Rydw i am wneud ychydig o sylwadau, os gallaf i, ynglŷn â’r flaenoriaeth a osodwyd gan Blaid Cymru i warchod cyllidebau rhaglenni Cefnogi Pobl. Mae’n rhyfeddol, mewn difri, ei bod hi wedi cymryd ymyrraeth Plaid Cymru i sicrhau parhad y cyllid yma.

Dros yr wythnosau diwethaf, rydw i wedi cyfarfod â nifer o gyrff yn fy etholaeth i sy’n gweithio ym maes digartrefedd—mae’r Wallich, Digartref Ynys Môn a Gorwel yn gwneud gwaith pwysig iawn mewn amgylchiadau anodd tu hwnt, yn cynnig cymorth, yn cynnig lloches i bobl sydd wedi canfod eu hunain mewn lle lle nad oes ganddyn nhw unlle arall i droi. Mae’r gwasanaethau y maen nhw yn eu darparu yn cael eu gwasgu yn barod gan eu sefyllfa ariannol, sefyllfa gyllid a gafodd ei chynnal, cofiwch, diolch i ymyrraeth Plaid Cymru mewn trafodaethau cyllideb blaenorol. Ond mi oedd cyflwyno toriad rŵan o ryw 10 i 15 y cant yn eu cyllidebau, fel yr oedd y Llywodraeth wedi arwyddo’n glir, ac wedi dweud wrth y sector eu bod nhw am ei wneud, mewn perig o wirioneddol danseilio eu gallu i helpu’r rhai o’r bobl fwyaf bregus sydd yna yn ein cymdeithas ni.

I could have opposed any pre-budget agreement with the Labour Government and then attacked them when they inevitably went ahead and cut the Supporting People budget. But I wasn’t prepared to do that if we could actually, in Plaid Cymru, get the job done and make a real gain on Supporting People, or mental health, or district nurses, or transport, or a host of other matters. To play those games would be Tory-style opposition, shouting from the sidelines—zero gain, zero influence, and irrelevance. The leader of the Conservatives was chortling earlier about Plaid Cymru having sold out for a bag of chips. He did intervene in this debate, but didn’t have the respect to stay here for the remainder of this debate. But let me tell the leader of the Conservatives this: his bag of chips is a roof over the head of a homeless person. His bag of chips is support to help a vulnerable young person try to get his or her life back on track. And my message to a Tory leader for whom a platter of sweet potato wedges in a warm comfortable home is more the norm is: try to see the real world, and try to see how Plaid Cymru is helping those who are desperate for a helping hand.

It shouldn’t have taken a Plaid Cymru negotiating team to secure this funding, but it did. Labour surely should have been doing this. For those on the back benches suggesting, ‘We would have done this anyway’, the sector had been told to expect these cuts. It was a bizarre situation where Labour Members were lobbying us to lobby the Labour Government to protect this vital piece of funding. But it did take Plaid Cymru to negotiate this, and I’m very grateful to our negotiating team for that.

Labour should have foreseen the effects of not continuing with this funding. Homelessness is on the rise. It has a terrible human toll for those affected, but it also has a terrible financial toll. Even the Republicans in the United States now can see that spending on cutting homelessness is saving money for the public sector in the long term. I’m proud that we have come to this agreement on the budget, if only for the sake of protecting the Supporting People budgets—holding Labour to account as an effective opposition party whilst making real gains for those who need it most.