Myfanwy fights to keep Jobforce scheme to help Llanelli’s children out of poverty

Responding figures that show an increase in the number of children living in poverty in Wales, Dr Myfanwy Davies Plaid’s Westminster Candidate for Llanelli has strongly criticised Government plans to cut funding for a scheme that helps Llanelli’s lone parents back into work or training.
Myfanwy is joining the fight to save a scheme offered by jobforce Wales that provides free childcare to lone parents so the can work or complete the training they need to return to work.
Myfanwy said:
“The official figures show more children in Wales slipping back into poverty which will have a huge effect on the choices they have in life. Next week Parliament will discuss the Child Poverty Bill that aims to take some of the positive steps our Assembly has already taken towards eradicating child poverty. I welcome the debate and it is a wholly good thing to introduce targets for raising parents’ income such as those proposed in the Bill. But those targets are meaningless while Gordon Brown is still planning vicious cuts in schemes that help parents back to work”.
“One very concrete example of the UK Government’s failure to deal with child poverty is the fact that the New Deal for Lone Parents in Llanelli has come to the end of its funding. There are dozens of lone parents in Llanelli who have expressed an interest in taking up training but can’t do so because they do not have the resources to look after their kids. I will be raising this issue with our AM Helen Mary Jones in her role as Chair of the Assembly Children’s Committee”.
“It is all very well for Gordon Brown and his self-serving MPs to set targets they know will not be met they need to take this chance to put the needs of our families in Llanelli first”.
Diwedd / Ends
Notes to Editor:
In Wales, 32% of children now face living in a home which has less than 60% of the average UK household income. In 1999, the average level of risk that that Welsh child would be in a household that fell below the poverty line was 35%.
While the level of poverty appears to be rising in Wales, in Scotland the rate continues to fall, now standing at 25% of children at risk. Northern Ireland has also kept poverty levels stable at 26%.
Link to the full Rowntree Foundation Report:http://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/end-child-poverty-wales-summary.pdf
Next Tuesday Parliament will begin to discuss The Child Poverty Bill that will require the Government reports on progress towards eradicating child poverty and includes targets on increasing family income

Myfanwy calls on Nia Griffith to protect Royal Mail

Plaid Cymru Llanelli
Ty Bres,
Heol Bres
Llanelli
SA15 1UH
July 2nd, 2009

Nia Griffith MP
6 Queen Victoria Road
Llanelli
SA15 2TL

Dear Ms Griffith,

I enclose a letter sent to you on June 2nd and note that I have not yet received any response to this from your office.

I had asked you to oppose plans to privatise our Royal Mail to protect jobs and to preserve the level of service we expect and need. As you will know your colleague Lord Mandelson has now admitted that the UK Government will not push through legislation to part-privatise the Royal Mail in the near future because no buyer could be found.

It is also very clear that among your more outspoken colleagues this is an unpopular measure and failing to get the bill passed would be an embarrassment for the Government.

While the climb-down is welcome, it not good enough for the plans to be shelved so that they can be resurrected when a buyer is found or when the Labour whips think they can win the debate. Not even the Tories dreamed of privatising the Royal Mail and you must know that job losses will follow from this move and that there can be no justification for supporting a measure that puts more jobs in Llanelli at risk.

I urge you to pledge publicly to people in Llanelli that you will vote against these reckless measures when they come up for debate.

Yours faithfully,

Myfanwy Davies

Myfanwy and Hywel Williams join Llanelli bingo protestors at Westminster

Plaid Cymru’s Hywel Williams MP and Plaid’s Westminster candidate in Llanelli Dr Myfanwy Davies, today joined forces with bingo players from Llanelli to campaign against unfair taxation on bingo.

The group from Llanelli lead by Nigel Griffiths traveled 330 miles to fight for their bingo club’s future by protesting in Dean’s Yard opposite the Houses of Parliament.

Protestors wore Alistair Darling masks, carried several placards, some even circled the square aboard the ‘Bingo bus’, and even joined in a game of Bingo on the green to champion the cause.

Plaid Cymru’s Hywel Williams has previously warned that the decision to increase in the rate of duty from 15% to 22% could signal a decline for Bingo clubs.

A Plaid-backed SNP motion to reverse the decision was recently defeated by Labour MPs. Other forms of gambling such as casino or online poker remain taxed at 15%.

Plaid’s Hywel Williams MP said:

“The Government's treatment of the bingo sector is incredibly unfair. In the Budget, the Government announced that it had removed the VAT on participation fees for Bingo players, but at the same time has increased the rate of bingo duty from 22%. This makes no sense in practise.

“Tax fairness is essential during the recession and this taxation on licensed bingo halls is dangerous as it targets the heart of our communities, and in particular older women and those from lower income households. Bingo halls provide a safe and friendly environment for the whole community to meet and socialise.

“The protestors have championed this cause fantastically today. I hope that the Government will now see for itself that bingo clubs and their constituents are suffering under this burdensome tax.”

Dr Myfanwy Davies added:

“Bingo has been part of life in Llanelli for as long as I can remember and the last thing we need in the town centre is for the club in Market Street to have to close.

“This is a completely unfair and ridiculous tax on people’s enjoyment. Bingo is already taxed once and there is no justification for treating bingo differently from online poker or any other form of gambling.

“We’ve come today to show those MPs that voted for the tax hike will see that they cannot ignore the voice of their constituents.”