Dec 23 / Jan 24 Newsletter

Everyone Deserves a Christmas

I was very proud to have been part of Everyone Deserves a Christmas again this year, alongside with colleagues Carolyn Harris MP, Gerald Jones MP, Nick Smith MP, Jeremy Miles MS and Julie James MS.

Many people, including my team, helped pack the food hampers and went out delivering the hampers full of food and Christmas treats to the families who needed it this Christmas.

Thank you to everyone who has supported Everyone Deserves A Christmas this year.

A special thanks to the local businesses who made a financial donation to support the campaign, including Rhino Doors, Tarmac, Lanzatech, Tata Steel, Pump Supplies, TWI, JES Group and Andrew Scott LTD.

Another special thank you goes out to the local businesses who donated and collected chocolate for the campaign for us, these include The Old Olive Kart Coffee Bar & Deli, The New Plaza, The Hideout Cafe, Selections Coffee Shop & Principality Building Society.

Port Talbot Christmas Parade

It was absolutely fantastic to see so many hundreds (thousands?!) of people in town for the Christmas parade in Port Talbot in November. It was fantastic to see town so busy, with so many families taking part in the festivities.

I was really pleased to be a marshal on the parade and say a few words of thanks to Viva Port Talbot for all of their extremely hard work putting this together.

Aberafan Shopping Centre had an amazing Santa’s grotto and The Business Community at Glan Afan hosted a lovely Christmas market.

It really was great to see so many people enjoying themselves!

Unison Union's 'Stars in Our Schools'.

It was great to take part in Unison's 'Stars in Our Schools' awards ceremony at the end of last year.

The event was a fitting tribute to our school support staff, who are truly the unsung heroes of our schools. They really do go above & beyond for our children!

Congratulations to all who were honoured and thank you also to Unison in Neath Port Talbot for organising this lovely celebratory evening, and for being such a strong voice for their members.

Benefits Advice Session

I was pleased to hold another benefits advice session alongside Riverside Advice. I’ve been working with Riverside Advice to offer help to constituents with monthly drop in sessions to help them with benefits, including checking entitlement, help with a claim, with a mandatory reconsideration or an appeal.

I am pleased we have so far been able to help people get disability benefits they were missing out on, and help with reduced water bills and help towards energy bills.

This Month In Parliament

Illegal Migration: Small Boats Debate

The Immigration Minister is at loggerheads with the Home Secretary, contradicting him on Rwanda policy and how to manage record migration.

He has gone rogue and is said to be on resignation watch.

They must stop bickering and introduce Labour’s plan to end the Tory boats chaos.

Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill

The Prime Minister limps on, but the Conservative Party is now a rabble – an alphabet soup of factions and cabals.

The Prime Minister invited one faction for breakfast today. But he wasn’t at the table… he was on the menu.

Our country cannot afford this chaos. We need a General Election.

Rwanda scheme is not only unlawful – it is both unaffordable and unworkable.

The Rwandan Government saw Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak coming. £400m committed for absolutely nothing in return!

Labour would re-direct Rwanda money into smashing the criminal people smuggler gangs.

Rwanda Plan Cost and Asylum System Debate

The Conservative Government refuses to come clean on how much money they're wasting on the unaffordable & unworkable Rwanda plan.

The Prime Minister had serious doubts as Chancellor, & admitted it won't work as a deterrent.

We need Labour's plan to redirect money into smashing the smuggler gangs.

Asylum Backlog Numbers

This week Rishi Sunak's failure to clear the asylum backlog was exposed. The Prime Minister's barefaced lie that he has cleared the asylum backlog would be laughable if it wasn't such an insult to the public's intelligence.

One major issue is the number of 'withdrawn' applications. (Now 35,000.)

What happens to these people? Do they simply re-apply? Do they disappear?

Over Christmas I put these questions to the Minister:

I have also sent this letter to the UK Statistics Authority, regarding the Prime Minister’s deeply misleading claim this week about the asylum backlog…

Media Highlights

BBC Wales Live

The Autumn Statement lifted the lid on 13 years of Tory neglect & incompetence: taxes up, inflation up, mortgages up, wages down, growth down and public services crumbling. It’s time to end this carousel of chaos, we need a General Election, and we need it now.

See my full discussion on the Autumn Statement on BBC Wales Live above.

Talking about the Tata Steel deal on BBC Sunday Supplement

Listen to my full interview on Tata steel with BBC Radio Wales Sunday Supplement.

Contact Details

You can get in touch with us by calling the office on 01639 897660 or ending an email to [email protected]

Check my website, Instagram or Facebook page for details of my next advice surgery.

All the best,

Stephen Kinnock
MP for Aberavon

My mailing address is:

MP for Aberavon

Water Street Business Centre

Water Street

Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot SA12 6LF

United Kingdom

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