St David’s Day and Welsh Affairs

Steve Witherden Excerpts

Thursday 26th February 2026 Commons Chamber

[Steve Witherden (Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr) (Lab)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Newport West and Islwyn (Ruth Jones) on securing today’s debate and thank her for all her work as the Chair of the Welsh Affairs Committee.

In last year’s debate, I spoke about the pride that I feel in representing Glyndŵr, the area that I have lived in my whole life. While it is a great honour to do so from these Benches, I am always at my happiest in my work when the train pulls up in Chirk or Ruabon, at a factory in Glyndŵr, on a farm in Montgomeryshire or meeting people in the towns and villages and hearing about their concerns and aspirations and how best I can help them. Although I could speak for hours on the historical significance of that great pre-Marxist socialist Robert Owen and Newtown, or the unique place in world history that Bersham holds, I will focus on what has been achieved by our Labour Government since last St David’s day.

On 1 April 2025, our first Budget came into force for Wales. We saw pay rises benefiting 160,000 workers in Wales, significant uplifts for people aged 21 and over on the national living wage, and a double-digit percentage pay rise for 18 to 20-year-olds on the national minimum wage. We had a record-breaking devolutionary settlement for Wales. I was especially pleased with the £25 million allocated for coal spoil tip safety, which is especially important for the Pentre Bychan side of Rhostyllen, with its closeness to our big spoil tip. Non-doms were made to pay tax. We had huge tax increases on private jet owners and a windfall tax for greedy energy companies.

What about the forthcoming Budget, which was announced in November? We have the implementation of a mansion tax, a 67% increase in taxes on online gambling companies and the jewel in the crown that is the lifting of the two-child benefit cap. That will lift more children out of poverty in the life of this Parliament than has happened in any other Parliament since records began in 1961. Do not be deceived by the naysayers: the majority of the families in Wales who will benefit from the lifting of the two-child benefit cap are in work. This measure alone will improve the lives of 2,270 children affected by the limit in Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr, and 69,000 children in Wales as a whole. In Wales, we have greater poverty and deprivation than in England, and measures to tackle wealth inequality will always have my full-throated support. That is what I came here to do.

Let me turn my attention to Welsh rail. The £14 billion commitment from our UK Labour Government to Welsh rail will be transformative. I was overjoyed at the news that Deeside industrial park will get its own railway station, as many of my constituents commute to it; some 135 constituents in Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr work for Airbus. The changes at Padeswood will lead to increased frequency by separating freight from passengers, with more trains to Liverpool and the north-west of England and much less time taken to get there. Designs are also being drawn up for disabled access at Ruabon station. People in my constituency already have to travel far further than most to access work and opportunities, and this will make a massive difference.

My constituency, the birthplace of British ironmaking where the cylinders of James Watt’s steam engine were built, will now once again be connected by rail to where the growth is—where the jobs and opportunities are. Yes, we should celebrate the rich histories of our Welsh constituencies, but we should also be celebrating what we have been able to achieve for our constituents, only 19 months in and with just one Budget implemented. Diolch yn fawr.