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Mark at an Amnesty International event in March 2011 – “The importance of Wales to Amnesty”

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Tackling Youth Unemployment

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The economic policies being pursued by the Conservative-led coalition in Westminster are already proving disastrous for Wales, with investments cancelled in transport, energy and employment. Over the next twelve months things will get worse, as cuts in jobs and services begin to bite in earnest.

There’s only one way to recover from a recession, and that’s through growth. Global trading conditions already make that difficult, with rapidly rising oil prices causing inflation and stifling growth, at one and the same time. Just when government spending is needed to sustain companies through the trough, the coalition is hell-bent on cutting back too far, and too fast. At the same time, tax rises and wage freezes will take even more purchasing power out of the economy. There are some very fragile high-streets in Wales where 20% of local purchasing power is about to disappear, in a combination of benefit cuts and real-terms wage reductions. They may simply not survive.

All of this is having a particular impact on young people. The private sector reacted to the recession by hanging onto staff wherever possible, reducing working hours, moving to short-time working, promoting job-sharing and so on. Now, if any signs of an up-turn come, their first move is to offer more work to existing, under-employed staff. In other words, even if there is a recovery (and there’s no sign at all of one happening), it is likely to be jobless.

That’s how we have such rapidly rising unemployment amongst people aged 24 and under. Already, in Cardiff West, youth unemployment in Ely has moved back above three figures.

During the 1980s I worked as a probation officer with young people in Ely and more widely. I saw, at first hand, the distress and destruction of hope which being written off brought. It’s an absolute disgrace that the ConDem coalition have abandoned Education Maintenance Allowances in England, and shut down the Future Jobs Fund.

Here in Wales, we can do better. The Labour-led Assembly Government has already announced that we will keep EMAs in Wales. And Labour’s Manifesto for the May 2011 elections will promise a new £25 million Wales Job Fund, to provide work for 4,000 young people over the next four years.

I think there is more, again, which can be done. If I am elected as Cardiff West’s Assembly Member in May, then I will put finding work for our young people – from those who leave school at 16, to those who graduate from our universities – at the top of my agenda

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Practical ways to tackle poverty

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There are very hard times ahead for the Welsh economy, and especially for those who can least afford to bear the burden of ConDem cuts. In the attached article, I explain why Conservative Chancellor, George Osborne is so wrong to claim that there is no alternative to his determination to slash and burn his way to a smaller state. I also show how the deficit could be tackled without causing such harm to working people, to pensioners and to those hundreds and thousands of people who will be thrown out of work over the months ahead.

Here I want to highlight some practical ways in which help can be provided.

In a little-noticed part of its plans, the Conservative-led Government in Westminster has announced that it will be handing over the responsibility for Council Tax benefit, and the Social Fund, to the National Assembly.  Both of these parts of the benefit system are really important. Council Tax benefit matters to thousands of pensioners up and down Wales, and here in Cardiff. The Social Fund is help of last resort – the final safety net for people who have nowhere else to go for assistance with basic survival.

We need to harness the expertise of people in the voluntary sector, the welfare rights movement and in government itself in Wales, to design a scheme which protects those who are most at risk. Having chaired the Ely Citizens’ Advice Bureau for many years, and being a founder member of what is now the Cardiff Credit Union, I know how much these basic services matter. It’s no use at all pretending that life-line help can be left to charities or some mythical ‘big society’. Here in Wales we know that we all do better when we act collectively to solve common problems. If I am elected to the Assembly in May 2011, I plan to make tackling poverty in Wales one of my main campaigns.