that would create high quality jobs and green energy, and once again they have left it out of their manifesto.

"The two Westminster parties continue to bicker about capping energy prices but the sensible solution is to take profiteering out of the equation, replicating successful models like EDF which is owned by the French public.

"The only way to defend Wales' natural environment and reduce energy prices is to send a strong group of Plaid Cymru MPs to Westminster to form a united Welsh block in the House of Commons."

ENDS