Dwyfor Meirionnydd MP Liz Saville Roberts has spoken of her shock at finding out that 37 per cent of children in her constituency are now growing up in poverty.

Speaking in the House of Commons during Boris Johnson’s penultimate PMQs, Mrs Saville Roberts highlighted End Child Poverty statistics showing that child poverty has increased in every local authority in Wales in the last seven years.

The charity partly attributed the increase in Wales to the UK Government’s failure to extend the £20 Universal Credit uplift to families in receipt of legacy benefits.

Mrs Saville Roberts repeated Plaid Cymru’s call for the UK government to scrap the two-child limit and reinstate the £20 uplift in Universal Credit for all families entitled to welfare.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Liz Saville Roberts MP said: “Child poverty has increased in every part of Wales in the last seven years under Tory cuts to public services and malign welfare policies. In the communities I represent, 37 per cent of children are now growing up in poverty.

“He [Boris Johnson] has one last chance to make a real difference to these children’s lives before he leaves office. Will he scrap the two-child limit and reinstate the £20 uplift for all families entitled to welfare?”

Speaking after PMQs, she added: “All Tory leadership hopefuls support the malign welfare policies that have unleashed misery on hundreds of thousands of children across the UK over the past decade.

“In Wales we have had high levels of poverty for decades. Poverty has a disastrous and damaging impact on people’s lives. This is particularly acute in Wales as we have the highest national poverty rate in the UK.

“Our levels of child poverty in Wales are the highest in the UK, affecting a third of Welsh children as measured in 2019.

“The £20 cut to Universal Credit, which took away £286 million from the Welsh economy, was an utter disaster for children in low-income families.

“‘This is Boris Johnson’s shocking legacy – but it is also the legacy of a Westminster system that has consistently failed Wales. The leadership race is turning into a battle of the extremists, all vying for top position of most ruthless butcher of public services.

“Rather than engaging in fantasy politics, they should focus on addressing the poverty crisis that their party has collectively unleashed on our children.”