Devolution and Growth across Britain

Craig Williams Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Craig Williams (Cardiff North) (Con)]

It is a privilege to follow the hon. Member for Birmingham, Northfield (Richard Burden) and to stand up as the Member for Cardiff North. As a Welsh Member, it is especially appropriate for me to contribute to the section in the Queen’s Speech debate on devolution and growth across Britain. I pay tribute to my predecessors, first and foremost to Jonathan Evans, from whom I took over. Those are big shoes to fill. I am sure everyone in the House will recall that Jonathan represented not just one constituency for one term, but two constituencies for two terms and did great service in the European Parliament, having led our group.

I also pay tribute to Julie Morgan, who was on the Labour Benches but was a fantastic constituency Member for a number of years. I will continue to work with her because she is now the Assembly Member for Cardiff North. I also pay tribute to Gwilym Jones, who has been a great friend of mine and a great Member of Parliament and Minister. All three of them are still very much involved in public life and will have roles to play in Cardiff North and in public life in general, especially Jonathan, who is committed to public service and I have no doubt will pop up in different ways over many years to come.

Cardiff North is a great constituency. Today I have heard in many maiden speeches how great each constituency is, but Cardiff North is especially great. I am now its advocate, and it is a constituency that I would like to sell to Members over the next four minutes. It ranges from Whitchurch high street and the great folly at Castell Coch at Tongwynlais, to Rhiwbina and across to Old St Mellons and the reservoirs of Lisvane and Llanishen. Sadly, Llanishen reservoir is still empty, but I hope over the next five years to switch on the tap and refill it. We also have some great businesses. GE Healthcare has a terrific research and development and manufacturing facility in my constituency. That is world-leading research in Wales.

What do I want to achieve in the next five years? My primary ambition, and something I will work incredibly hard to achieve as a member of the Government and with the Secretary of State for Wales and other members of the Government, is the city deal for Cardiff. I wanted to mention that especially in the debate on devolution and growth. The city deal is connected to both those. It is about empowering local communities and delivering that growth for Cardiff.

I pay tribute to the work already being done on the ground both by the Secretary of State and other Ministers and by the Cardiff Business Council, ably led by Mr Nigel Roberts. He is already delivering on the ground for Cardiff and for the region. I look forward to working with that body to deliver what I see as the Cardiff bay corporation version 2. Lord Heseltine delivered that for Cardiff and really put us on the map. To steal the great selling point of Cardiff Business Council, I should say that Cardiff is the closest European capital city to London. We are going to capture that spirit and really deliver.

I started my first week as the new Member of Parliament for Cardiff North in a style that I want to continue: I visited The Pineapple pub in Llandaff North. I had a chat with Julie, the landlady. We talked about a subject very pertinent to this debate: trying to protect the pub’s skittle alley, which is due to be knocked down to make way for development. If the pub was located in England, we could apply to get the alley registered as a community asset under the Localism Act 2011. Sadly, under devolution, the Welsh Assembly was not minded to sign up to the 2011 Act. There are great opportunities from devolution, but I will be shining a light on areas where I think it is failing my constituents and the people of Wales.

Anyone who has seen the new Welsh Conservative intake will notice a theme: the name Davies. I did what I could to reassure myself that nobody would ask me to change my surname; I am a Williams and I stand out. I did a bit of research—I thought, “What can back me up here?” I want to talk briefly about Oliver Cromwell, who in the 1500s resided in Llanishen in Cardiff North. The family’s surname was originally Williams, but they changed it while in Cardiff. Historians have two theories about that. One is that they wanted to ingratiate themselves with Thomas Cromwell, who in 1535 was appointed Visitor-General of the Monasteries; the other is that the King said that he wished it so. Nobody has wished it so for me to change my name to Davies yet, which I am terribly relieved about. It is good to see that Cardiff North has such distinction going back many years.

In conclusion, I should say that it is a huge privilege to be the hon. Member for Cardiff North, and I do not take it lightly. I look forward to working with the Government for the next five years as a governing party Member. I am conscious that, although I secured 42% of the voting electorate’s support, there is a bit of work to do to convince the remainder that I am a powerful voice and a strong advocate for Cardiff North. I shall seek their support again in five years’ time.