Breaking Down Barriers to Opportunity

Ruth Jones Excerpts

Wednesday 8th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Ruth Jones (Newport West) (Lab)]

I want to start by acknowledging the lifetime of service and commitment of Her late Majesty. I also acknowledge that, yesterday, we heard the first King’s Speech in more than 70 years. It was an historic day.

I am pleased to be speaking in this debate on such an important area—breaking down barriers, inspiring the next generation, and making our country fairer and more equal. That is why we are all here. It is certainly why I stood for election to this place back in April 2019. But, after the last 13 years, this Conservative Government have given up on governing. Rather than tearing down barriers to opportunity, they are putting them up—left, right and centre. They have left our country with stagnant growth, skyrocketing mortgages, crumbling schools and hospitals, a cost of living crisis, and the people of Newport West with very little faith in this UK Government.

The Leader of the Opposition, my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Holborn and St Pancras (Keir Starmer), has set out clearly the five missions that drive us. Of the five, three are especially relevant to Newport West. We will take back our streets from gangs, drug dealers and fly-tippers, with stronger policing, guaranteed patrols in town centres and more criminals put behind bars. We will break down barriers to opportunity so that every young person is ready for work and ready for life. We will switch on Great British Energy, a new British company giving us cheaper bills, new highly paid jobs and security from tyrants such as Putin. That is a plan to get our country on track, move us on and forward, and bring our country together.

When I spoke in the debate at the start of the last Session, I shared an email that I received from a resident of Newport West, and I want to mention part of it again. She said:

“We are in a position right now where we’re not coping. Our energy bills have risen by 54% and I am afraid that myself and many others will not be able to provide for our families.”

Nothing has changed since my constituent wrote to me, and nothing the Government have said this week will address those concerns or deliver the change that all my constituents need.

I heard from a carer in Newport West who earns just over the universal credit threshold. She said:

“I literally can’t afford to be sick. Statutory sick pay doesn’t cover my wages.”

In other words, in 2023, British workers have to make a choice: do they do the unthinkable and go to work while sick, or stay home and go hungry? The cause of their fear and concern, and the uncertainty facing so many people in Newport West and across the country, sit firmly at the door of this Prime Minister and his tired Conservative Government.

Thanks to the Tories, we find ourselves in a desperate situation, not just in all parts of the United Kingdom but here in this House too. The Tories closed up shop and sent us home early on nearly half of all sitting days in the last Session. I was elected to deliver, to get things done and to make life better for the people who sent me here, and I should be allowed to do that, but this Conservative Government are stopping us all from doing that. They are a zombie Government, paralysing Parliament, with Ministers unable to fill parliamentary time with substantive legislation to tackle the problems the country faces because, after 13 years in office, they have already failed.

The Prime Minister promised to halve inflation, yet our country is set to have the highest inflation of any G7 country this year. We see food prices soaring and petrol prices are once again on the rise. Inflation is set to be higher at the end of this year than forecast when the Prime Minister took office last year. Meanwhile, Labour analysis has found that mortgage holders are hundreds of pounds a month worse off compared with last year. The Tory mortgage bombshell is alive and well and causing misery to thousands of people across the UK.

The Prime Minister promised to grow the economy, yet the UK’s growth is set to be almost non-existent this year—the second lowest in the G7 and three times lower than the advanced economy average. The tax burden is at a record high, on the watch of every Tory MP sitting here in this House—or not, given the empty Government Benches. The next time they send us home early, let us remember that they are making the choice to avoid their responsibility to the people who elected us to this House.

The Prime Minister and his friends have let down the people of Newport West, of Wales and of our United Kingdom. The only way—the best way—to change course, to deliver for our people and to move forward is with a Labour Government, and the sooner the better.

Crisis in Iran

Ruth Jones Excerpts

Tuesday 25th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Gillian Keegan]

I want to make clear that in addition to the sanctions recently imposed on 10 October, there are almost 300 sanctions on various activities, people and organisations within Iran. We continue to keep those under review, but I cannot comment on any potential future actions that may be taken.

[Ruth Jones (Newport West) (Lab)]

In recent months, the Iranian Government have systematically inflicted untold cruelties on the people of the Baha’i faith as the world looks on. As Baha’is across the world mark the twin holy days—I send them my best wishes—can the Minister tell me what precise steps the Government are taking to support and protect this important and targeted community?

[Gillian Keegan]

That question is very important and was the subject of a Westminster Hall debate not long ago. We condemn any actions that restrict freedom of religious belief.

Budget Resolutions

Ruth Jones Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Ruth Jones (Newport West) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds North West (Alex Sobel). I am grateful for the opportunity to speak briefly in the final day’s debate on the Budget 2021. Sadly, the Budget does little to help the hard-pressed communities in Newport West who are suffering from the worst effects of more than a decade of Tory austerity. This is not a Budget for working people; it is a budget for the banks and the bankers—or, otherwise put, those who fund the Tory party. Thousands of working people in Newport West will be forced to fork out for the national insurance tax hike next year, but the banks, thanks to this Prime Minister and this Chancellor, are getting a £4 billion tax cut.

The people of Newport West, like many across the country, are facing a cost-of-living crisis now, but there was nothing in the Budget to address the crisis. There was nothing to help people with heating their homes, nothing to help people with filling their cars and no help for people with feeding their families. That is why Labour in Government would cut VAT on energy bills for at least six months and that is why we would tackle the cost-of-living crisis from day one.

The spending review makes provision for an extra 8,000 police officers, as part of the overall commitment to hire 20,000 new officers. Yes, that is to be welcomed, but even if the Government meet their target, police officer numbers will still be lower than they were in 2010, as over the last 11 years the Tories have cut police numbers by 21,000. Now, I am not a mathematician, but even I know that that is an overall net loss.

I am not even going to begin to talk about the pay freezes and below-rate-of-inflation pay awards to our hard-working public sector staff. So much for recognising and rewarding our amazing key workers.

It is, frankly, a disgrace that online giants such as Amazon will get a £12 billion tax cut when some of the poorest in our country are forced to pay more. People with the broadest shoulders should be paying their fair share of tax, not the hard-working people who will end up paying an extra £1.7 billion over the next five years under this Tory Government.

Like many local people in Newport West, I am desperately concerned that there was no real attempt to address the impact of the cruel Tory cuts to universal credit, which was the biggest overnight cut to welfare since world war two. Millions of people, including over 9,000 families in Newport West, have had their universal credit cut, which has had a devastating impact on families here and across Wales. We will not let the Tory Ministers forget that. Although I welcome the decision to cut the universal credit taper rate from 63p to 55p, it still means that a single parent claiming universal credit on the minimum wage will lose an estimated £361 next year. That is unacceptable and I say to the people living in Newport West: I will keep fighting to cancel this cut.

There was little in the Budget to help the poorest in the world. There was little action to preserve our planet and protect our environment, and there was nothing to mitigate the worst impact of the failing and unravelling Tory Brexit deal. I am proud that Labour would take a fairer and wiser approach to our public finances, not wasting billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money by handing out dodgy PPE contracts to mates and contacts on WhatsApp. After a decade of faltering growth and broken Tory promises, Labour would get the economy firing on all cylinders and get our country back on track.

Children and Young Persons

Ruth Jones Excerpts

Wednesday 10th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Ruth Jones (Newport West) (Lab)]

I am pleased to be able to say a few words on this vital topic, because issues of child protection and social care for children are some of the most important that we as Members of this House and our colleagues in national, regional and local government will ever have to deal with. Indeed, much of the very essence of our jobs as Members of Parliament is to build a safer and secure community and a brighter and more sustainable future for the next generation. It is clear to me, however, that the changes contained in the regulations before the House are not fit for purpose. They will, as many stakeholders have indicated, seriously undermine legal safeguarding protections for some of the most vulnerable children in our country. These changes are unnecessary and could end up putting children in harm’s way.

While we appreciate and understand the impact on local authorities in England as a result of coronavirus, the Government have yet to provide the evidence to justify the regulations. As such, I welcome the fact that Her Majesty’s Opposition will oppose them and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Salford and Eccles (Rebecca Long Bailey), the shadow Secretary of State, for her remarks at the start of this debate.

I want to be clear that I do not believe it is acceptable to make sweeping reductions in children’s rights with very few safeguards and absolutely no parliamentary scrutiny. The world has changed so very much in recent months and among many changes to our way of life, provision was made for local authorities in England to have “easements” on their statutory duties on adult social care to respond effectively to the demands of coronavirus. This was in the Coronavirus Act 2020. It is important to note that the same flexibility was not granted in relation to children’s social care, yet guidance published in early April suggested that local authorities did not have to meet these statutory duties.

This stands in stark contrast to the Welsh Labour Government under the leadership of the First Minister, Mark Drakeford. Hon. Friends have already mentioned today the differences in approach to legislation in the countries across the UK. Rather than following the approach taken by Ministers in this House, in Wales, they have chosen to issue guidance that explains how local authorities can work in an innovative way to continue to meet their statutory duties in the spirit of the law. This is, as is so often the case, a matter of will, and I want to ask the Minister to think again.

As my hon. Friend the Member for Lewisham East (Janet Daby) said, one important stakeholder is the Children’s Commissioner for England, who said in April that the current crisis should not

“remove protections from extremely vulnerable children”.

I agree with her completely.

Ahead of this debate, I received a very helpful briefing from Napo, the trade union and professional association for probation and family court staff. These are hard-working professionals who work around the clock in all parts of the UK to protect, support and defend some of the most vulnerable children in our country. I am inclined to listen to them and I suggest that the Minister does the same thing.

The Napo briefing noted that its members have very real concerns about child safeguarding during this continued lockdown period, and with schools still broadly closed and reduced access to children’s social services, it is vital that this House strengthens legislation to protect vulnerable children, not reduce it.

I want to make one further point, which is that these regulations make sweeping changes to foster care. The changes have caused great concern, and they include scrapping foster panels, extending emergency placements with local authority foster carers from six days to 24 weeks, reducing councils’ obligations to privately fostered children, and removing conditions and levels of scrutiny for some foster care placements. The impact is wide and potentially very dangerous indeed.

I hope the Minister will listen to those in this House who have raised these concerns today, but if the Government will not listen to us, will they please listen to professionals out in the community? They do an amazing job under difficult circumstances every day, and I commend them for it.