Mark Drakeford blamed the Conservatives for the cost of living crisis at the launch of Welsh Labor’s local election campaign, saying the situation “didn’t come out of nowhere”.
Sir Keir Starmer joined him in Bridgend to launch the party’s campaign for the May 5 election.
Labor is Wales’ largest party in local government, with a majority in seven councils.
But it will hope to improve on 2017 when it lost more than 100 council members.
Mr Drakeford said the Labor Councils, in partnership with the Welsh Government, had been the “foundation” of how people in Wales “were served and helped in the desperately difficult two years we’ve been through together” in the pandemic to protect himself”. .
“And the sad truth is that the years ahead will be just as challenging.
“The pandemic is not over.”
Speaking at Bridgend College’s Steam Academy (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) in Pencoed, the First Minister and Welsh Labor leader said people are now living under a “Tory cost-of-living crisis”.
“It didn’t come out of nowhere,” he said. “A decade of austerity has eroded the ability of hard-working families across the UK to withstand the hardships they are about to face.
“It’s a Tory government that decided in the spring declaration just 10 days ago to say in the figures they self-published their decisions will result in… half a million more children across the UK in the next few two years will live in poverty.”
Mr Drakeford listed policies such as introducing free school meals for all primary school pupils, which are part of his Labor government’s Senedd deal with Plaid Cymru, and said Welsh ministers and Labor councilors were “putting money in the pockets of people who want them.” Urgently need help in the coming weeks and months”.
“Only a Labor council working with a Labor government here in Wales can make that difference,” he said.
British Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer has said there is now “hype” around the party as it begins the local election campaign.
“You can feel it, things are changing, there’s a different approach to us in the doors,” he said.
“We need to build that positive case for change in partnership here in Wales,” he said.
“So many people ask me, ‘Well, what difference does it make if Labor comes in?’
“And I say look at Wales, look at what’s happening in Wales and you can see the difference before your eyes.”
Last time out Labor lost majority in three heartland councils – Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend and Merthyr Tydfil.
She defends majorities in Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Caerphilly, Cardiff, Newport and Torfaen.
Wales will elect councilors in each of its 22 local authorities.
Elections are also held in parts of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
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