St David’s Day and Welsh Affairs
Andrew Ranger Excerpts(6 days, 13 hours ago)
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Andrew Ranger (Wrexham) (Lab)
Diolch yn fawr, Madam Deputy Speaker. It is a real pleasure to speak in my second St David’s day debate in this Chamber. I begin by thanking my hon. Friend the Member for Newport West and Islwyn (Ruth Jones), Chair of the Select Committee, and the hon. Member for Ceredigion Preseli (Ben Lake) for securing this debate today.
The story of St David began about 1,500 years ago, when, in the wake of the Roman empire’s departure from Britain, a unique Welsh identity began to take shape—one identity around community, language, culture and a resilience that lives on today. There is no better place to see that identity in action than Wrexham this weekend. At 12.40 on Sunday, the bells will ring out from St Giles church, marking an end to the traditional St David’s day church service and the beginning of our now regular St David’s day parade. The parade will be led by the Cambria band. It brings an array of colour and music to our streets, with community groups, schools and other organisations all playing their part. All weekend, there will be special events, including St David’s day markets in Queen’s Square and the surrounding area, where our fantastic local businesses and independent traders offer delightful products, food and drink, including what I am sure are the best Welsh cakes across the whole of Wales.
Andrew Ranger
It’s a close-run thing.
There is also a range of interactive and engaging cultural and educational activities for everyone to enjoy and take part in. Wrexham is bidding to become the city of culture in 2029 and our annual St David’s day celebrations, which are now embedded in our city and growing every year, demonstrate so much about what makes Wrexham a welcoming place for everyone.
Last summer, Wrexham was the very proud host of the National Eisteddfod, reportedly attracting around 160,000 visitors over its week-long celebration of Welsh arts and heritage, drawing people from across Wales and the UK to enjoy all that Wrexham has to offer, as well as the plethora of fantastic events on the Maes. This year is also Wrexham’s “Year of Wonder”, marking 150 years since a significant number of events happened in what was then our town, back in 1876. That included the establishment of the Football Association of Wales. There was an art treasures exhibition, which shone a spotlight on Wrexham for the rest of the country. The first National Eisteddfod to be held in Wrexham also happened in that year.
You would not expect me to speak about Wrexham, Madam Deputy Speaker, without mentioning a certain local football team that you may have heard of. Another reason to celebrate: this year, it has reached the fifth round of the FA cup for the first time in 29 years. We will be welcoming Chelsea in the next round, in a week or so’s time. We have past history of causing upsets against top-tier teams from London—I won’t mention which.
We are also sitting in the play-off spots of the championship. It is a real football fairytale story, if ever there was one—back-to-back promotions and all that success. That has made a real difference to Wrexham: how we think about the place where we live and how we welcome people there from all over the world. We cannot walk around Wrexham now without bumping into Americans, Australians, South Americans or people from Europe. It is absolutely fantastic; things have changed in the last four or five years.
Beyond the pitch, the Wrexham Association Football Club Foundation is impacting young lives through its programmes such as the Street Dragons and the Young Leaders programme. To continue this sporting theme, I also welcome recent confirmation from the Welsh Minister for north Wales, Ken Skates, that north Wales will be joining discussions alongside the northern mayors in England about a possible joint Olympics bid for 2040, in which Wrexham’s very own StōK Cae Ras would be a possible venue, along with many other venues across the whole of north Wales, north-west England and right across the other side. Let us go for that bid—we can do it, with the north of England and north Wales working together in partnership. We can build on the success of 2012 in London and do it even better.
I turn back to 500 A.D. As many Members have mentioned today, one of St David’s most notable remarks was about doing the little things. In 2026, that phrase still holds dear in Wales: a nation of community, where people look after not just themselves but their neighbours too. People may try to divide us, but they will fail. That is at the core of our Welsh Labour politics. We believe in partnership working, which we saw at its best only last week with the announcement of the seven new railway stations across Wales—including the one at Deeside industrial park, which will make such a difference to people in Wrexham getting to and from work and other places.
Alongside the improvements to the Wrexham-Liverpool line, there is the electrification of the north Wales main line and ambitious plans for North Wales metro. The £14 billion investment from the UK Government will be truly transformative for communities, our economy and the future of Welsh rail. We have seen many other further investments in Wrexham and across north Wales; they are transforming jobs, education, opportunity and north Wales as a whole. We talk about the AI zones, the small modular nuclear reactors in Ynys Môn, the Flintshire and Wrexham investment zone and Pride in Place, through which a total of £21.5 million has been invested in Wrexham. Local people will decide how money is spent, for the best of Wrexham.
A big key to our Welsh identity in Wrexham and north-east Wales is our very proud links between north-east Wales and north-west England. That is about work, family, social life and culture—a two way relationship that we are stronger for, not poorer. At the heart is how the Welsh Government have delivered since devolution: small things—maybe big things—such as free prescriptions, keeping and not cutting student maintenance grants, the bus fare caps discussed today and the first wellbeing of future generations Act in the UK, never forgetting that a decision, however big or small, is important for what it does for the people of Wales. As we once again gather to celebrate our national day, I will remember to do all those little things. Of course, I wish everyone a dydd gŵyl Dewi hapus—a happy St David’s day.
David Chadwick (Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe) (LD)
Wales is ready to move on from 27 years of failure and a century of Welsh Labour dominance. Labour’s failures in Wales represent the greatest failure in democratic governance anywhere in the world. Wales lies at the bottom of every British league table: it has the lowest education scores, the lowest wages and the longest waiting times. What explains this complete failure of democratic governance? Welsh politics has been too chummy, with people moving freely between journalism, public affairs and political parties. Wales has lacked proper scrutiny. It needs fresh thinking, which is why Wales needs Welsh Liberals.
I wish to be clear: for over 100 years, Welsh Liberals fought for Home Rule, Cymru Fydd and a Welsh Parliament. Devolution is a sacred flame that we will follow, but the Labour party has done irreparable damage to it. Recent polling shows that only 36% of people in Wales think that devolution is worth it. Why is that? Why has Welsh devolution failed to improve outcomes? First, Wales should have powers equal to those of Scotland, because we are an equal nation and should be treated as such. The galling gap exists most obviously in the funding and powers made available for rail and those of the Crown estate. Until the Westminster Government acknowledge that Wales gets a raw deal, this constitutional question will rumble on, fanning the flames of populism and nationalism.
Andrew Ranger
In the hon. Member’s response to our Labour Government’s record-breaking £14 billion commitment to Welsh rail, he stated that there was no mention of the electrification of the north and south Wales main lines in the plan. I assume that he has now had a chance to read the full Transport for Wales vision document, which does in fact include that. Would he now like to take the opportunity to row back on his previous comments and instead welcome the benefits that his constituents will incur from it?
David Chadwick
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his contribution, and I am coming to that.
Secondly, we need a Government with plans to empower people across Wales. Devolution was intended to bring power closer to people, but the Welsh Government has instead hoarded power in Cardiff. We need a Government in Wales who trust councillors and council officers to make their own decisions, without demanding that the Welsh Government sign off on minor changes to bus routes; a Government who do not try to hide behind a £2 million a year Future Generations Commissioner; and a Government who ensure that health boards are truly accountable to the people they serve. In short, to put things right, Wales needs more than just a change of Government; we need a change in the style of government. Most importantly, people need the truth from us—politics depends on it. What happens to the spirit of democracy when people are not told the truth? It erodes trust, leading to populism.
Last week, the Government sought headlines by saying that they were spending £14 billion on Welsh rail projects. Well, Labour knows, and we know, that they are not doing so. What did that announcement achieve, other than creating further distrust in politicians? This will be their legacy: a Wales that is so tired of broken promises that people have stopped tuning in or turning up.
The Government are not the only ones who have broken their promises. The Brexiteers told Wales that leaving the European Union would save our steel industry, save Welsh farming and boost our international links. Ten years on, our steel industry is on the brink of collapse, Welsh farmers are being undercut by lamb imports from Australia and New Zealand, and Welsh universities are cutting jobs. The Brexiteers cost us the last decade, and Reform cannot be trusted with the next. If this Government wish to see off the threat from Reform and restore some faith in democracy, they must do two things: first, fix our health care system, and secondly, grow the economy. I will start with healthcare.
At the start of this Parliament, we were told that the two Labour Governments would work together. The Government said that they would use spare capacity in England to drive down waiting lists in Wales, and that proposal was welcome. Cross-border healthcare has long been an everyday reality for my constituents. My predecessors, Richard Livsey and Roger Williams, fought to ensure that Powys patients could go to Hereford hospital for treatment. But last summer, faced with a mounting deficit that is now approaching £50 million, Powys teaching health board asked English hospitals to slow down treatment times for Powys patients. Waiting times for some procedures have now doubled.
On Saturday I spoke to Dorothy Griffiths, who has been waiting since June 2024 for a knee replacement, and she is not alone. Patients who could have had hip or knee operations months ago have been left in pain because no one will take responsibility for ending this cruel policy. Nobody waiting for a knee replacement gets better with time, and the financial, physical and emotional costs will only mount. I have pressed the Welsh Office and Welsh Government Ministers for a plan to end the pain, but it is clear that there is no plan. Denying healthcare to people who need it is a moral outrage.
Growing our economy is how we can pay for the NHS that we need. Agriculture, heavy industry and tourism are key sectors of the Welsh economy. The Welsh economy is driven by small family-owned businesses, and I wish to emphasise this point: the best long-term approach to tackling poverty in Wales is to build an economy with good jobs. Businesses are allies in the war on poverty, not foes, yet rather than seeing those sectors as an asset, this Labour Government have all but declared war on them. First, despite the low earnings of Welsh farmers being well known to anyone who knows anything about farming, the Government launched a tax raid on family farms. Secondly, they introduced a jobs tax and rateable value changes for pubs, restaurants and hospitality venues, prompting closures and lost jobs across Wales.
Thirdly, there is the great betrayal of our steel industry. Before the general election, Welsh Labour MPs lined up in front of signs saying that they would “Save Our Steel.” They had a manifesto commitment to spend £2.5 billion on rebuilding our steel industry. Then they let the blast furnaces be turned off and said there was nothing that they could do. Yet months later, when the blast furnaces in Scunthorpe were under the same threat, Labour intervened and nationalised the steelworks. It was one rule for England and another for Wales.
We were told during that debate that a steel strategy was forthcoming. In September last year, I asked the Government where it was. Their answer was that it would be published by the end of the year, but it still has not been published. Why not? How much money has been spent on shoring up the English steel industry in the meantime? Will the Government commit to spending that £2.5 billion in Wales? If they do not, our economy in south Wales will be in danger of withering away, and the anger that will follow will wash Labour Members away. They must fight their colleagues for that funding.
There is huge demand for the skills that exist in south Wales, particularly around Neath Port Talbot. Welders are in big demand and can command six-figure salaries. We need an abundance of welders to build the big infrastructure projects that we need on time and on budget, and therein lies the opportunity to tackle poverty and build the industries of the future. Let us get Welsh children welding.
I support the Government’s aim of building supply chains and providing green jobs, but they must hurry up, because Wales is missing out. The tidal lagoon project in Swansea bay, which the Conservatives cancelled, would have created thousands of jobs, generated tons of green energy and given us an industrial lead. The Liberal Democrats agree with the Government that green industrial leadership is ours for the taking. Take offshore wind: Wales has the coastline, the ports and the industrial skills to lead the renewable transition, but parts of the supply chains have now been built elsewhere, which means that Welsh companies will have to import steel to build the necessary parts. We should not be importing steel into Port Talbot—that defies all logic. The Government have given themselves a deadline of 2035 to get floating offshore wind ready. What are they waiting for? This sluggish attempt at industrial development is costing us jobs.
St David’s Day and Welsh Affairs
Andrew Ranger Excerpts(1 year ago)
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Andrew Ranger (Wrexham) (Lab)
It is a real pleasure to speak in my first St David’s Day debate in this place, along with so many other new Members.
The time around St David’s Day is always special, as so many have said. It is a moment of national and local pride for Welsh communities, a time when we celebrate everything that makes us proud of Wales. I look forward to joining in our annual St David’s Day parade in Wrexham this Saturday, led by the Cambria band, on what will be a busy day in the city, with our monthly award-winning street market and a home game against Bolton Wanderers also happening.
St David, or Dewi Sant, was known to have been a radical of his time, doing away with and challenging the perceived norms. We see that radical spirit woven into the fabric of Welsh politics—the radical spirit that saw Nye Bevan lead the charge for the national health service, the fightback against the devastation of Thatcher and the Conservatives’ decisions to close the mines in the 1980s, and the enduring quest for devolution, which was finally achieved just over 25 years ago, under the last UK Labour Government.
The devolution we celebrate has allowed Wales to do things differently; we have free prescriptions; we are keeping, not cutting, maintenance grants for students; we have a publicly owned train company; and we have the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015—the first in the UK. All that and much more was achieved because of devolution, not in spite of it, as some may believe. Wales is a strong devolved nation in a strong Union; devolution is an evolving journey, not a destination. I look forward to seeing how that journey develops, now that we have two Governments working together.
St David’s Day is about celebrating the proud history that we all share, so it is a shame that no Reform Members are in the Chamber to brush up on their history for their next day trip across the border. That history ranges far and wide, from St Davids to Wrexham and from Chepstow to Holyhead, but I hope that colleagues will forgive me if I speak further on history a bit closer to home—any opportunity to wax lyrical about Wrexham.
Most will of course know about the world-famous Wrexham associated football club, but they may be less aware of the role that our city played in ensuring that Welsh football is what it is today. In February 1876, a group of football enthusiasts met at the Wynnstay hotel in the centre of Wrexham. From that meeting came the formation of the Football Association of Wales and the Welsh cup, which remains one of the oldest competitions in the world; Wrexham has won it a record 23 times. The Cae Ras in Wrexham is the oldest international stadium in the world that is still hosting matches, the most recent of which was earlier this week, and Wales’s first home match was held there in 1877; it has hosted more Wales international matches than any other ground.
Much is said about the seven wonders of the world, but not enough is said about the seven wonders of Wales, three of which can be found in my constituency. We have St Giles parish church in the centre of our city; the Overton yew trees, which are estimated to be around 2,000 years old; and the bells of All Saints’ church in Gresford, which have been ringing continuously since the 16th century—hopefully with a break—and which sometimes ring of their own volition.
No debate about Wales would be complete without mention of beer. Wrexham Lager has a history that spans back to 1882, and it continues to make a significant contribution to the Welsh economy, exporting across the world. I have just joined other Members here at an excellent showcase of Welsh food and drink, at which another Wrexham brewery, the Magic Dragon, was showing its exceptional beers.
There is so much more to say about Wales and about Wrexham, but in the interests of time, I finish by wishing everyone a dydd gŵyl Dewi hapus for Saturday. Diolch yn fawr, Madam Deputy Speaker.
Oral Answers to Questions
Andrew Ranger Excerpts(1 year, 1 month ago)
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Steve Witherden (Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr) (Lab)
Andrew Ranger (Wrexham) (Lab)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales (Dame Nia Griffith)
Since July, we have driven over £1 billion of private investment from Eren Holding and Kellogg’s into Wales, creating and sustaining over 400 well-paid jobs in manufacturing. Our Welsh freeports and investment zones will together unlock billions in private investment and aim to create at least 20,000 jobs across all four corners of Wales.
Dame Nia Griffith
The memorandum of understanding signed recently between the UK and Welsh Governments further demonstrates our commitment to working together to deliver economic growth throughout Wales. The UK Government have invested £790 million in Wales’s growth deals, including £110 million in the Mid Wales growth deal which aims to leverage up to £400 million of public and private sector investment in the region and create up to 1,400 additional jobs.
Andrew Ranger
In places across the UK, including in my constituency of Wrexham, for too long too many young people have fallen through the gaps, meaning that they can miss out on job opportunities, education and gaining the critical skills essential to getting on in life. What measures is the Minister taking to ensure that young people can seize the opportunities of our growth mission and are not left behind, and help them to maximise their potential?
Dame Nia Griffith
Today, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor confirmed that we are moving forward with the £160 million Wrexham and Flintshire investment zone, focusing on the area’s strengths in advanced manufacturing, leveraging £1 billion of private investment over the next 10 years and creating up to 6,000 jobs. Growth is integral to creating the opportunities that young people need to get on in life.
Oral Answers to Questions
Andrew Ranger Excerpts(1 year, 2 months ago)
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Dame Nia Griffith
What do you make of that, Mr Speaker? With the additional funding that we have provided for the Welsh Government, I can assure the right hon. Member that there will be proper investment in the Welsh health service, which did not happen for 14 years under the Tories.
Andrew Ranger (Wrexham) (Lab)
The Secretary of State for Wales (Jo Stevens)
I have regular discussions with Cabinet and Welsh Government colleagues on economic growth. I recently had the pleasure of visiting Airbus in Broughton alongside the Prime Minister, and I addressed CBI Wales members alongside the First Minister. Since coming into government, we have worked to drive over £1 billion in private investment from Eren Holding and Kellogg’s into north Wales, creating and sustaining over 400 jobs.
Andrew Ranger
Cross-border co-operation and investment by north Wales and the Mersey Dee region of north-west England is essential to maximising growth on both sides of the border. Key to achieving that will be improved railway connectivity. Will the Secretary of State meet me and the cross-party, cross-nation Growth Track 360 group to explore how we can make that happen and help the economies on both sides of the border prosper?
Jo Stevens
I know the key role that good cross-border transport plays in strengthening economic and social ties across north Wales and the north-west of England. I was pleased to join the Welsh Government Cabinet Secretary for Transport at Flint and Chester stations recently to announce a 40% increase in rail capacity, with 50% more timetabled services on the north Wales main line. I would be delighted to meet my hon. Friend, representatives from the Mersey Dee region, and Growth Track 360.
Oral Answers to Questions
Andrew Ranger Excerpts(1 year, 3 months ago)
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Mr Speaker
Order. You cannot just keep asking questions, shadow Secretary of State. You are allowed only two, and that was your second.
Andrew Ranger (Wrexham) (Lab)
The Secretary of State for Wales (Jo Stevens)
The growth mission is the central priority for this Government. Our new industrial strategy and national wealth fund will boost economic growth across Wales, creating jobs and driving up living standards. Working alongside ministerial colleagues, I was pleased to confirm £320 million of funding for two investment zones in Wales, the green light on the freeport in the Celtic sea and protection for local community growth funding across Wales.
Andrew Ranger
I thank the Secretary of State for her answer. Universities in Wales, such as Wrexham University in my constituency, are crucial not just for the educational and research outcomes they provide, but for the economic opportunities they give our towns and cities, with a recent report by Universities Wales showing that their contribution to the economy stands at £11 billion. At a time when we are firmly in pursuit of economic growth, can the Secretary of State tell me what conversations she has had to ensure that universities in Wales are partners in this mission? Will she agree to visit Wrexham University with me to see at first hand the brilliant work that it is doing in collaboration with local businesses?
Jo Stevens
I would be delighted to go back to Wrexham and visit the university with my hon. Friend. Welsh universities will benefit from record levels of investment in research and development, which will be worth over £20 billion next year. The Budget confirmed £160 million of funding for the Wrexham and Flintshire investment zone, which was chosen due to the presence of world-renowned research institutions such as Wrexham University and Bangor University.