Defending Public Services

Gerald Jones Excerpts

Monday 23rd May 2016 Commons Chamber

[Gerald Jones (Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to be called to contribute to this debate on the Gracious Speech. It is also a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Withington (Jeff Smith), who talked about how our public services are under pressure, and that is a subject to which I should like to return in my contribution.

This Government’s record on protecting public services is woefully inadequate. Unfortunately, I have read little in the Queen’s Speech to suggest that their performance will improve any time soon. Whether we are talking about policing, the NHS, fire services or local government, the story is the same—cuts and more cuts. As my hon. Friend the Member for Huddersfield (Mr Sheerman) stated earlier, the Government seem to suggest that the public sector is bad, and indeed there does appear to be a constant push to privatise public services. We have yet another example of that with the desire to privatise the Land Registry.

We know that the Government have used the global financial downturn as a reason for implementing the most severe financial austerity that our country has ever seen. On the one hand, they have found the money to reduce inheritance tax, capital gains tax and the rate of tax for the highest earners from 50p to 45p, and on the other, they have made huge cuts to the income of working families and to welfare for disabled people, and created significant hardship across the public sector.

I have spoken on a number of occasions in this Chamber about the cuts to policing and the impact that those cuts have had on police services, most notably on neighbourhood police services. Today, I wish to concentrate on council services. As someone who spent 20 years as a county councillor before coming to this place, I have seen at first hand the many excellent examples of locally delivered, democratically accountable public services. I have also seen first-class examples of collaboration between local authorities and other public sector agencies, and in some cases with the third sector and the business sector, too. All too often in these examples, the lead is taken by local authorities because of the strategic responsibilities and overview that they have. In my view, that role is unique and should be protected.

Unfortunately, in my last few years as a councillor, I witnessed the consequences of Tory cuts. It reminded me of when I was first elected as a councillor in 1995 when, for the first two years under the last days of the Major Government, times were tough. I remember millions of pounds being cut from council budgets. Following the election of a Labour Government in 1997, a commitment to local public services was restored and funded properly. Unfortunately, that funding reverted to form in 2010. Since then, the budget for the Welsh Government has been cut by around 10%, and that has impacted hugely on local public services in Wales. I pay tribute to all local authority staff across the sector who, despite the odds and having to do much more for less, still try to deliver key public services as best they can.

Despite a significantly reduced budget, the Labour Welsh Government have led the way in tackling poverty and deprivation. The Jobs Growth Wales programme has been hugely successful, supporting 15,000 young people with job opportunities. That scheme is continuing with £25 million of European funding and will support the creation of 8,955 new job opportunities for 16 to 24-year-olds. The success of Jobs Growth Wales is yet another example of why the UK needs to remain in the EU.

As right hon. and hon. Members will know, local government in Wales is devolved to the Welsh Government. That was hugely beneficial to Welsh councils because in the first years of Tory austerity the Welsh Government under Carwyn Jones protected councils from the severity of the cuts for as long as they could. I remember talking at the time to local government colleagues in England, who were hit hard by austerity, and comparing our situation with the huge difficulties that they were having in delivering services.

Many people in the communities I represent rely heavily on the services provided by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council and, on the Rhymney valley side, by Caerphilly County Borough Council. Both authorities have worked hard in recent years to protect front-line services as best they could in the face of unprecedented financial cuts. Both councils pay the living wage to their employees—and I mean the proper living wage as suggested by the Living Wage Foundation, which specifies an hourly rate of £8.25, to take people above the poverty line. It is not the pretend national living wage that this Government introduced, which is clearly not a living wage.

Two key services delivered by local authorities that are also statutory services are education and social services, and they utilise the lion’s share of the budget, despite significant pressures. Many of the other services provided by councils are discretionary services, but are hugely valued by the public none the less. They include highways, leisure and community centres, youth services, libraries, arts and tourism, to name but a few.

I think that councillors across our country have done an excellent job in a very difficult situation. This Government are making significant cuts to public services, and that is placing local councillors in an impossible situation. We know that large organisations such as councils should always look for ways to be as efficient as they can be, and efficiency savings are a good way of reinvesting in front-line services, but what this Government have done is more to do with an ideological dislike of public services than with encouragement and support for vital local services.

To balance their reduced budgets, councillors are having to cut services to local communities. When we see our libraries having to cut their hours, our youth clubs being reduced and our potholes taking longer to repair, we must recognise that that is a direct result of this Government’s actions and their complete disregard for local public services. Cuts have consequences, and this Government must recognise that.

Another example of the Government’s attitude to public services is their treatment of the BBC. The BBC is respected around the world for its high-quality programmes and is one of the UK’s greatest cultural organisations. It is an excellent example of a great British public service. Any attempt to scale back the BBC would have a devastating impact on the UK’s creative industries—the fastest growing sector of the UK economy. I have received many emails from constituents across Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney expressing their support for the BBC. We know that the Government have been forced to backtrack on many of their more extreme proposals, but as my right hon. Friend the shadow Secretary for Culture, Media and Sport said recently:

“There are still real concerns that the Government will seek to influence the BBC’s editorial decision making”.

That must be avoided. The independence of the BBC remains of paramount importance. We must continue to celebrate the BBC as one of the UK’s great economic success stories.

Finally, while we are discussing defending public services, I would like to mention the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. There is widespread concern that this trade agreement, currently under discussion between the EU and the US, would be detrimental to the NHS. Reassurances have been given, notably by EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström last year when she said:

“Member states do not have to open public health services to competition from private providers, nor do they have to outsource services to private providers. Member states are free to change their policies and bring back outsourced services back into the public sector whenever they choose to do so”.

Labour’s 2015 manifesto stated that we would ensure that the NHS is protected from the TTIP treaty and I am pleased to support any amendment that reinforces this.

Post Office Horizon System

Gerald Jones Excerpts

Monday 29th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Bridgen]

Indeed. When we look at the cross-section of Members who have raised the matter, many of whom have served at the highest levels of Government, and who all believe that their constituents have been wronged, how can the Post Office believe that it can continue to sweep the matter under the carpet?

It is most interesting that after two years in which the Post Office has consistently claimed that its Horizon system software is robust and 100% reliable, I now have in my position an email clearly showing that the Post Office is now urgently seeking a replacement software system from IBM. I am sure that the Minister can draw his own conclusion from the happy coincidence that the investigation is now closed. It appears to me that it is indeed now sunset for the Horizon system.

It is therefore my belief, and the view of many Members across the House, that the matter must now be taken away from the Post Office and a judicial inquiry set up. The Post Office has abused its privileged position and sought to cover up its failings by way of a wholly non-transparent approach to the mediation process.

[Gerald Jones (Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney) (Lab)]

Concerns about the Horizon system are clearly of long standing. In the few weeks that I have been here I have heard from at least three constituents who have long-standing concerns about the Horizon system, and there are huge problems that are historic. I understand from one constituent that an injunction has been taken out against her for the sale of a property—

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Natascha Engel)]

Order. That intervention has been slightly too long.

Health and Social Care

Gerald Jones Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Gerald Jones (Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney) (Lab)]

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for the opportunity to make my maiden contribution during this debate on the Gracious Speech. I pay tribute to the hon. Members who have preceded me in making their maiden speeches today, especially my hon. Friends the Members for Coventry North East (Colleen Fletcher) and for Neath (Christina Rees). I also thank the staff across the parliamentary estate, who have been so helpful over the past few weeks. I know that others will join me in that.

It is an honour and a privilege to have been elected by the people of the Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney constituency, where I was born and raised and still live. I thank my parents, my partner and my family, along with my agent and Labour party volunteers, for the huge support that they have given me not only in the most recent election but for many years. I have spent many years working in community development and community regeneration in various parts of my constituency. I have thoroughly enjoyed working at the grassroots of local communities, empowering and supporting local people, and I aim to build on that work in this place.

Let me take this opportunity to pay tribute to my immediate predecessor, Dai Havard. Dai was elected to this place in 2001, and spent 14 years representing the people of Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, championing the causes of many organisations throughout the constituency. I do not think that his huge contribution to public service in our area has yet been fully recognised. He worked hard to represent working people and to safeguard workers’ rights. One would have expected nothing less from a committed trade unionist. As many will know, Dai also took a keen interest in the Defence Committee, and did much to support the work of our armed forces. I know that his contribution will be missed.

Let me also pay tribute to another of my predecessors, Ted Rowlands—now Lord Rowlands—who served the constituency between 1972 and 2001. Ted and his late wife Janice are still fondly remembered by many in the constituency. My own special recollection is that it was Ted, along with my local councillor Les Rees, who first brought me to this place when I was a teenager, and cemented an already keen interest in politics.

Merthyr Tydfil, both the town and the borough, is a very proud place. It is named after Tydfil, a Welsh princess said to have been murdered for her Christian beliefs in 480 AD. Merthyr has been at the forefront of the fight for social justice for generations, and it was also at the forefront of the industrial revolution. During the 1830s, the Dowlais ironworks was the largest in the world, employing more than 5,000 people. Merthyr became the largest iron-producing town in the world, and was the source of 40% of Britain’s iron exports.

Merthyr is proud of its heritage and history. Last weekend I had the pleasure of visiting the Merthyr Rising festival, which involves a weekend of song, poetry and debates. It remembers the 1831 Merthyr rising, when, for the first time, workers marched under the red flag that was later adopted internationally as the symbol of the working classes. Another important part of history was made in February 1804, when the world’s first locomotive-hauled railway journey took place as Richard Trevithick’s steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway line of the Penydarren ironworks in Merthyr Tydfil. Merthyr Tydfil also has a special bond with the Labour party, being the constituency that elected James Keir Hardie in October 1900. It was the first time a Labour Member had been elected to this place.

We have also known our share of hurt and pain. People throughout the world will remember the disaster that took place at Aberfan in October 1966, when 114 children and 24 adults were killed. People in my constituency still remember that tragedy, and commemorate it each year.

Merthyr Tydfil makes up two thirds of my constituency. The remainder is Rhymney, or, as it should be known, the Upper Rhymney Valley. The town of Rhymney was established with the ironworks in 1801, and throughout much of the 20th century the town’s collieries employed almost the entire local population. The celebrated Welsh poet Idris Davies was born in Rhymney, and the town is known to many outside Wales because of the folk singer Pete Seeger’s song “The Bells of Rhymney”, whose lyrics are drawn from a poem by Davies.

The Upper Rhymney Valley includes five other settlements, including my home village of New Tredegar. The village is now home to the Winding House, an award-winning museum that opened in 2008 on the site of the former Elliots colliery. It is managed by the local authority and the Friends of the Winding House community group. As you would expect, Mr Deputy Speaker, New Tredegar, like many Welsh communities, has a thriving rugby club in which mini, junior and senior sections enjoy various levels of success.

Tourism plays a part in the economy of my constituency. The history and the heritage of which I have spoken can be found in communities nestled in steep valleys and at the gateway to the Brecon Beacons national park. In recent years, many parts of the constituency have benefited from European funding, which has supported the regeneration of Merthyr Tydfil town centre and its new, iconic further education college, as well as town centre work in Treharris and in New Tredegar, where we have new roads, small business units, a resource centre and a museum. My constituency has received significant investment from Europe and hundreds of jobs in my area have been secured with European funding, which is why we need a yes vote whenever the EU referendum comes about.

The past five years have been particularly difficult for my constituency, with people struggling with the bedroom tax, zero-hours contracts and the cost of living crisis. People need hope that these things will improve, but sadly there appears to be little change on the horizon.

Despite there being some positive aspects, there was much in the Queen’s Speech—the first written by a majority Conservative Government since 1992—that caused me concern. I have been a county councillor for the past 20 years and deputy leader for seven years, and I have never seen local services under as much financial pressure as now, due to the Conservative party’s austerity measures. Local services that people so badly need and rely on like buses, libraries and youth centres are under pressure. Thankfully, in Wales we have the Welsh Government which have provided some support, but with their budget under pressure it is unclear for how long this can be maintained. I am sure we will return to these matters in the coming days and weeks.

To finish, I will return to my constituency. The most striking thing about the communities of Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney is the people and of course that famous Welsh welcome. There are few places where people would receive a more hospitable welcome than in Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney. During my time in this place I will work closely with local businesses, my Welsh Assembly Government colleague Huw Lewis and local councils to help attract more secure jobs to my constituency, where they are so badly needed. I will do my utmost to stand up and speak out for equality of opportunity, and of course for all the people of the Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney constituency, and I will try to repay their trust and confidence in me.