JES and Zulu Joint Integrity & Training
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I welcomed two pioneer engineering companies to my constituency office this month with skills improvement at the top of the agenda.
‘The Skills Academy’, a Port Talbot based, centre of excellence training facility for the development of welding and fabrication skills and part of the JES Group, has linked with Pencoed based Zulu Joint Integrity & Training Ltd, to announce a groundbreaking collaboration aimed at enhancing skills and ensuring industry best practice.
Collaboration of the sort that I am witnessing from two proactive and committed companies paves the way forward but it only beats a pathway for other companies to follow. I’m delighted that this initiative is being spearheaded by two of my constituents but they need others to join. The opening notes of the song might be sung here in Port Talbot but it needs to reverberate across south Wales’.
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Visit to Afan Valley Swimming Pool
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It was fantastic to visit the Afan Valley Swimming Pool in Cymmer, to see the huge amount of growth they’ve achieved over the last year.
They have gone from having 10 children taking swimming lessons per week, to over 70 people now. With swims four times a week, many of the swimmers have been competing all over South and West Wales.
Well done to all who have worked extremely hard to make the swimming pool as successful as it now is, and for the swimmers who are all competing really hard.
People attend from Sandfields to Maesteg and everywhere in between.
There is still room in their teenage and adult classes, so make sure you contact them and sign up!
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It was wonderful to see the Bulldogs’ newly completed kitchen and office area. The new café looks lovely, with handmade wooden tables and benches, and which will be home to the Veteran’s group and a host of community events, such as cooking classes.
They also have meeting and therapy rooms, which will be used by a host of organisations for physical and emotional therapies. It will allow the Bulldogs to offer even more community services than they currently do already!
The Bulldogs are a boxing and exercise facility, but are also a community hub, hosting the veteran's group, NPT Mind and NPT WASP therapy sessions, are a warm space hub, offer hot food and drinks to members of the community and offer a whole host of other services too!
The youngest person they have attending their groups is 6 and the oldest 96, so they really do offer something for everyone. We are lucky to have them here in Aberavon!
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Meeting with Federation of Small Business Wales
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Small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy and community, so it was really great to meet with the Federation of Small Businesses Wales to discuss the challenges and opportunities that our local small and medium-sized businesses are currently facing.
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Morrisons Daily Victoria Road Store Opening
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I was delighted to go along to the opening of the new Morrisons Daily store on Victoria Road this month.
It was great to hear about the plans for the shop, which will continue to employ local people and serve local residents!
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Wishing my Aberavon Constituents Eid Mubarak!
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Eid Mubarak to all of my constituents in Aberavon who celebrate, and those further afield too! I hope that you have a wonderful time enjoying all of the festivities
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Rwanda Bill Back in Parliament
The Tories unworkable, unethical and unaffordable Rwanda bill was once again before Parliament, and as Shadow Immigration Minister, I delivered Labour’s response.
Labour will eradicate the activity of the criminal smuggler gangs by having a proper security partnership with our European partners and allies. The Tory party has spent the last eight years trashing and destroying our relationships with our European partners and allies. What we would have with a Labour Government is a basis of trust to get the results that we need to see for the British people—that is what sovereignty is all about.
The entire Rwanda debacle has absorbed a vast amount of time, energy and money that should instead have been focused on taking back control of our border security from the criminal gangs who trade in human misery.
More than 100,000 asylum seekers have crossed in small boats since 2020, with 40,000 arriving on this Prime Minister’s watch alone. The chaos must end.
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Asylum & Migration Backbench Business Committee Debate
The Home Office spending figures, detailing an astronomical overspend of £5.9 billion last year, represents such a shockingly cavalier attitude to taxpayers’ money that it really does beggar belief.
Two thirds of that £5.9 billion was for asylum costs—a staggering £4.3 billion overspend over the past 12 months, taking the total spend on emergency asylum hotels and asylum seeker support up to a quite astonishing £5.4 billion. These costs also include a whopping £1.2 billion to pay for the implementation of the Illegal Migration Act 2023.
Should the UK Government manage to be able to realise their fever dream of sending asylum seekers rather than Home Secretaries to Rwanda, the first 300 will cost an astonishing £570 million and account for just 1% of the 30,000 asylum seekers who crossed the channel in small boats last year. That works out at almost £2 million per asylum seeker. Just let that sink in: £2 million of British taxpayers’ money to send one asylum seeker to Rwanda.
The Conservatives need to get out of the way, so that Labour can restore order at our border and fix this broken and unaffordable Tory asylum system.
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Chinese Interference
The Foreign Office is failing to answer Freedom of Information requests about David Cameron’s links to China’s Belt & Road initiative.
With Chinese interference leading the news, the Foreign Secretary has important questions to answer.
I raised the issue in the House of Commons and asked the Deputy Prime Minister to look into the issue.
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Rwanda Bill & Afghans
It beggars belief that the Prime Minister could send Afghans who served alongside British troops to Rwanda.
The Lords voted yet again to try to stop this from happening.
Luke Pollard and I wrote to UK Ministers urging them to do the right thing.
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The BBC
We’ve just witnessed the busiest Easter weekend on record for small boat crossings.
The Prime Minister was quick to claim he’d stopped the boats, but where is he now?
We need Labour’s plan to smash the criminal smuggler gangs, end expensive hotel use, & return people with no right to be here.
My recent comments on the UK already having received 5,000 small boat crossings in 2024 were covered by the BBC.
Read the full piece here:
Channel: Record migrant numbers cross Channel since start of 2024 - BBC News
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The Independent
Following a drop in crossings last year, Rishi Sunak took credit & claimed was nothing to do with weather. Now the numbers are up again he blames the weather!
It’s time to replace Tory small boats chaos with Labour’s cross-border police unit & 1,000 new immigration enforcement officers.
My comments on the rising small boats were covered in the Independent.
Read the full piece below:
Rishi Sunak blames soaring small boat crossings on the weather | The Independent
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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.
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Stephen Kinnock
MP for Aberavon
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