Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Jo Stevens and Lindsay Hoyle(1 week, 3 days ago)
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Jo Stevens
I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for all her work to tackle domestic abuse. She is such an effective advocate for the people she campaigns for. I also want to thank Thrive for all the work that it does in Neath and Port Talbot. I want to assure my hon. Friend that one of the transition board’s aims is to support the wellbeing of workers and their families in our steel communities, and we are studying the data closely to target future releases of funding in the most effective way possible.
Mims Davies (East Grinstead and Uckfield) (Con)
First, my sympathies go out to all residents and businesses impacted by the weekend’s storm. I also thank Andrew R. T. Davies for his leadership of our party in the Senedd, and I wish Darren Millar well.
The UK Labour Chancellor has plummeted business confidence through the floor with her Budget actions on the family farm tax and the new jobs tax, and by whacking the hospitality sector with an £8 billion bill, according to UK Hospitality. Will the Secretary of State confirm that there is no benefit for Wales, despite her figures, and that this is simply a money merry-go-round taking from Welsh businesses, destroying jobs in the meantime, and squashing growth, meaning poorer public services as the frontline remains squeezed?
Jo Stevens
I appreciate that the hon. Lady, representing a constituency on the south coast of England, may not be familiar with the landscape of businesses in Wales. In Wales, 94.6% of small and medium-sized enterprises are microbusinesses, and 3.8% are small businesses. We protected the smallest businesses and more than doubled the employment allowance to £10,500 in the Budget, meaning that over half of small and microbusinesses will pay less or no national insurance contributions at all.
Liz Saville Roberts (Dwyfor Meirionnydd) (PC)
The Secretary of State celebrates funding for Wales yet fails to mention that, outside of the NHS, the Welsh Government Budget is 10% lower in real terms compared with—wait for it—2010. This falls far short of fixing the foundations of collapsing public services. Does she believe that a Budget that leaves Wales with less compared with 14 years ago is really a Budget worth celebrating?
Jo Stevens
The right hon. Lady knows that I was referring to the second phase of HS2, which the Conservative Government cancelled. And she knows, because I have said it before and will say it again, that I remain very angry about the previous Government’s broken promises on rail and on HS2.
I am working in partnership with the Welsh Government to develop a long-term, sustainably funded package of much-needed rail infrastructure improvements. I met Great Western Railway with the Under-Secretary of State for Wales, my hon. Friend the Member for Llanelli (Dame Nia Griffith), just last week to discuss mitigations in relation to Old Oak Common.
Ruth Jones (Newport West and Islwyn) (Lab)
Jo Stevens
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. As I said, such levies are already the norm in more than 40 countries and holiday destinations around the world. Manchester shows it can work, so why can Wales not show that?
Mims Davies (East Grinstead and Uckfield) (Con)
Tourism is vital to the Welsh economy. However, Labour’s new tourism tax has merely created attraction closures and strikes, from the zoo in Ynys Môn to the cliff railway in Aberystwyth. The Welsh Government proposal will put more jobs in jeopardy, leave hotel rooms empty and simply send Welsh families across the border on to flights for their trips, treats and holidays. Does the Secretary of State really agree with her colleagues in Cardiff Bay that the potential price of 700 tourism jobs and the loss of tourism to Wales, together with £40 million of revenue, is worth paying?
Jo Stevens
I think their stance on the Welsh Government Budget says it all. They are more bothered about scoring cheap political points than they are about delivering services and investment for Wales.
Mims Davies (East Grinstead and Uckfield) (Con)
The NHS in Wales is broken. Under Labour, waits continue and no family, it seems, is without somebody waiting in an ever-growing queue. It is the highest on record, with one in four of the Welsh population on a waiting list. In September, 801,000 people were in need of treatment. If someone has lost their winter fuel allowance, along with any hope of seeing a GP or consultant and getting social care, what does the Secretary of State really have to say and do to reassure older people that the Labour Government here and in the Senedd have the ability to tackle that disgrace of a backlog?
Jo Stevens
I say to the hon. Lady that both the Welsh and the UK Governments are looking after pensioners in Wales. We made the tough, but right, decision on winter fuel payments, given our economic inheritance from the previous Conservative Government. We are focused on delivering funding and support to the people who need it most. There has already been a 152% increase in pension credit claims since July’s announcement, and those people who receive the winter fuel payment will get, on average, an extra £1,900 a year in pension credit.
David Chadwick (Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe) (LD)
Residents in rural Powys are suffering as a consequence of delays to ambulances turning up, or, in some cases, of those ambulances not turning up at all. In one recent example, the family of a stroke victim in my constituency had to drive their paralysed and vomiting mother in a car to a hospital in Hereford, after being told that there would be a four to seven-hour wait for an ambulance, and that was after they had already been waiting two hours for an ambulance to arrive. Shockingly, that is not an isolated case; it is an experience to which many people across rural Wales can relate. Will the Secretary of State tell me what action she is taking to reassure my constituents that an ambulance will turn up in their hour of need?
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Jo Stevens and Lindsay Hoyle(1 month, 2 weeks ago)
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Jo Stevens
In my first week as Welsh Secretary, I discovered that the £80 million promised by the previous Conservative Government for the transition board was part of the £22 billion of unfunded promises they had made. That shocking dereliction of duty threatened to leave workers and businesses high and dry without the support they needed. I have therefore made it my mission to fight tooth and nail for that money on behalf of our steel communities, and I would not have left them unsupported. I am pleased to be able to confirm that under this Labour Government the transition board is fully funded, and we are getting on with the delivery.
Mims Davies (East Grinstead and Uckfield) (Con)
Thank you, Mr Speaker. At the outset, as I come to the Dispatch Box for the first time in this role for Wales questions, may I please pay tribute to my former private secretary in the Wales Office, Debbie John, who was taken at a tender age due to pancreatic cancer? She and her family are in my thoughts today as I take up this role. She is much missed and very fondly remembered.
The right hon. Lady clearly needs to acknowledge to the House that the deal for Tata steel recently re-announced by her UK Government is identical to the one negotiated by my right hon. Friend the Member for North West Essex (Mrs Badenoch), who is now Leader of the Opposition.
Jo Stevens
If an apology is due, it is to the people of Port Talbot for promising £80 million for a transition board that operated for nine months under the previous Secretary of State for Wales, and delivered not a single penny to the people of Port Talbot, and now we know why: the £80 million did not exist.
David Chadwick (Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe) (LD)
The closure of the last blast furnace at Port Talbot has resulted in the loss of several thousand highly skilled jobs across south Wales, prompting another economic contraction across our region. The global centre for rail excellence at Onllwyn is one project that could reverse the trend of deindustrialisation and bring back good, well-paid jobs to south Wales. Will the Secretary of State confirm that the UK Government intend to make further investments in that project, and give an update on what conversations she has had to ensure that the project gets going?
Jo Stevens
I was very pleased that the Budget was able to protect the current farming budget for the next financial year, despite the difficult decisions that we had to make because the Conservative party had trashed our economy. [Interruption.]
Mr Speaker
Order. Mr Griffith, you are continually being a nuisance on the Front Bench. I want you either to restrict it or to go and get yourself that cup of tea.
Jo Stevens
Thank you, Mr Speaker. Obviously, farming is devolved in Wales, and the decision on how to spend that budget will be up to the Welsh Government.
Jo Stevens
My hon. Friend is a wonderful advocate for her constituency and for the Burns commission’s recommendations for her constituency, and I would be very happy to meet her to discuss them.
Mims Davies (East Grinstead and Uckfield) (Con)
Will the Secretary of State express her regret about the impact of Labour’s Budget on Wales? It will undoubtedly make the people of Wales poorer. Pensioners have been left wondering whether they should turn on their heating this winter, and family farms will be destroyed. The Budget is affecting business confidence and employment across the nation.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Jo Stevens and Lindsay Hoyle(3 months, 1 week ago)
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Jo Stevens
I welcome the hon. Lady to her place. Our manifesto commitment to delivering new nuclear in places such as Wylfa still stands—we will do that. The Government have now completed the purchase of the Wylfa site, as she knows. We will end over a decade of inaction by the previous Government on nuclear power, as part of our wider plans to get Britain building again.
John Lamont (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) (Con)
I congratulate new Ministers on their appointments.
The last Conservative Government spearheaded various clean energy schemes for Wales, including the Celtic freeport, which has the potential to create more than 10,000 green jobs. Will the Secretary of State join me in recognising that the last Conservative Government led the way in delivering clean energy projects for Wales? Does she recognise that the Welsh Government also have to play their part, and what discussions she has had with them about their own plans to support clean energy projects in Wales?
Jo Stevens
The Government absolutely understand the importance of Llanwern as a key manufacturing facility for steel products. We have worked with Tata Steel UK to ensure that Llanwern is clearly considered in plans for the future of steel in south Wales. My hon. Friend is a dedicated advocate for the workers at Llanwern, and I know that that she will follow closely the upcoming statement from the Secretary of State for Business and Trade.
John Lamont (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) (Con)
Today the Government are expected to unveil details of their steel plan for south Wales. From what has been briefed to the press, it seems that the new deal is, at its core, the same deal—worth hundreds of millions of pounds—that was agreed by the last Conservative Government. At the time, the Secretary of State and the Welsh Labour party appeared to rubbish the deal, and suggested that a better one was possible. Does she now regret the Labour party’s previous criticism of the deal?
Jo Stevens
I refer the hon. Gentleman to my previous answer. We had the transition board in place for nearly 10 months under the last Government and not a single penny went out the door to businesses or workers affected. Within weeks of my taking over chairmanship of the transition board, £13.5 million has been released to help supply chain businesses and workers. That is the first tranche, with further funds to come.
Sarah Green (Chesham and Amersham) (LD)
I welcome the Front Benchers to their places. They will know that the steel industry in Wales is just one of a number that have suffered in recent decades. Last year, the Industrial Communities Alliance said that tackling the effects of deindustrialisation in Wales has been hampered by competitive bidding, which forces local authorities in deprived areas to bid against each other, preventing partnership working and a more strategic approach. Will the Secretary of State confirm whether future rounds of the UK shared prosperity fund allocated to Wales will no longer be subject to competitive bidding?
Jo Stevens
This Government were elected on a manifesto that stressed a partnership approach with local authorities and an intention to stabilise the funding system, moving away from wasteful competition. Those are the principles we will seek to apply as we think about the future of local growth funding. As with all Government decisions regarding funding beyond March 2025, it is ultimately a matter for the spending review.
Ruth Jones (Newport West and Islwyn) (Lab)
Under the previous Government, the transition board met six times and formed two sub-committees, but did not distribute a single penny of the funding that was promised to support businesses and workers in south Wales. Will the Secretary of State provide an assessment of how the transition board has changed under her leadership?
Jo Stevens
I agree with my hon. Friend that the Cambrian line provides an important connection to and from Aberystwyth University, and it plays a key role in supporting cross-border connectivity for the people of mid-Wales and beyond. In recent years, Network Rail has undertaken work to improve infrastructure on the Cambrian line to support the introduction of new trains. Enhancements to the railway in Wales that deliver passenger benefits, including proposed electrification, are being considered by the Wales Rail Board.
Liz Saville Roberts (Dwyfor Meirionnydd) (PC)
Diolch yn fawr iawn, Llefarydd. I am sure the Secretary of State will join me in sending every sympathy to the friends and family of the late, great singer and comedian Dewi Pws.
On-the-day cancellations on the north Wales to London lines stood at 15.4% in August. We consistently have the highest on-the-day cancellation rates for the entire Avanti network, three to four times higher than the next worst part of the network. How will the Secretary of State use her role to stop Avanti punishing Welsh travellers?