ON THURSDAY, (Apr 7), the Oxfam shop on King Street, Carmarthen was transformed into an innovative Candidate Café ahead of the Welsh Election.
At the end of the trading day the shop was transformed to serve up a good helping of discussion and debate as Oxfam Cymru brought together local candidates from each of the main parties standing in the electoral region and an invited audience of those with personal experience of poverty, service providers and individuals working to tackle poverty in the area.
In Wales, 16% of the population own as much wealth as everyone else put together and the extent of low pay has not changed in a decade. Today, 23% of Welsh households are living in relative poverty and 50% of those already have a salary coming in, whilst almost a quarter of the Welsh workforce earns less than the Living Wage. For example, 25.1% of employee jobs in Carmarthenshire pay less than the Living Wage.
The Oxfam Cymru Candidate Café gave people living and working in and around Carmarthen the opportunity to discuss and question these national and local poverty levels, economic inequality and other issues that matter to them, with a number of prospective local candidates including Val Bradley (Wales Green Party), Alistair Cameron (Welsh Liberal Democrats), Matthew Paul (Welsh Conservatives), Marc Tierney (Welsh Labour) and Simon Thomas (Plaid Cymru).
Manager of the Oxfam Shop in Carmarthen Adrianna Miller said: “Oxfam shops are the face of Oxfam in communities so we were very excited to host one of Oxfam Cymru’s Candidate Café here in Carmarthen. It was a great opportunity for people to share their experiences, views and ideas about poverty and to have a more in-depth discussion with their local candidates about what can be done to tackle poverty on our doorstep.”
Carys Mair Thomas, Head of Oxfam Cymru said: “The Welsh Election is fast approaching and we want to make sure that prospective candidates have had the opportunity to hear directly from people who live in the communities they represent; people who have and are still experiencing poverty and hardship, or people who work to tackle poverty every day in the region. That’s why we’re hosting a series of five Candidate Cafés, visiting each of Wales’ electoral regions
“We know the Welsh Government cannot do everything, but it can do more. Almost a quarter of families in Wales are struggling with the basics, like putting a hot meal on the table. Whatever the make-up of the next Welsh Government, it needs to work to Even It Up for the people of Wales.
“In our recently published Blueprint For Change we set out a number of policy calls that would help the next Welsh Government to do this. These include making Wales a Living Wage Nation by ensuring that Welsh public bodies are Living Wage employers, and appointing a Deputy Minister within the Welsh Government’s Finance Department, to ensure a cross-government approach to tackling poverty.”
Add Comment