Oral Answers to Questions

Liz Saville Roberts Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Kinnock]

Cross-border healthcare is a really important issue. We need to find a better way of working together in partnership with the Welsh Government. It is about drilling down into specific cases where people have not been given the treatment that they should get at the speed at which they should get it. It is also about clearing some of the red tape and bureaucracy that exists between the two Governments and doing the hard yards of Government working with the Welsh Health Ministers and ourselves to get this issue resolved.

[Liz Saville Roberts (Dwyfor Meirionnydd) (PC)]

If this is a Union of equals, let me turn to the wildfires that we suffered in Wales and England this summer. The Rhinogydd mountains of Eryri national park are the last true upland wilderness in Wales. They burned for over two weeks in July, causing immeasurable damage to peatlands and wildlife. Despite heroic work by local firefighters, there were no UK-wide resources available, including the military, to tackle this ecological disaster. What steps is the Secretary of State taking to ensure that the Welsh Government have sufficient resources in the face of overwhelming climate change?

[Stephen Kinnock]

I thank the right hon. Lady and look forward to working with her. My understanding is that there were challenges around the helicopter capability. Decisions were taken by Natural Resources Wales some time ago to change the way that the tendering for helicopter capability works. We certainly need to look at that. I hope that she welcomes the fact that when the Welsh Government and fire services put in a request for military aid to the civil authorities, I myself turned around that request within an hour. I think that shows “Team Wales”—the partnership between the Ministry of Defence and the Welsh authorities to get on top of these deeply troubling situations.

[Liz Saville Roberts]

I appreciate the tone of the Secretary of State’s answer. I note that the Prime Minister said yesterday that change begins with honesty, so let us be honest: harping on about the strength of the Union in the same breath as calling for change is a distraction. A Union that treats people differently depending on where they live must change. Does he honestly believe that the city region of Greater Manchester should have more powers over policing and keeping communities safe than the Parliament of Wales, the Senedd?

[Stephen Kinnock]

I thank the right hon. Lady for her question. Many of the ideas coming forward for devolving power right across our United Kingdom, beyond Cardiff Bay and Holyrood, are very exciting, and I look forward to exploring them with her. With regard to policing, the Prime Minister and I have been very clear that we will engage on the future of devolution, including deepening devolution into communities across all corners of Wales. On policing specifically, our focus has been, and will continue to be, on cutting crime. Our priority will always be ensuring the safety and security of the people of Wales. What matters is what works.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for that question, because she speaks for many people at home, who will have been nodding away. I spoke to these issues in the Makerfield by-election, as we had an illegal waste tip, and it looked like nobody was taking any action on it. I think there is a case for going further on fireworks and regulating them. On antisocial behaviour more broadly, I supported Greater Manchester police in taking the toughest possible approach to rooting out antisocial behaviour through Operation Vulcan. I think that can be extended elsewhere. We should not accept that this is just the daily norm in communities. I happen to support the broken windows theory of policing. If we let small things go, bigger things come along, and we should change how we think about neighbourhood policing, as the Home Secretary is doing.

[Liz Saville Roberts (Dwyfor Meirionnydd) (PC)]

Q5. Our new Plaid Cymru Government have laid the foundations for change, showing what Wales can achieve with the powers we have. The Prime Minister says that devolving powers means better public services, and I agree with him, but policing in Wales is still controlled from afar here in Westminster. Will he please put his devolution instincts into practice and confirm that devolving policing will be on the table when he meets the First Minister next month?

[The Prime Minister]

The approach I will take—we met the Deputy First Minister at Port Talbot last week—is that where proposals come from the Senedd Government, we will give them fair consideration. We need to work together to get growth going, and we need to secure the future of Port Talbot together. If that can be done with more locally devolved power across Wales, I am absolutely ready to work with the right hon. Lady and the First Minister on that.