Jane Dodds says it’s shameful that almost a third of children in Wales are living in poverty.

The Mid and West Wales MS pleaded with First Minister, Eluned Morgan, at the Senedd to say “enough is enough”.

She said there is a sense of despair and a sense that people expected Welsh Labour to stand up, as Ms Morgan had done, for the poor, the vulnerable and those who are voiceless.

Ms Dodds said: “Yet we are not seeing this, if we're honest. I suspect that a lot of people on the backbenches, and maybe yourself as well, feel in a difficult position here with what is happening in the UK Government.

“You are our voice with the Labour Government. We've seen reports of 31 per cent of children in Wales living in poverty, and that was last week.

“That is shameful, and we are saddened to think that we live in a country with that degree of children living in poverty.

“We plead with you - what else can we do - we are pleading with you to say ‘’enough is enough’.

“We have to scrap the two-child benefit. We have to make sure that payments are restored to people who need them. And we need you to stand up for us, First Minister. Will you do that?

“Would you consider things like the Scottish child payment as well? Bringing that to Wales would make a huge difference.

“I’d ask you just to take those things back and just change the position of UK Labour so that we don’t have 31 per cent - a third - of our children in Wales living in poverty.”

Ms Morgan said she recognised that the Chancellor had difficult choices to make, but it's up to her and the UK Government to defend positions taken by their Government.

She told Ms Dodds: “I am not a spokesperson for the UK Government. My job is to stand up for the people of Wales.

“That's what I have done and I will continue to do. And if that requires me to take a different view from others, that's what I will do.

“I will always stand up for Wales and put country before party.”