Dear Friend, 

With every Monday that goes by we're starting to see more of a sense of normality in Wales as lockdown restrictions are lifted carefully and cautiously. Rates of the virus in Wales are continuing to fall thanks to our efforts and sacrifice, which means we can carry on with our gradual, step-by-step lifting of restrictions. 

And it was great to see those efforts in Wales recognised as the Leader of the Labour Party Keir Starmer praised our Welsh Labour Government's handling of the coronavirus crisis, in comparison to counterparts in the Westminster government. 

In today's government briefing, the First Minister declared the worst of those fears we had at the start of the crisis have been averted because people have followed the rules. On Thursday, for the fifth day in the last 10 no Covid-19 related deaths were announced in Wales.  

We all still have a role to play to keep Wales safe until the virus is eradicated or else find we could find our hard work over these past months quickly undone. Continue to stay safe and as ever, if you would like to get in touch with me please contact [email protected].

With very best wishes, 

Thank you to everyone who got in touch with me with their ideas for a question to to the Prime Minister last week. There were lots of fantastic ideas and I'd received many messages about the concerning modern slavery conditions in UK clothing factories like Boohoo.  

The harmful exploitation of fast fashion on people and planet is a disgrace. But the Prime Minister was as dismissive upon answering my question as his government was when they rejected every Environmental Audit Committee recommendation on sustainable fashion.

Why won’t the Prime Minister call time on fast fashion?

View my question here:

It was great to make my debut at the despatch box at the last ever Department for International Development questions before the prime minister abolishes it in September. I called out the government's staggering hypocrisy on claiming to be climate leaders yet continuing to invest in fossil fuel projects overseas. 

Continuing to pump billions into fossil fuel projects flies in the face of climate justice and undermines the very people the foreign minister’s job is there to protect. The government's own damning impact assessment on their controversial gas pipeline in Mozambique will:

❌ displace nearly 3,000 people
❌ strip means of livelihoods 
❌ cause loss of natural resources 
❌ cause food scarcity 

Undoing the very resilience DfID is there to help build.

Our actions are contributing to the deterioration of our planet with devastating consequences for the poorest people & nations. This is not global leadership. This is trapping communities into fossil fuel projects, entrenching climate injustice & perpetuating inequality.

Watch more here: 

It was great to join the first All Party Parliamentary Group on Excluded UK last week. Excluded UK is a newly formed non-profit NGO serving as a collective platform for the 3 million+ who have been excluded from the UK government's coronavirus support schemes. 

This is an incredibly important issue and one which many Cardiff North constituents have been in touch with me about as they are impacted by this - as freelancers, newly self-employed etc. - and who feel left behind by UK government support schemes and feel they're being treated like collateral damage in this crisis. 

I will continue to work across the political spectrum to push for change.

I also raised the desperate situation of the arts and culture sector. The show will not go on for many in the culture sector who, despite being at its heart and making this sector what it is, have been abandoned by UK Govt support schemes.

View my question here:

Carers held the hands of our loved ones in their dying moments when we couldn’t. They stepped in to be family when we couldn't. Yet the UK Government are still holding out and won't make Welsh Labour Government's hero's reward of £500 tax free for all social care and domiciliary workers in Wales. 

Our social care workers deserve every penny. Lining the pockets of the Treasury off the back of our hardworking heroes is shameful. I'll continue to push for this. 

Both the Prime Minister's so-called New Deal and the Chancellor's summer financial statement were a bitter disappointment to any hopefuls eagerly waiting for the government to show it was serious about making a meaningful green recovery.

UK government's failure to harness this historic opportunity to drive environmental ambitions and rise to the scale of the climate crisis is staggering. The Chancellor touts a green recovery in one breath but invests in high carbon industry in another. We must stop financing failure and start financing the future or risk “build back better” becoming just another empty slogan.

This is certainly not what a green recovery looks like.

From the 16th August, Shielding in Wales will pause. The Chief Medical Officer for Wales Dr Frank Atherton has confirmed people in Wales who are shielding will no longer need to do so after 16 August.

Learner Drivers and Driving Instructors will be able to resume lessons from Monday with Theory tests restarting on Monday 3rd August and driving tests on Monday 17th August. 

Cardiff Council are currently consulting on the proposed Cycleway which will run along King George V Drive, Allensbank Road, Whitchurch Road and Cathays Terrace.

If you have any question or would like more information, please book onto one of the online events below by emailing transportpolicy@cardiff.gov.uk:
Wednesday 22nd July, 4pm

To view the plans or to give feedback on the proposed Cycleway 1.2, please visit: http://orlo.uk/tRNnU