Here is the plain text result:
Eluned Morgan was asked why the Secretary of State said she had shown her support for cuts. Wales’ first minister has refused to back UK government welfare cuts announced by the Labour chancellor earlier this week.
Giving evidence to a Senedd committee on Friday, Eluned Morgan said she wanted to “reserve my position” until she knew what the impact would be on Wales.
Welsh Labour leader Morgan also confirmed she was still waiting for a response from Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall to her request for a Wales-specific impact assessment and said she was now seeking a meeting with her.
Morgan wrote to Kendall requesting an assessment on 11 March. She has previously described the delay as “disappointing”.
In her Spring Statement on Wednesday Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced a number of benefit changes, including tightening qualification rules for Personal Independence Payments (Pips) – the main disability benefit – claimed by more than 250,000 working aged people in Wales.
Reeves also confirmed health-related universal credit for new claimants, which was already due to be halved from April 2026 under a package announced last week, would be frozen at its new lower level of £50 per week until 2030.
Health-related payments will be frozen for existing claimants. A Department for Work and Pensions assessment found 3.2 million families across England and Wales would be worse off as a result of the changes, with 250,000 more people pushed into relative poverty.
On the principle of moving people from benefits to employment, Morgan told Friday’s committee “it would be a good thing to have more people in work in Wales”.
“Our employment rate is not nearly as good as some other countries, and we’ve seen a surge, particularly since the pandemic,” she said.
Asked directly by Plaid Cymru Senedd member Llyr Gruffydd to confirm she supported the changes, Morgan replied: “I have yet to get a firm understanding of how that will impact on Wales, and until I’m clear about the impacts I want to reserve my position in relation to that.”
The first minister told the Senedd on 18 March that she had written to Kendall and “personally spoke to No 10” about changes to the benefits system.
During her evidence session, Morgan confirmed she had not spoken to the prime minister himself.
Asked by Gruffydd to confirm who she had spoken to, Morgan said: “It was some people in the No 10 unit, I can’t remember their names”.
Pressed further she said: “I can’t remember every single name of every person I meet because I meet hundreds of people every single day.”
Morgan said she would get back to the committee on the names of those in Downing Street she had spoken to.
Speaking after the hearing, Gruffydd told BBC Wales: “The fact that she couldn’t remember who she spoke with speaks volumes about that person’s influence in Downing Street.
If it wasn’t the prime minister it should at least have been a cabinet secretary or a minister. Who was it? As far as we know it could have been Larry the cat.”
The first minister told the Senedd last week that she had written to Kendall and “personally spoke to No 10” about changes to the benefits system.
During her evidence session, Morgan confirmed she had not spoken to the prime minister himself.
Asked by Gruffydd to confirm who she had spoken to, Morgan said: “It was some people in the No 10 unit, I can’t remember their names”.
Pressed further she said: “I can’t remember every single name of every person I meet because I meet hundreds of people every single day.”
Morgan said she would get back to the committee on the names of those in Downing Street she had spoken to.
Speaking after the hearing, Gruffydd told BBC Wales: “The fact that she couldn’t remember who she spoke with speaks volumes about that person’s influence in Downing Street.
If it wasn’t the prime minister it should at least have been a cabinet secretary or a minister. Who was it? As far as we know it could have been Larry the cat.”
Source link
