Welsh Affairs

Christina Rees Excerpts

Thursday 25th February 2021 Commons Chamber

[Christina Rees (Neath) (Lab/Co-op) [V]]

I echo the remarks about my dear friend Hywel Francis, whose legacy spreads across south Wales and beyond. I will miss Hywel more than words can say, and my thoughts are with Mair, Hannah, Dafydd and Hywel’s many friends and comrades.

Wales is a special country. Its people are parochial, but we are also internationalists in all the best ways. We have a history of social solidarity that is unrivalled: the miners’ friendship with American actor, singer and civil rights activist Paul Robeson; miners’ contributions to the fight against fascism; the father of co-operation, Robert Owen; and the fact that the NHS was born in Wales.

In my wonderful constituency, we are proud of our cultural heritage and global reach, which served us well during the miners’ strike of 1984-85. Support groups sprang up in the Neath, Dulais and Swansea valleys, with the same resilience and commitment to equality, justice and fairness as those miners who joined the international brigades. Education partnerships were forged across the world, such as the community university of the valleys and those with mining communities in Appalachia. The film “Pride” told the story of London’s lesbian and gay community supporting miners’ communities in my constituency during the strike.

The miners’ strike produced long-lasting community organisations such as Canolfan Maerdy, Glynneath Training Centre and Dove Workshop. The coronavirus pandemic has produced many more, with hundreds of street champions delivering food parcels and medication to the vulnerable and shielding. I am proud of the multi-agency working between Swansea Bay University Health Board, Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council and South Wales police before, during and, no doubt, beyond this pandemic. It has been truly humbling to see the exceptional commitment in the fight against this terrible virus—working long hours and seamlessly within and between organisations.

Despite more than a decade of Tory austerity and UK Government cuts across Wales, the Welsh Labour Government are leading on partnership working, which is the embodiment of compassion, co-operation and solidarity. The Welsh Labour Government have provided an extra £500 million to local authorities to deliver key services, made a special commitment of £500 to more than 67,000 social care staff and continued their commitment to free school meals during school holidays up to Easter 2022, feeding over 105,000 children in Wales. Businesses in Wales have accessed the most generous support package in the UK. The £2 billion economic resilience fund alone has secured over 141,000 jobs in Wales. As Hywel would say, history is on our side.