Welsh MP Robin Millar has said that the state should be the "last resort" for helping people deal with the cost of living crisis. The Aberconwy MP was asked a question by Yahoo News during an event at the Conservative Party conference about "what the role the state has during the cost-of-living crisis given lifelines like food banks are increasingly unable to meet the current surge in demand".
In response, the Bangor-born Mr Millar said: "When I’ve worked in some poor communities, it’s been very important for them to be able to help one another. And this is important when we think of the state being the last resort. What that assumes is that we’re all passive recipients of benefits or goodness… the state [should not steamroller] the individual human dignity that comes with helping others around us.”
Read more: Children grow up in poverty in the shadow of Wales' greatest wealth
He also had comments on whether the need for food banks was a black mark against the Conservative Party which has been in power for over a decade. According to the Trussell Trust, they delivered nearly 88,000 emergency food parcels to people in crisis in Wales in 2014/15. This figure has now risen to 131,000 for 2021/22. Across the UK the figure has doubled from just over one million to over two million (and this is only Trussell Trust deliveries).
Yahoo reported that Millar said his north Wales constituency had “multiple food banks” and that it had been “quite inspirational” to see them working during the pandemic. “Frequently, we’re told: ‘There are food banks, that’s a damning indictment of the government’,” he said. “But there’s a philosophical question there - about what is the balance of the role of community [versus]… state-led intervention.” He added that the state cannot “catch” everyone.
Of the 600,000 children in Wales 200,000 of them live in poverty. You can read WalesOnline's special report on the part of Wales with the highest child poverty rates here. To get news like this straight to your inbox, subscribe to our Wales Matters newsletter here.
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