How Wales can help to ease cost-of-living crisis

THERE is a growing gap in Welsh everyday life between what people are being told about the economy and what they are feeling in their own lives.

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Childcare costs remain a major barrier to work

Inflation may be lower than it was and interest rates are decreasing but that does not mean households feel secure and, in many cases, they feel the opposite.

Recent research by YouGov showed that voters are now significantly more pessimistic about their finances next year, with 35% believing their situation will get worse over the following 12 months.

That is a worrying direction of travel and one that no amount of press releases about positive economic indicators will reverse given voters will judge governments by whether their lives feel more affordable and not by whether inflation is coming down.

This matters because Wales is now entering the final stretch of a Senedd term with a cost-of-living problem that has become structural rather than temporary. While many of the levers are in Westminster, it is only fair to ask, given its £27bn budget, what can an incoming Welsh Government do to address this and whether it will be a priority in each party's manifestos?

Indeed, it can be argued that something could have been done about one of the most important issues facing the country recently but the budget agreement between Labour and Plaid Cymru meant that the £380m of unallocated funding was instead channelled into health and local government rather than in addressing the cost-of-living crisis that is the main priority of families across the country.

So if a new Welsh Government is to act later this year, should it focus on this important issue and if so, where will it get the money from to do so given that 80% of the current budget is spent on health, education and councils?