A preschool age child playing with plastic building blocks
CHARITIES called for action yesterday after research revealed that most children living in poverty in Wales live in a family with at least one child under four years old.
The study from Barnardo’s Cymru and the Bevan Foundation found that the birth of a baby often leads to a drop in household income while costs increase.
This, combined with low maternity pay, meagre social security benefits and the rising costs of essentials, can push families with young children into poverty.
Sarah Row, a child services manager for nearly 10 years, said she had been shocked by the scale of poverty, poor housing and mental health problems affecting the lives of children and their parents in recent months.
Working in some of South Wales’s poorest communities, she has come across examples of young children sleeping on mattresses black with mould and others spending the night on the floor.
“I have never seen things this bad,” Ms Row said.
“Parents are often reluctant to admit just how bad things are, as they feel ashamed they cannot feed and clothe their children or keep them warm.”
Royal College of Nursing (RCN) chief executive Pat Cullen (second right front row) joins members of the RCN on the picket line outside the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield, as nurses take industrial action over pay, January 18, 2023
TEACHER and NHS worker unions threatened strike action today over government-backed below-inflation public-sector pay rises.
The Department of Health and Social Care, the Cabinet Office and the Department for Education have recommended 2.8 per cent unfunded rises for 2025-26 to pay review bodies after Chancellor Rachel Reeves ordered all departments to cut costs by 5 per cent.
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “There are real concerns across the trade union movement about the government’s recommendation.
“The government must now engage unions and the millions of public-sector workers we represent in a serious conversation about public service reform and delivery.
“It’s hard to see how you address the crisis in our services without meaningful pay rises.
“And it’s hard to see how services cut to the bone by 14 years of Tory government will find significant cash savings.
“In the longer term, we need a spending review that gives hope to those delivering and relying on our public services.”
Labour ministers quizzed over arms exports to Israel. (Photo: UK Parliament)
UK trade department approved 34 military export licences to Israel in the two months since David Lammy announced a partial arms embargo, new data shows.
Labour government hasn’t completed a review on Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law since July
Foreign Office has not asked to see footage from RAF spy flights over Gaza, which could provide evidence of Israeli war crimes
“No particular appetite” to restrict exports of F-35 components to Israel, even as minister admits US government can track whether British-made spare parts are being sent to Israel
Keir Starmer’s government has continued to approve arms exports to Israel even after some licences were suspended in September, it can be revealed.
31 “standard” and three “open” licences for military goods have been issued to Israel since 2 September, when UK foreign secretary David Lammy announced partial restrictions on arms sales to Israel.
Those items included “components for trainer aircraft” and “commercial aircraft” which were “not assessed to be used in relation to current military operations in Gaza”.
However, training aircraft can still be used to instruct Israeli pilots on how to conduct offensive operations in Gaza.
35 “standard” and six “open” licences were also approved for items classed as “non-military” such as telecommunications equipment and imaging cameras.
The UK government refused to issue a further 18 licences to Israel for “components for combat aircraft and naval vessels, as well as components for targeting and radar equipment”.
The information is contained in new data released this week on an “ad hoc” basis by Britain’s trade department in response to “significant parliamentary and public interest” in the issue.
The data was evaluated at parliament’s trade committee on Tuesday, during which ministers admitted that the UK government has still not determined whether Israel’s bombing of Gaza amounts to a violation of International Humanitarian Law (IHL).
The committee was told that the UK government has not updated its assessment on Israel’s compliance with IHL since 31 July, some four and a half months ago. Previous assessments have taken less than half that time to finalise.
One minister further confirmed that there was “no appetite” for stopping the export of F-35 fighter jet components for use by Israel, despite concerns that this breaches Britain’s legal obligations.
It comes days after Amnesty International accused Israel of committing a genocide in Gaza and warned the UK to “immediately suspend the direct and indirect supply, sale or transfer, to Israel of all weapons” in order to “stop fuelling violations of international law”.
UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWREGenocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
Department for Work & Pensions in Westminster, London
DISABLED activist Ellen Clifford began her legal challenge against the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) today over the government’s “disingenuous” consultation on tightening the Work Capability Assessment.
Ms Clifford, represented by lawyers from Public Law Project, appeared at the High Court in London for the first of a two-day hearing to argue that the consultation was unlawful as it did not properly explain the conditions of the proposed changes.
The challenge also argues that the primary motive behind the consultation, which ran for eight weeks in 2023, was to reduce spending on disability benefits rather than to get more people into work.
Disability rights campaigners affected by the proposed changes also held a vigil outside the Royal Courts of Justice today.
Ahead of the hearing, Ms Clifford said: “More than 400,000 people will be worse off by £416 a month if the changes proposed in this consultation go ahead.
“And then there is the risk that people will lose even more money if they are sanctioned for not being able to comply with conditions they will now need to fulfil in order to receive their benefits.
“To be blunt, this would be cataclysmic for deaf and disabled people in the UK and would push many into destitution.”
