Is Wales future that of a Call Centre Nation?

The Mule reports that new figures from the Department of Work and Pensions reveal that Wales has the highest percentage of people on low incomes in the whole of the UK.

The latest Households Below Average Incomes (HBAI) survey shows that in 2012/13 24% of workers in Wales live on low incomes after housing costs, a higher proportion than England, Scotland or Northern Ireland.And the figures are getting worse. They are a percentage point up on the previous year, and do not take account of recent welfare changes such as the benefit cap and another year of increases in welfare not keeping up with the cost of living.


The DWP statistics show that Wales has some of the highest levels of “absolute poverty” after housing costs, especially for children, a third of whom fall into that category, and working age adults, where it is on the rise with a quarter now in absolute poverty. Overall, 17% of individuals across the UK are in absolute poverty, with Wales in the third highest position at 19%. Northern Ireland (21%) and Yorkshire & Humberside (20%) have marginally higher overall rates than Wales.Nevertheless, in figures which will surprise some, London also has some of the highest levels of absolute poverty after housing costs, with numbers there also increasing. Some 200,000 more individuals are in poverty, with two-fifths of children, a fifth of pensioners and more than a quarter of working age adults in that state.

Predictably Labour simply blame ther coalition Government

Jeff Cuthbert, Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty said: 

“Tackling poverty is at the heart of everything we do in government, which is why we have put such a strong emphasis on securing more jobs for people right across Wales.
“It is also why we are committing more money to break the link between poverty and educational attainment. However, the welfare reforms and tax and benefit changes made by the Tory-led Government are on an unprecedented scale and hugely damaging. Hundreds of millions of pounds are being stripped out of our most vulnerable communities and making life incredibly difficult for families.
“The Tories are asking the poorest people to pay the highest price for their austerity measures.”

But Labour in Power in Westminster from 1997 - 2010 and in Cardiff Bay from 1999 must tale responsibility as well .

This has not happened over night it is a direct result of lack of vision from the main Westminster Parties and since Margret Thatcher  Government believe all problems can be solved by encouraging a financial sector in London and the wealth produced there will trickle down to the rest of us.

We are living in a "Call Centre Nation" producing nothing and living on low wages.

We must ask ourselves "Do we want to carry on being Poor West Britons" or find solutions for ourselves replacing those who govern us who despite the Crocodile Tears have no  plan or desire to change things.

We have never been all init  together and the days when labour even had elected members who had the interest of "The Working Class" (remember them)  have long gone .

Instead we have Three Political Parties who look to "Middle England" where the marginal seats are that will decide the outcome of the next election .

The rest of us don't count we live in areas of Safe Labour seats and our votes count for nothing in the long run.


Our MPs will be like the Prospective Labour candidate for Aberavon Stephen Kinnock who will play lip service to the poor people of Port Talbot  where around 400 jobs are to go at the Tata steelmaking plant in have been  announced.

But his true  interest are in the City of London and financial capitalism are there's no indication that they will change.

What we need is elected representatives who put the needs of their elector first and not that of the type of Bankers who got us into the mes in the first place.

Some Hope.