Spring Budget: Wales

Debate between Beth Winter and Liz Saville Roberts

Wednesday 29th March 2023 Westminster Hall

[Beth Winter]

I beg to differ. If we look at local governments, there are very few with any significant reserves. For example, my local authority has experienced cuts in excess of £90 million since the start of austerity, and it has tapped into reserves significantly to meet the shortfall. I think the figure was about £30 million in the last year, although do not quote me on that. That is already happening, and local authorities do not have the reserves to which the right hon. Gentleman referred.

In terms of EU structural funds, Wales faces a £1.1 billion shortfall in funding—so much for “not a penny less, not a power lost”. I am interested to hear the Minister’s explanation for the significant shortfall in funding post EU.

On the levelling-up fund and the shared prosperity fund, the Tories’ record is one of failure, and the announcements in the Budget do very little to reverse more than a decade of austerity. One year on from the levelling-up White Paper, most places have lost out in the scramble for levelling-up funding. Millions have been wasted in the application process. Bids have been eaten up by inflation. My constituency has not received a penny, nor have other valley constituencies such as Blaenau Gwent or Torfaen. The UK Government’s shared prosperity fund was to replace EU structural funds, but funds have been cut, and the Welsh Government have been completely cut out of that process.

[Liz Saville Roberts]

I am sure that the hon. Lady shares my concerns and those of Welsh universities, which face a risk to 1,000 jobs and 60 research projects because European structural funds are coming to a close. I am sure she will join me in asking the Minister whether the Government intend to come up with a £71 million bridging fund to enable Welsh universities to survive the period in which they are waiting for funding.

[Beth Winter]

I am just coming on to the university sector, where I worked for 10 years as a researcher and a trade union representative. Indeed, universities in Wales have been at the forefront of green growth and research in Wales and internationally, but with EU structural funding coming to an end, they face the loss of more than 1,000 skilled jobs, as the right hon. Lady said.

Swansea University, where I worked for many years, has been delivering on 50 projects awarded total grants of £150 million from EU structural funds. We have only to look at some of those projects—ASTUTE 2020 and SPECIFIC 2—to get a sense of that cutting-edge research. I was involved in lots of those projects; outstanding work is being undertaken. Universities have written to the Welsh Affairs Committee to say that there is little emphasis on research and innovation within the shared prosperity fund, and wider reforms of the funds are needed.

However, there was absolutely nothing in the Budget to deal with the failings of so-called levelling up and the shared prosperity fund. As the right hon. Member for Dwyfor Meirionnydd (Liz Saville Roberts) said, I am interested to hear the Minister’s response on how the Government will address the shortfall, with all those jobs at risk from the end of this month, as I understand it. Over 1,000 jobs could be lost in Wales.

Moving on to the legacy of the coal mines, the UK Government continue to benefit unduly from their share of the national mineworkers’ pension scheme. They should be paying that money to former mineworkers and their families, many of whom live in Cynon Valley. It is a continued failure of this Government that they have not funded the £600 million legacy costs of making the coal tips safe in Wales. As I said, we created the wealth in the south Wales valley. People sacrificed their lives in many instances. We deserve our fair share of that wealth back.

The UK Government’s record on housing is one of failure. The Bevan Foundation, which has been cited, has undertaken comprehensive research. Evidence shows that there is a shortage of properties to rent, and the local housing allowance rates set by the Tories do not cover real-world market rents. The data found that 75% of Welsh local authorities did not have a single property available at LHA rates, and just 1.2% of rental market properties advertised across Wales were available at LHA rates. The Bevan Foundation has called for rates to be uplifted, and for the collection of better, more comprehensive data from the private rental sector, yet the Budget again said nothing. I want to hear the Minister’s response to the issues with the LHA in Wales, which is a reserved matter.

On transport, the UK Government have continued the lie of designating not only HS2, but now Northern Powerhouse Rail as England and Wales projects, which should result in a total of £6 billion for the Welsh economy.

The Budget shows how urgently we need a change of Government in the UK. We need a completely different economic approach to deliver a new funding settlement for public services, and fully funded, inflation-proof pay rises for workers. We need the wealthiest in society finally to pay their fair share of tax. While the Tories will not do it, Wales requires fair, needs-based funding to be able to do what we want to do, which is to address the levels of inequality that are completely unacceptable and completely avoidable. The UK Government need to stop riding roughshod over the devolution settlement. The Budget showed why we need a UK Labour Government, who will work hand in hand with the Welsh Government to deliver and level up, lifting incomes and living standards and building an economy for future generations. Diolch yn fawr.

Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill

Debate between Beth Winter and Liz Saville Roberts

Committee stage
Monday 30th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Beth Winter (Cynon Valley) (Lab)]

I speak for millions of trade unionists, public sector workers, key workers and people up and down the country when I say that this Bill is disgraceful, draconian, unconstitutional, undemocratic and a clear attack on workers’ rights.

This afternoon, I will limit my main comments to an amendment of mine that seeks to exclude Wales from the application of the Bill. I also wish to associate myself with a number of other amendments, including those tabled by my right hon. Friend the Member for Ashton-under-Lyne (Angela Rayner) on the Front Bench, my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds East (Richard Burgon), my right hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell), and my hon. Friends the Members for Wansbeck (Ian Lavery), for Gateshead (Ian Mearns), for Middlesbrough (Andy McDonald), for Coventry South (Zarah Sultana) and for Ilford South (Sam Tarry).

When I opposed the Bill on Second Reading two weeks ago, I said that it is clear that it will

“overrule the powers and policies of the devolved Governments”.—[Official Report, 16 January 2023; Vol. 726, c. 123.]

This legislation before the Commons has been introduced without any discussion with the Welsh Government. It has been introduced despite it conflicting with the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Bill before the Senedd. A different approach is being taken in Wales, and I urge Government Members to take note of how things have been done differently—and successfully—in Wales. It is an approach that fosters collaboration and co-operation between Government, employers and workers, and it is encapsulated in the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Bill, which places partnership working on a statutory footing. It really does work. It is this partnership approach that meant that the Welsh Government and Transport for Wales were able to negotiate a pay settlement recently that was accepted by the RMT.

[Liz Saville Roberts]

The hon. Member is giving a powerful speech. What we are seeing in Wales is co-operation and co-working in action, and service is being improved because of it, which, of course, is what good Government and good relations with unions is all about.

[Beth Winter]

I agree with the right hon. Member.

A joint statement by Wales TUC and the Welsh Government called on the UK Government to cease their controversial approach and learn lessons from the collaborative, social partnership approach adopted in Wales. It said that the UK Government should allow the rail companies and RMT to negotiate a deal that is fair and acceptable to Network Rail employees and employees of the UK train operating companies. That is the approach guiding the Welsh Government and the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Bill.

The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill before us today is in complete conflict with that legislation. Clearly, there has been no opportunity for the Welsh Government to timetable a legislative consent motion in the Senedd. If they had done so, they would have recorded that the Senedd would withhold consent for this piece of legislation.

The Welsh Government’s view is clear. First Minister Mark Drakeford has stated:

“The Welsh Labour Government does not believe that the response to strikes should be to bring forward such restrictive and backward-looking laws, that trample over the devolution settlement.”

Counsel General Mick Antoniw has said in the Senedd:

“The way to resolve industrial disputes is by negotiation and agreement.”

The Wales TUC has also been very clear. Its general secretary, Shavanah Taj, has said that

“this Bill will prolong disputes and poison industrial relations”,

and has urged all Welsh MPs to reject the Bill.

That is why I have tabled four amendments, each of which seeks to prevent the application of this legislation from taking effect in Wales. I have sought to amend clause 3 by asserting that Senedd Cymru can still pass legislation counter to this Bill. In amendment 77, I have sought to remove the application of the Bill to Wales. In amendments 88 and 97 I seek to remove the powers in the Bill to repeal primary legislation passed in the Senedd, as the Government are seeking to do on agency workers involved in strikes. In amendment 98, I seek to ensure that Welsh workers employed in Wales by English firms are not impacted by this legislation.

I also support a raft of other amendments, as I said earlier, including Opposition amendment 1, which would mitigate some of the most authoritarian elements of the Bill and preserve existing protections against unfair dismissal, including for an employee who participates in a strike contrary to a work notice under the Bill. I also associate myself with amendments setting out the importance of meeting conditions set by the ILO, as already discussed. There must be negotiation between the social partners rather than the imposing of minimum service levels, as this Bill will do.