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Thanks for reading my October 2022 newsletter. It’s been yet another chaotic month.
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Only last month, I was writing about the appointment of a new Prime Minister. Some things never change.
Following Liz Truss’ short and chaotic time in Downing Street, the Tories crowned Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister without him saying a single word about how he would run the country and without anyone having the chance
to vote.
This is the same Rishi Sunak who as Chancellor failed to grow the economy, failed to get a grip on inflation, and failed to help families with the Tory cost of living crisis.
And it’s
the same Rishi Sunak who broke Covid laws, held a USA Green card whilst in government and whose family avoided paying tax in this country whilst he put up taxes 15 times in 2 years on everyone else.
With
his record - and after Liz Truss comprehensively beat him over the summer - it’s no wonder people have had enough. He promised to govern with integrity, yet one fo the first things he did was to re-appoint a Home
Secretary who just 6 days earlier had been removed from her post for security breaches and breaches of the Ministerial Code.
The Conservative Party has lost its mandate to govern. They can sack this Chancellor
or that Prime Minister, but the damage is done. The Tory crisis made in Downing Street is being paid for by households in Cardiff central and across the UK.
We need a general election, so you get a say on the
future of Britain – and the chance for a fresh start with Labour.
Agree? Sign my petition.
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Families in Cardiff Central face an eyewatering jump in mortgage repayments next year as a result of the Conservatives crashing the economy.
Analysis by the Labour Party using Bank of England data showed that homeowners coming off two-year fixed term mortgages in October 2022 are set to pay £500 a month more on average after the Tory government’s disastrous mini-Budget handed unfunded tax cuts to the wealthiest.
Further investigation has found that the number of people coming to the end of fixed rate mortgages and having to find a new mortgage on those higher rates, is around 1.8 million people out of a total 6.8 million mortgage holders – or one in four of all mortgage holders in the UK.
The Chancellor said that growth requires “confidence and stability” yet it’s clear that the Tories can’t provide this. They caused the problem and they’re not capable of fixing it.
What we need now is to restore financial responsibility at the heart of government. And we need a serious plan for growth that puts working people first. That is what Labour will bring.
Listen to my thoughts on BBC Wales' Sunday Supplement here.
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Fracking is a dangerous fantasy - it would do nothing to cut energy bills, it costs far more than renewables, its unsafe and deeply unpopular with the public.
If the Conservatives cared about cheaper energy and energy security, they would back Labour’s clean energy sprint for home-grown renewable power.
Last week, Labour put forward its own plan to ban fracking for good, giving every Tory MP who opposes fracking a chance to put country over party.
Conservatives, including Rishi Sunak, voted against the ban, contrary to their own manifesto commitment. This followed appalling scenes in the House of Commons, where backbench Tory MPs were allegedly manhandled and intimidated
to vote against our motion. This week, Sunak’s spokesperson said fracking wouldn’t go ahead. This is complete chaos.
In Wales, our Welsh Labour government has already banned fracking and the next UK Labour government will establish Great British Energy, a publicly owned renewable energy company that will take advantage of the opportunities
that clean, green power brings and turns them into good, secure, high-paid jobs supporting our target for clean electricity by 2030 and making the UK energy secure. Wealth created by the company will be returned to the
public.
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This month has seen two Tory Welsh Secretaries. I’m on my third Welsh Secretary since the summer. In this month’s Welsh Questions, I challenged the UK Government on the lack of progress on Freeports in Wales because of their chaos.
The UK Government’s original approach had been to ignore devolution and impose a freeport on Wales. The Welsh Government put a stop to that and to the harm to the environment, workers’ rights and Wales’s finances that this would have caused.
You can watch my questions in full below:
Question 1
Question 2
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It was a real pleasure to attend the 17th Diwali Cultural Festival at St Fagan’s National Museum alongside my Labour colleague and Heath Councillor Julie Sanghani.
Organised by Cardiff’s India Centre, the event was a vibrant celebration of the arts, culture and food of the Indian subcontinent interwoven with Diwali’s message of the triumph of good over evil. A really happy occasion, full of colour and fun.
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Supporting Local Businesses
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Local businesses have been under huge pressure during the pandemic and during the Conservative cost of living crisis. Increased supply costs, rocketing energy bills and labour shortages are all causing problems for many local businesses.
So it was great to visit MABLI, a young and growing Cardiff based businesses which exports beautiful knitwear around the globe.
I met the founder, Lisa Roberts, to hear about how the business she started in her front room has grown with
the support of Business Wales and Barclays Business UK. In amongst the uncertainty and instability of the economic crisis it was really good to see a young business thriving.
Take a look at their work here.
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Trade Union Congress 2022
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This month, I spoke at the TUC’s annual conference in Brighton on behalf of the Labour Party. With record wage squeeze, rocketing inflation, higher mortgages and rents, working people are finding it harder and harder to manage.
The Tories’ answer to this is to attack peoples’ rights and protections at work. It’s the wrong answer. Security at work is the bedrock for aspiration and opportunity, and you can’t grow the economy if people are wracked with fear about the future because they have no protection to stand up for their rights at work. Respect and security at work goes hand in hand with higher productivity and growth.
That’s what Labour’s New Deal for Working People is all about and that’s what I spoke about in my speech.
Labour will give people rights at work from day one. We’ll end fire and rehire, ban zero-hour contracts, extend parental leave, strengthen flexible working and provide better protections for pregnant women, statutory sick pay for all and more.
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Cost of Living Advice Day
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A big thank you to all the organisations that attended my cost-of-living advice day in Adamsdown. In total, 14 organisations attended, giving support to local residents on a range of areas from housing and benefits to energy and water bills.
If you were unable to attend or need further support, please visit my dedicated cost-of-living support hub here.
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Welcoming Students to Cardiff
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Following Freshers’ Fayre, I caught up with existing and new members of Cardiff Labour Students to welcome them again to Cardiff Central at a Q & A session at Cardiff University. So many turned up, we
had to find a bigger room!
I got a proper grilling with some very searching questions.
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Reopening the Glamorgan Canal
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The Dock Feeder Canal has been paved over for more than seven decades. In February, work began to restore the iconic waterway which travels down Churchill Way in the centre of town.
The project will see the canal re-opened and turned into a green public space with outdoor seating and an amphitheatre-style performance area. I joined
local Labour Councillors Dan De’Ath and Peter Wong for a sneak peak on the progress. I think it’s going to look incredible when it is completed and completely regenerate that part of the city centre.
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Like my grandma, Millicent Mackenzie, Wales’ first female professor, had to obtain special permission to continue working after she got married. Prof Mackenzie was also the first ever woman to stand as a candidate in a general election (for the Labour party) in 1918.
The achievements of pioneering women are grossly under-represented in our public spaces. Cardiff Labour Council’s decision
to name Cardiff Central’s newest park after Mackenzie will help to redress this historic imbalance.
Construction work on Parc Mackenzie, which will be behind the National Museum of Cardiff, between Park Place and Museum Avenue, an area formerly known as University Lawns, started this month.
Read more about the plans here.
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I met with Sophie Dunan and volunteers at Cardiff Salad Garden to hear how their project has combined growing and selling fresh
cut salad leaves, with working to promote positive mental health and wellbeing and sustainability.
Salad is grown and picked and distributed to local restaurants, cafes and homes by bicycle. The project has helped to inspire community gardens elsewhere in South Wales and Cardiff Salad Garden have been awarded a National Lottery Fund grant to expand their work.
Click here to find out more about the project.
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